Why are Uberti pistol boxes so flimsy?

Well I spent 25 years around package freight conveyors and never smelled dog pee! (we were a direct link from China)

That said the day the customs guys dog pooped on a conveyor was quite exciting (boy does that smell spread). They decided live conveyor training was not such a good idea after they had to clean it up.

Cimarron boxes are Uberti boxes. No difference but the graphics.

Watch collectors often praise or complain about the packaging but that's a timepiece that costs thousands of dollars. You kinda expect something nice when you're spending 10 grand. A $500 replica revolver, not so much.

Coot said:

"New in the box with all factory paperwork" vs "like new" will generate two different sales prices on the open market. Maybe not to some but to enough to see a distinct difference. What would the original box for an original 1851 Colt bring? As a kid, one of my chores was to bust up wooden shotgun shell crates that my grandfather saved for use as kindling. What are Winchester crates going for today? I wish that I had a few.

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Not in my experience. I've never gotten more money out of a sale or trade because I had the box. It's why I threw most of them away.

ZUG said:

Because it reflects the original owners care and pride in what he or she owns.

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Has nothing to do with it. For example, I own over 50 Uberti and Pietta guns. No good reason to hold onto all those boxes, so I don't.

* Reality Check *

I have SOLD (not just listed) nice empty boxes for S&W unmentionables for 5X to 10X the $5 or $10 I pay when I see them at flea markets or yard sales -- plus the buyer pays the shipping. The $$ made help fund my BP exploits.

Some guys -- just want the boxes -- and I'm happy to make a few bucks when I can supply.

Old No7

ZUG said:

Because it reflects the original owners care and pride in what he or she owns. When you take care of the firearm AND the box it came with then the new buyer has some feeling that the firearm has been taken care of also. Get real -- you don't like to keep the original box that fine - a LOT of people do like a used gun with its original box and YES - they will pay more when the gun has its original box. This comment is towards all of those that don't like to keep the original gun boxes. My two cents worth

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I got some old boxes for sale

Upon the arrival of a new gun the box along with the manufacture's detritus in the box go into the trash. I don't care if my firearms would bring a few dollars more in sale accompanied by the manufacture's box. It's not worth the potential few extra denarii to me to have piles of clutter underfoot. I'm not a pack-rat or hoarder, and I have a low tolerance for needless clutter. Besides, when I shuffle off to the happy hunting grounds and my heirs sell my firearms regardless of the price they bring it will all still be pure profit for them.

You can not tell anyone how much profit to make. Except with your buying.

I could care less what they use to ship a firearm to me. If it arrives in good condition I am happy. I'm going to take the firearm out of the packaging and store it properly. The packaging is going to be pitched. Three pages about how they are packaged and shipped...

I'll keep the box long enough to decide I won't be needing it for a return or repair and then it goes to the recycle Gods. Now I do appreciate it when I get a nice case with the purchase of a gun. Many of the unmentionable manufacturers do that.

Not that it means much to me, I guess non of you ever watch old toy auctions. Amazing the difference in price if you have the original box.
I save some and others were trashed, some I wish I had saved the box
To each his own

Packrat said:

Not that it means much to me, I guess non of you ever watch old toy auctions. Amazing the difference in price if you have the original box.
I save some and others were trashed, some I wish I had saved the box
To each his own

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It can get a bit overwhelming if you purchase a lot of firearms, especially long arms and perhaps it will only be your heirs who benefit, but to me it is worth the slight effort to keep a box. Its people like those in this thread who just pitch the boxes that make them all the more valuable for those of us who keep them. Keep pitchin' boys, the favor is appreciated!

Like I said in the beginning, life is good and easy in this country when we have time to fill three pages talking about cardboard boxes. Talk on

I bought my 1858 Remington from Midway several months ago, but was surprised when it arrived packaged in a Taylor’s box. Real nice box and a padded, zippered pouch. All packed inside a sturdy Midway shipping box. Price was pretty good, too. USPS to my door in perfect shape.

I with you man charge another dollar and get a good box

Packrat said:

Not that it means much to me, I guess non of you ever watch old toy auctions. Amazing the difference in price if you have the original box.
I save some and others were trashed, some I wish I had saved the box
To each his own

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Not exactly the same thing. These aren't toys we're collecting, sitting on a shelf somewhere. If you're going to leave your guns on a shelf, then I strongly suggest using the original box to do so. Makes it easier to stack them. However, these are toys we're taking out of the box and using for decades. Nobody is playing with a Barbie doll for 50yrs and then putting it back in the box to sell on Ebay.

Besides, I threw away boxes I'd had for 30yrs. They didn't accrue any value in that time and I'm not going to store them for another 30yrs hoping for that to change. 'Some' boxes are worth a lot, mostly because of what they once contained. Most are nearly worthless. I kept 50yr S&W old boxes like these. Right now they're $40-$70 on Ebay. Even the older gold boxes aren't much more. The Uberti boxes in question are current production. Do the math.

Banjoman said:

Believe it or not, whenever I buy a new gun, my wife insists I keep the box it came in. Her theory is that if I kick the bucket, those guns will be worth more if she has to sell them. Go figure!

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I just hope she doesn't sell them for what you told her you paid for them. Someone could get a heck of a deal.

BillinOregon said:

Here Aldo's outfit makes these wonderful reproduction revolvers -- which have gotten even better over time -- and yet Uberti continues to ship their revolvers in the flimsiest cardboard boxes I have had the misfortune to encounter. Just look at them wrong and the folds tear. It's as if the cardboard was brittle. Reminds me a bit of the cardboard that came from China 20 years ago, although that stuff also smelled vaguely of dog pee -- a charge I do not make against Uberti. I wonder what it would take to get them to improve the quality of their packaging cardboard, which I don't believe has changed in 30 or more years. Not a big thing, but why not use packaging that reflects the high quality of the contents? And yes, I would pay a dollar more.

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Oh Horrors.

Are you buying a gun or the box?

bptactical said:

Are you buying a gun or the box?

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It's a package deal.

What I have found most interesting about this thread is the apparent attitude of many of those who throw the box away. They seem to wear that as some kind of a badge of courage and look at those of us who keep our boxes as some kind of freaks.

Hey, if you don't care to keep the box, don't, who cares? I don't, in fact as I said in a earlier post, the more owners who discard their boxes, the more desirable my firearm, with original box, becomes to those buyers that might find it a plus (for whatever reason). Believe it or not box throwers...some buyers do find it desirable and I suppose some will pay a premium. So please, please throw your boxes away.

I keep most boxes but not all,I still have box my first gun (Browning .22) came in that dad gave me in 1972.
I like to get the box when I buy,but sure won't pay extra for it.
In previous marriage I didn't keep any new boxes,it was hard enough keeping guns hid