The Energon Pub

Hi everyone.

I recently starting collecting TFs. To finance my collection without inviting the ire of my wife, I have begun buying and selling figures. To help me better serve my customers, I have some questions regarding the boxes:

First, do you prefer the boxes to be untouched (meaning no attempts to restore it), even if the box has issues? Or are careful repairs/restorations acceptable?

Second, is restoration acceptable as long as it's disclosed up front? I think that it's universally understood to be unacceptable to sell a box without disclosing that it was restored, but is it a problem for you if the seller restored it instead of just selling it as is - this assumes he/she told disclosed the restoration?

Are some forms of restoration more acceptable than others? For example, is it more acceptable for someone to have slapped tape on a rip/tear than carefully repairing it with glue (my thinking is that tape is easy to spot while glue can be hidden in photos. This can easily be perceived as an attempt to "hide" the repairs)?

To be clear, I'm talking more about careful attempts at restoration intended to actually increase the quality of the box. Not shoddy attempts to pass it off as of better quality than it actually is.

Thanks for the input.

Just my 2 cents' worth, but I think leaving them as is would be a better idea. Unless, you actually get a brand new box, print the exact box graphics on glossy paper and apply that onto the new box--in essence, making a perfect replica of the original box.

You should still tell the customer that the box is not the original one, though.

Some antique afficionados like to leave the "petina" on.

Personally, I wouldn't buy retouched boxes. I prefer them to be in their original state.