Having gone on a bit of a good old fashioned ozbargain shopping spree as of late, I have an assortment of product boxes laying around my garage.
Obviously some items are best stored in their box but many aren't. How do my ozbargain fam deal with this conundrum? Do you throw out boxes shortly after you confirm your product works? Or do you throw it out after the warranty period? Interested to see your responses. Cheers
How Long Do You Keep Boxes from New Purchases?
thewiseone on 28/08/2022 - 19:27
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…smartphone box…
Who TF displays a phone box??
You'd probably be surprised to see people on Gumtree/FB Marketplace selling their empty phone boxes
Either to resell their own phone "as good/very good condition" or to use as a prank gift.
Who is displaying their Pokeman, Smartphone or GPU BOX?
Who are you flexing to? 16 year old kids?
LOLLLLL
I have many leather bound books and fine boxes
Do tell.
If I still had the undamaged boxes of games I bought as a kid I would probably put them on a shelf and enjoy seeing them when I walked by.
Not so much for things like smartphone boxes though.
After warranty period if it's expensive, or after confirmed working if not expensive
I keep all my boxes… in the bin!
No choice for me really. I live in an apartment and there's just not enough space for rubbish.
Yep, i chuck all mine out. Goes to recycling.
Remember 95% of all cardbvoard gets recycled, stops trees from having unnecessarily need to be cut down.
LCD TV keep, but the rest go in the bin after I use the product a few times or the next recycling collection.
LCD boxes cost allot to get if you need to move where as the other products can fit in a box that you can relatively easily get.
They are $30 from Bunnings. Is that a lot?
The wrap and move bunnies boxes I have bought were very thin and crap compared to second hand boxes I got after.
AS such I would not trust the Bunnies wrap and move $30 LCD box.
Good to know, cheers
The bunnings pack and move packing tape is crap too - more like: pack, split, fall, drop and swear
It won't fit your 65" and here I'm looking for one, lol
Too long…
Acquire more storage area to store them.
I don't know about boxes, but I pop all my bubble wrap in the spare room.
I pop all my bubble wrap in the spare room
You can pop it anywhere really. Kids love jumping on it in the lounge
Yes, but you can close the spare room and hear the kids crying as you pop the bubble wrap.
Always helps resale value for iPhone if you have original Apple box. I usually have unused power adapter & USB lead too.
For things that I expect to sell later (e.g. Apple products, a doubled Lego set), I always hold the box. Ditto for collectible things like Masterpiece Transformers. For other things, bin.
About 2 weeks, ie when the recycling bin is emptied.
If it's a printer, monitor or all-in-one pc please keep it for the length of the warranty period, especially packaging. If it has to away, it will go within 24 hours.
Otherwise the warehouse staff to make something, which can add a few days to the process.
Depends on the product (size, value, brand, etc).
Only keep for resell.
Immediately in the bin. You don't need a box for warranty return. Can't see a box adding any more than $10 on resale for any given item
For example if you did not have your original watch box for a premium piece like a rolex you could lose thousands.
That's a bit different as it's not a cardboard box. Actually Rolex has a double box, cardboard outside, vinyl flip open box.
Anyway, wouldn't be thousands for a Rolex box as they are generic. A few hundred at most.
You might if you need to post it back or intend on reselling. I just flatten the box for storage.
I struggle throwing Phone & PC Component boxes away
Until I move house.
Depends on likelihood of reselling and whether the box will make a significant difference in the resale value - typically Apple products sell a lot better with the boxes, same with high end phones or "luxury" items. Or items where I'm likely to need to transport it or mail it in the future, particularly if there's potential warranty issues, then I'll also hold onto it for convenience assuming not too big (eg a laser printer box I'd throw out).
For most things, if the item was <$200 then the resale value with/without box isn't going to be material so I'll likely bin it.
i just take them to my kennards hire garage i have to store them
throw it out after the warranty period
You don't need the original box for warranty claims.
It makes sense to transport/mail back in the original box to reduce the chance of damage though.
That is a good point
@Lucille Bluth: If you send it back in the same box you got it in they can never have a go at you for not enough packaging!
I have a box or boxes for anything tech related. I pretty much keep it until I sell the product or throw it out.
I always keep boxes for camera gear and other small but expensive items that I might sell later. Just sold my 10 year old canon gear all with original boxes.
There are no cheap camera items :)
Same with me - still keep 1Dx box, purchased 10y ago. And still use the camera.
I was keeping mine in the roof space, but I got worried about the fire danger.
Not sure of the point of it anymore. Keeping it for a month or two in case you need to return it is one thing, but after that… I think the rational I had at one point was that it would be easier to sell with the original box, but I've bought things second hand many times, and I've never been willing to pay a cent more for the original box.
Even that time I bought my first real smartphone, and the seller went as far as resealing all the accessories in plastic bags, to give an 'as new' experience
I mean.. if there's a fire in your ceiling I think you're pretty much screwed right?
Idk I think it's about being an ignition source in itself. I've always been worried about having paper right next to (like lying over) power plugs for that reason. Like if a spark got it, maybe it'd ignite. Kinda think the same with boxes in the roof, I'd wanna keep them away from wires. Like you said if then roof is already in flames it probably isn't gonna do much.
Probably stuff all chance of it happening though, but it's piece of mind.
If it's a rare or vintage item, original packaging will definitely add value.
If it's not and there is 2 people selling the same thing for the same price, packaged is going to sell first. (and then when it becomes rare or vintage, you've still got packaging :)If you've got the space, why not. I also keep them in the roof space. The combustion point for cardboard is over 400 degrees so they're not going to auto-ignite, and like the comment above if you've got a fire up there you're probably screwed already.
For electronics, boxes add value.
Also, if I'm sending it. The original box is usually good enough as protection. I just add brown wrapping paper.
The more expensive the item, the longer I keep the box is pretty much my mantra
Ditto
About a week. My kids always tell me they want to use it to make a craft item. I give them a week and if it hasn't been used by then into the recycling it goes.
I keep my TV boxes in the roof. Google product boxes are cool and sturdy and gold miscellaneous items in my garage.
How big is the manhole that goes into your roof space? Or what size TVs are you buying? :P
Where I have the space for bigger Item boxes like coffee machine, monitors, tv etc, I'll keep boxes because I move too frequently and it's easier to self pack back into dedicated moulded polystyrene and cardboard than rely on movers idea of suitable packing for fragile items. We had a tv casualty last move because DESPITE having the box and wanting to put TV back in the manufacturer box, these guys claimed they needed to sight it for insurance and then proceeded to pack it into a generic TV moving box with a single sheet of butchers paper as padding and used it as a load bearing box… they also packed the empty manufacturer box.
Small expensive items - camera gear, phones, laptops I'll keep the box until warranty is done.
For everything unbreakable/not valuable, box is in the bin as soon as I know it works.
Forever. Apart from moving, returns or selling items, I need them all and reuse everything I can.
My retirement fund is over 4500 Coca Cola items, and shipping requires many boxes.
Oh…. OCD, Anal and I am a sad hoarder as well! The Box truck and roof is chockers.
Keep all retail boxes of things I think I'll sell one day. After seeing how much more valuable old Nintendo gear is with the box, I never throw stuff like that out.
I don't keep them.
My wife keeps them for around forever years.
depends on the item. if theres a change of reselling in the future I would normally keep. this is rare for items like pram where you would definitely resell in future. others I just put in the bin since I dont have enough space to keep every box.
If it's a relatively expensive item I'll keep the boxes until I've determined that everything is working as expected. It might take me a couple of days to a couple of weeks, but otherwise it's out the door.
That said, anything I buy I intend to consume to the end of their useful life … for example, I'm not interested in buying technology to use for a year and then sell to partially fund the upgraded model. I look for items that I intend to use (and to be able to use effectively) for 3 to 10+ years. I'm only buying new kit when the last one has failed at least in an effective sense, which of course means the residual value is effectively zero anyway.
I'm sure I remember answering this question on the forums previously, but I tend to keep the boxes if I think the item will have resale value (though probably keep a lot more than I should. I store most of them in the roof space. Trying to be less of a hoarder with smaller lower value stuff these days though.
Depends on what it is, an item I intend to keep well beyond it being worth much in resale? meh. Items I might sell after 1-5 years? keep.
Examples of keep would be a graphics card, or a TV, bearing in mind it's probably always worth keeping the box for items like TV's that are difficult to move house for example without damaging.
I kind of wish I had not thrown out my new TV box - though, at 77 inches (which work out to almost 1.8m wide) it is a bit large. Turns out it would be handy for moving.
I keep the polystyrene holder parts but chuck the box, too big.
Doh, now that would have been smart
Depends on what it is / value of item. Phone, keep that box til phone is dead or sold.
Consoles/PC hardware, keep til dead/rma/sold.You guys know that in the event of a warranty claim, the manufacturer will provide the means for a return right?
Not necessarily a box. I case of a Sony warranty claim I was provided with a print label in an email. Had to go to office works to print it out and then fish out an empty box to send it in.
If I'm likely to send the item away for repair or to be sold online, I keep the box. Everything else I keep the box for two weeks just in case it dies.
Do you want cockroaches? Keeping boxes in the shed is how you get cockroaches!
when you send an item for repair, they often don't give you back your box. So I put it inside another random amazon box.
I recently sold the box from my Halo 3 Xbox 360 (think I bought it in 2007), for $40 cash.
🤣 well done.
i have a mint condition NES box. unfortunately when I found it whilst clearing out mums garage i realised I had loaned my NES and games to a friend and never got it back some time in the late 90s. i still have his SNES though.
For tvs, consoles and pc / mac hardware - until sold or broken. Sometimes I keep the boxes flattened if they are taking too much space. For everything else, until its confirmed working.
until i sold that same product again, it works better to sell your items with original retail boxes
I don't like crap sitting in my place, so I get rid of them as the first thing after the product is confirmed to work. It's garbage, so let's not forget that.
I used to keep boxes long-term but I realized the storage of boxes isn't worthwhile for a small potential gain in resale value.
I generally keep boxes until i'm reasonably sure there won't be issues or that I won't be returning the product.
I still have my PS3, PS4 and PS5 boxes in the shed. I have also kept all my iPhone boxes. Everything else has been chucked.
Pretty much all the gadgets (consoles, phones, laptop, tablets) that I plan on selling. I sold my iPad mini gen 3 for around $280 after using it for nearly 5 years (I bought it for not much more since I had gift cards). Sold my ps4 slim 500gb for $300 after using it for nearly 5 years (paid $340)
Only poor people and virgins keep boxes.
Depends entirely on the product. I keep things like GPU boxes as eventually I resell them and the box helps, similarly with a few other expensive items. Others I keep until I know I won't need to return the item.
Still got the original packaging for a Sega Master System in mint condition… is that too long??
I recently sold the box for my 2007 Halo 3 edition Xbox 360, for $40.
Might be worth listing the SMS if you'd rather free up the space / get some cash.
It seems PS5 boxes are too good for the recycle bin, I have seen a few put out (empty) with council clean up.
Usually the first of when the elastic band gives out, or I wear a hole in the seat.
I then use them to keep my mountain bike clean.
I sometimes keep smaller, shorter boxes from places like Amazon or from computer parts like motherboards/PSUs (lately though I have only received bubblewrap bags instead of bxoes though). They can be useful for storing paper items in, playing cards, and other smaller miscellaneous items. Also I keep GPU boxes since I resell my old GPU when I get a new one every few years.
Usually it it's a current tech item I own I keep it as commonly sell them when I upgrade. Exception is TVs which are never worth anything and the boxes are too damned big.
I kept all of the Quilton wrappers during the height of the pandemic…
Shit aside, pun intended, I only keep boxes for expensive (and smallish) items that I intend to sell at some point or which preserve long-term value of the product.
If I think there is a chance I will ever sell it, I will keep the box.
If more than $100, keep for resale later.
Like boxes for lenses, camera, smartphone, laptop, pc parts, coffee machine.
Boxes are my soft spot. I keep most of them that a not made from a plain carton.
Of course I keep all boxes from my IT stuff e.g. graphic cards, routers and from the tools like circ. saws and drills.
Boxes from Razer are beautiful.having said all that, missus keeps criticising me for keeping them and threatens to bin them all one day.
There's a variety of factors I weigh when considering whether to keep a box. If the box is poor quality, Ill probably throw it away. If the box is large and I don't have any large boxes, I'll keep it as large boxes are hard to get. If the item is fragile or hard to transport (like a CPU, graphics card, TV) I will keep the box. If the item is expensive (> $500) I will keep the box. If the item has passed the warranty period, I will probably throw the box away.
Until warranty expiry just in case I need to ship something back, and for an indefinite period if I expect that I might resell the item down the line.
I reseller old items & tech when upgrading. You yield 10-20% more when you have the retail box and contents and it makes shipping easier.
I keep tech boxes like these indefinitely but other items I keep for a few weeks until they're 'run in' and not likely to be DOA or faulty.
We're the same sorta crazy mate.
Keep boxes forever until paying the price during a move and ending up suicidal, only to settle into a new home and almost immediately begin keeping all sorts of rubbish again. Help.
Depends on the value of the items and if I think I'm possibly going to sell them in future.
I only keep the ones I expect to sell in the near or far future.
Everything else straight into the bin.
I tend to keep a lot of boxes. I keep all monitor and flatscreen boxes just in case I need to move it somewhere. If it's a good quality box, I'll probably keep it to put stuff in it. Better to use a free box than buy a container.
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Some boxes look good as display items (purely as a flex, really), eg. a Pokemon Elite Trainer Box, smartphone box, GPU box, etc.
If it's something less exciting eg. USB cables, powerbank, whatever then yeah, I'll chuck it. No need for it. For less used kitchen appliances like the pressure cooker I use the box as storage away in the garage.