broken glass framed vintage photo

[soatp]

I purchased a framed “yard long” or “panoramic” vintage photo that arrived with shattered glass. Luckily, the photo which was taken in the 1920’s was not damaged. It was packed very poorly to say the least. One minuscule piece of bubble wrap and newspaper. It was shipped by media mail. The seller sold the item with free shipping, which should have tipped me off that they had no idea what they were doing. I want to keep the photo, but I’ll have to have a piece of glass cut (the frame can be reused) and have the frame shop set the photo in the frame. The photo is 34.5” long, so who knows what that will cost. My question is how to get a partial refund or have the seller pay to get it reframed without returning the item. Everything I read in the community or ebay topics states the item should be returned for a refund. Thanks. 

[mesodude · Accepted solution]

If you really like it, find out what it would cost.  Rather than lose both the sale and pay the return shipping, the seller might be good natured enough to pay for some or even all of the repair.

[a_c_green]

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@mesodude wrote:

If you really like it, find out what it would cost.

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I recently had a broken glass pane in a 24"x36" framed poster replaced at our local Ace Hardware store. They recommended Plexiglass as a replacement since it's a little more resistant to breakage, which I agreed to, and they did the whole job (including installation) for less than thirty bucks. 

While an art gallery might charge an arm and a leg to construct an original frame in the first place, it's not always too costly to just get the glass replaced later on.

[earlyant-77]

Just a piece of single pane glass for that frame would be about 10 bucks. Then you can just toss it into the frame and secure it.

[a_c_green]

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@earlyant-77 wrote:

Just a piece of single pane glass for that frame would be about 10 bucks. Then you can just toss it into the frame and secure it.

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Yeah, and in fact for mine, it was more a matter of ease of handling now and in the future that made me pick the Plexiglass; the poster did in fact have glass in it originally. I bought it at an estate sale, pre-broken for my convenience , so I don't know what the original story with that was.

I do think, though, that for this 34½" panoramic photo (which is, what, maybe 12" high?), I'd go with Plexiglass, so that an accidental bend when handling it wouldn't end in disaster (again).

[earlyant-77]

Yep - especially if it's going to get moved or resold.

I personally like glass, but wouldn't ship one of those yard longs unless they were unframed and only rolled up.