Damaged iMac G3 Fruit?

[Dritz33]

I bought an iMac G3 400mhz off of eBay, and when I received it it was busted all to hell :/  I began taking it apart to try to get the floating plastic out of the machine so I could get a good picture to make a claim with postal, and most of the case fell apart on me

I have the bottom of the pc (covering the CD slot and HDD enclosure) and I have about 1/3 of the blue colored casing above the CRT TV. All of the internal plastic casing snapped apart and I don't think there is any real way for me to salvage all of this. The CRT is not attached to anything. When I flip the machine over to open it up, the CRT falls, and when I flip it back upright the CRT falls down onto the mobo. I am worried these erratic (and frickin heavy) movements can't be good for the rest of the system.

A couple of ideas I have. I don't know if there is any way to anchor the CRT down with what I have left, but I could just get rid of it altogether? The mobo has VGA out, so I could just use it hooked up to a monitor. Although I'm not sure where the PSU is kept on this thing.

Any other thoughts or ideas on what I can do?

 

[Macdrone]

lcds have been used, power supply is that triangle area behind the CRT on your right where the power cable plugs in.  Do a search on google, lots of hacks have been done.

 

[Paralel]

Hope you got your money back and they let you keep it.

 

[Dritz33]

I haven't made a claim yet, gonna go in tomorrow :/

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Sounds like the internal subframe went to pieces.  Even with the best of packaging (in some cases, even the original box) that frame is known to break awfully easily.  I'd argue that the subframe on the G3 iMacs is made from even worse plastic than the Spindler plastic beige machines.  If you ever see a crack in the subframe it's guaranteed that the machine won't survive shipping intact.  If you look at picture 6 from the linked completed auction you'll see what I'm talking about, and I'm betting the machine you got had something like this before it was shipped to you.  People think they're just lines or marks "that just won't come out" no matter how much they scrub, but you get enough hairline cracks in that frame (and they always seem to happen at or near the screws holding in the CRT) and shipping will have the CRT break free and go on a rampage.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113229758989?orig_cvip=true&nordt=true



File a claim as soon as possible through eBay.  If the seller is good they'll refund you on the spot and then deal with the insurance themselves.  If they aren't they'll try and make you wait out the insurance claim and then when they (inevitably) get blamed by UPS/FedEx/USPS/whatever for poor packaging and the claim is denied they'll just shrug their shoulders knowing that likely enough time has passed that you can't file a claim for "Not as described" through eBay any longer because too much time has passed.  Ask me how I know this.  :sadmac:

 

[Dritz33]

Sounds like the internal subframe went to pieces.  Even with the best of packaging (in some cases, even the original box) that frame is known to break awfully easily.  I'd argue that the subframe on the G3 iMacs is made from even worse plastic than the Spindler plastic beige machines.  If you ever see a crack in the subframe it's guaranteed that the machine won't survive shipping intact.  If you look at picture 6 from the linked completed auction you'll see what I'm talking about, and I'm betting the machine you got had something like this before it was shipped to you.  People think they're just lines or marks "that just won't come out" no matter how much they scrub, but you get enough hairline cracks in that frame (and they always seem to happen at or near the screws holding in the CRT) and shipping will have the CRT break free and go on a rampage.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113229758989?orig_cvip=true&nordt=true

View attachment 26298

File a claim as soon as possible through eBay.  If the seller is good they'll refund you on the spot and then deal with the insurance themselves.  If they aren't they'll try and make you wait out the insurance claim and then when they (inevitably) get blamed by UPS/FedEx/USPS/whatever for poor packaging and the claim is denied they'll just shrug their shoulders knowing that likely enough time has passed that you can't file a claim for "Not as described" through eBay any longer because too much time has passed.  Ask me how I know this.  :sadmac:

Do you know what goes in to the process of filing a claim on. eBay? I still need to get around to doing that

 

[maceffects]

Sadly, this is too common with the 350mhz and faster iMac G3’s. Very sad as it’s a personal favorite of mine having bought some new. @EvilCapitalist is right, worse than any Spindler plastics. Shipping them = broken plastic.  

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Do you know what goes in to the process of filing a claim on. eBay? I still need to get around to doing that

Sure do:

https://pages.ebay.com/ebay-money-back-guarantee/

You have to go to "Purchase History" under "My eBay", then select "Return this item".  That will pull up the return request screen where it will ask "Why do you want to return this item?" and you can pick either "Doesn't match description or photos" or "Arrived damaged" since both are technically correct.  Make sure you add plenty of photos of how you received the box, especially if any of the corners are damaged or if the box has an holes in it, as well as photos of the machine as you received it.  Once you click "Request a return" the seller has 3 days to get back to you and if they don't you can get eBay to step in.