YESTERYEAR DEPOT * P.O. Box 193 * McGregor, Texas 76657 Last updated: March 20, 2006 ======================================================== Dear photographic Customer, - - BUSINESS STATEMENT - - Our goal is to sell glimpses of railroad and other related history, at reasonable prices, to individuals who would like to have them. One of our marketing tools is to sell these images, photographic and digital, via eBay. We do so under eBay requirements and the following: MISSED eBay AUCTIONS -- For those wishing to acquire an image seen on eBay, but missed buying for whatever reason during a previous auction, e-mail us and we will relist it at the last winning bid price. After receiving the first bid at that price we will close the auction. Based on how eBay works, that should be you. We do not sell items seen on eBay directly for 60 days! - - eBay TERMS & CONDITIONS OF SALE - - METHODS OF PAYMENT -- We accept money orders, cashier's checks, cash, and personal checks. In the case of cash, the buyer/sender assumes full responsibility for delivery to us. In the case of good personal checks, we honor them immediately. To date, after over 1,000 checks from eBay buyers no one has ever dropped a bad one on us. We are a cash, or same as cash, only business. We do "not" accept any credit cards or pay services like Pay-Pal, Billpoint or other such services at this time. We do accept Bid-Pay, bank issued checks and other such pre-guaranteed cash services for both domestic and international payment. LATE PAY/NO PAY PROBLEMS -- To our way of thinking the "ideal" transaction is one where the sale has been jointly confirmed within three-days of close of auction, payment is received within 14-days and customer has purchase in hand within 10-days after that. Anything else is a "problem!" Realistically, miscommunications, funds shortfall or mismanagement, postal mishandling and anything else under the sun can happen. Of primary importance to us is Communication!!! If payment is going to be a few days late, we can live with it. If you tell us the most impossible catastrophe has befallen you, we can live with it. We understand vacations. What we can't understand is a sale with no further communication. In the end we want the item in your hands because you "wanted" it and the payment in ours because we sold it properly! RETURN POLICY/CUSTOMER SATISFACTION -- We back all items we sell with a money back guarantee if not satisfied. That policy is valid for the first 30 days after receipt of item. SHIPPING AND HANDLING -- Regarding breadbox or smaller size items, such as photographs, documents, or other flat mail: We ship most items U.S. first class mail. We, of course, will ship any way a customer wants, even UPS Blue or Red label. INSURANCE -- We will be happy to insure any item, in any manner, at additional customer expense. Remember however, the post office does not insure photographic and digital prints. Thus, as we have the original media that produced them, we will simply replace them at no additional cost to the customer. An added value service! - - PHOTOGRAPHIC INFORMATION - - BUYING AN IMAGE -- What makes a print unique and gives it "value" is that there is only one such original negative or view, in the case of a digital image, from which to make each print and only so much production time to process them. We are not selling rights to the print, nor are we selling it at any potential value of or by itself. What we are selling is our production and processing time and that we have the right to sell you that print. Remember, all of the prints we sell, whether based on negative or digital image began with the view the photographer saw. It is his or her captured scene of a moment in time. ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS -- When we sell a print, unless we specifically state otherwise, it is made from the original negative which captured the view. That does not mean the print was necessarily processed by the original photographer. Note -- Unlike color negatives, a black & white negative does not change much except if its surface is attacked by some external agent. Therefore, realistically, an original print is an original print, no matter when it was printed. DIGITAL IMAGES -- When we sell a print made from a digital image, that 250 - 350 dpi image was produced using a first generation print in all cases unless otherwise stated. PRINT SIZE -- Today's photographic industry generally uses two sizes of photographic paper for enlargements. They are the 8" X 10" and 11" X 14" formats. Most picture frames fit those formatted sizes. Unfortunately, many earlier negatives were of such cut size that to make a print full frame you needed 7" X 11" or 9 1/2" X 14" paper. Thus, many of those prints that we sell from older negatives are either cropped to fit existing paper formats or run full frame, but usually do not fit a standard picture frame. Likewise, JPEG files usually produce a print that is 11" wide and of varying height to fit a standard 8 1/2" X 11" machine format. OVERSIZED JPEG IMAGE -- In an effort to present the overall quality of a print we have chosen to run JPEG files on our server at 100 dpi full size. This tends to make a portion of some views not completely visable unless you move around to see all of it on a monitor. We realize this can be both frustrating and time consuming as the slower view takes longer to come into view. Even so, it provides a much truer representation of the print we are selling rather than a resized, smaller image. FINAL PRINT RECEIVED -- The print that you receive may not necessarily be the "exact" image you see on the screen. It will be close. As each print is made individually from the negative or the JPEG file as presented in the digital image, it may have slightly more or less print information at the edges. We are working with 250 dpi master JPEG files (better than the 100 dpi files you view) and a 5" X 8", 60-year-old, cantankerous, enlarger. Reproducing the exact same view time after time is (for us anyway) not possible! PRINT QUALITY -- For the most part, we are selling views which are 50 to 60 years old. We try to print to the level of quality the original negative or print will deliver. We can not, however, be responsible for spots, stains, streaks, or other irregularities in the media from which the views are processed. These are antiques with flaws in many cases. Some are works of art, some are just pictures and some are record shots of history. All prints from negatives are furnished on Kodak "E" semi- gloss surface Polycontrast III or Ilford Pearl finish Multigrade IV resin coated papers. DIGITAL PRINT QUALITY! -- Yesteryear Depot digital prints are run for us by a commercial company using a Xerox DocuColor 12 digital printer/copier system. The image, up to 600 X 600 dpi, is transfered onto a glossy or matt paper surface using 6-micron size color spectrum toner crystals for extreme accuracy. The surface is then heat treated and hardened during final processing. Thus, the image is permanently stable and the print surface is both moisture resistant and protected from normal environmental degradation. Yesteryear Depot is paying three times what the average ink-jet print would cost if we were to do it ourselves. We make this commitment, however, to give our customers the latest and best in digital quality imaging available. DISCLAIMER -- All prints offered through Yesteryear Depot are from my personal collection (Rick Hamman) or those of my friends. All prints are either offered because I have the rights, title and/or use of the original negative or print, or because they are way beyond the life of any potential copyrights held. That being said, I do, however, make every effort to honor materials belonging to private collectors, collections and original photographers still alive. No rights are implied, warrantied or transferred by the purchase of photographic or digital prints. I retain all original sources from which prints were made and/or the negatives or positives which made them. OUR GOAL -- Our business is to make a few dollars which will support the continued research, documentation, sharing and distribution of all railroad things historic. We are committed to our pocketbook, but even more so, the preservation of railroad history.