Is it me or is it the stamp?

Sometimes I will use an eraser over the entire stamp. That helps a lot.

I'm so sorry to hear about your stamp being defective, but I just ended up with some defective stamps, and it made me feel a bit better to not be the only one!  

I bought a bunch of MFT stuff over the last month with all the BF/Christmas sales (like...um....50 sets over maybe 2 months?), and I was starting to put my stamps up yesterday, and I have several defective stamps.  One of the things I loved about their stamps was the great quality, and I didn't worry about buying them because I was expecting them to be amazing like my other ones.  Now I've got a bunch of messed up ones!  I've been really stressing out over what to do with them.  It's going to be a big deal for me to try to figure out which stamp was from which store, and I pulled a couple out not realizing they were defective, and already tossed the packaging.  I was so upset over them I couldn't sleep last night!  I have one set that has a giant bubble in a character's forehead, and it looks like a giant zit when it's stamped.  I have another set that looks like all the stamps "melted", and the images have a bunch of extra polymer at the top, and image is so low on the stamp that some places it barely has backing on it, and they are going to be a HUGE pain to try to position because it's so hard to see where it's going to print.  One set was literally cut off on one edge.  Whenever they cut the clear printed sheets, they cut into the stamps, so every stamp on the edge has part of the image cut off.  I couldn't sleep last night they were bugging me so much!  And I only looked through the first 10 or so sets, so I'm worried there will be another one!  I also have a messed up die.

And I guess I was wondering, can a seller do something that makes stamps "melt"?  I always though it was a manufacturer defect, but this is the second time I've gotten "melted" stamps from one online store, and I've never gotten them from anyone else.  Last time I contacted the manufacturer and sent photos, and they told me they don't usually do direct replacements, they'd rather me go back through the store I bought them from, but I asked them to escalate my request, and the manager/supervisor was kind enough to replace them directly (the store was out of stock and there were phrase stamps that had whole letters missing--it wasn't a "little" defect.)  This was a different brand, but the same problem.  I've only contacted MFT once before, and they took care of it asap (although they gave me a store credit, and I either had to pay shipping or wait until I placed a free-shipping order, so I ended up paying to buy the die from SSS with $2 shipping, and used the credit to buy different die from MFT later), but some of them were discontinued stamps, so I guess I'm worried they won't be able to help me.

If anyone has thoughts, I'd appreciate some help, too!  

Another thing to consider when you stamp; the stamp will release the ink faster than the paper can absorb the ink. If you have a problem, maybe count to ten before releasing.
Also, there should be rubber somewhere in the stamping process. It can be under the paper or above the stamp.

Oh moraie, I am sorry that you have defective stamps. That totally sucks. I'm really not much help in terms of suggestions, just want to sympathize. I would certainly hope in a cases like these that the manufacturer would step up and replace the stamps.

Thanks, everyone, for the comments and support. Normally I would have looked at each stamp when I received it, but I've been sick for a few weeks and just let them pile up. I guess I've only ever had that one other case of defective stamps, too, so I don't think of them as something that might not be right! I'm really dreading it, but tomorrow I'll go through them carefully so I know exactly what I'm dealing with, and try to figure it out from there.

anniefb

I've never known anything to literally melt a stamp either, and could explain it via the manufacturing process, but couldn't come up with any reason for it from a retailer. It just seems odd to me that they were from the same store.

As far as contacting the store, a few months ago I had gotten a bad die from an online store, and when I contacted them, the owner said wished she could tell me to contact MFT, but since the die was retired and they couldn't replace it, she'd just take care of it. She said that when she had defective MFT product, MFT expected her to make it right and send a replacement without reimbursing her, so she was just out the wholesale cost and additional postage. I appreciate the store's customer service, but I felt bad that they had to take a loss over it. The other die I mentioned that was defective was from MFT directly, so contacting them for replacement was the only thing I could do. And like I said, they gave me a store credit asap, but I had to pay shipping or wait until I had an order that hit free shipping. I never thought about before just now, but I think it's a bit odd that they expect a retailer to immediately issue a replacement (and be out a second die and second shipping), but when they sell the defective, they give a credit so they aren't out shipping. They're making a much higher margin on the stamp/die as the manufacturer than the online retailer would. Go figure!