erichayes wrote:I have over 100 tubes that are NOS, but have been reboxed due to decomposition of the original boxes (the old boxes had high acid content in the cardboard) so this is not a relevant criterion. NIB (new in box), on the other hand, must meet the criteria Doug describes.
There is no legal definition of NOS that I'm aware of. But as a buyer,
my definition includes the requirement that the tube be in a matching, original box.
Eric, I'd believe you when you say your reboxed tubes are truly NOS. I assume that you know for a fact that they are NOS. But for eBay or other tube peddlers, my policy is if No Box, I'm not paying NOS price. I have a pair of NOS Sylvania 45s in their original 1930s boxes. The boxes aren't in all that great a shape, but they match the tubes. It seems surprising that out of a hundred NOS tubes, all their boxes would be ruined and have to be trashed. The value of those tubes might have been enhanced, in the eyes of some, if you would have stuffed the crumbling original boxes, along with the tubes, into the new boxes.
There are plenty of used tubes or pulls that look and test much like new. How many unscrupulous people clean them with Windex, rebox them, and sell them for NOS? A while back, I returned some reboxed tubes to AES that were sold as NOS, but by my inspection, were clearly used. They cheerfully refunded my money.