Secondhand Puzzles

[puzzledout]

lighthearted

AIBU - to say never buy a secondhand puzzle, in case this happens to you!

See photo attached

😭

YABU sorry. We buy a lot of puzzles from charity shops and have only had that happen once.

We’ve got loads of these in our loft, should really give them away, but unless I do them all again, I can’t guarantee that all the pieces are there. One I know was 3000 pieces, it took me about 6 months to do, was on the floor on a bit of hardboard, before I had children, there’s no way I’m doing that one again. I think if you buy second hand jigsaws, you should prepare for missing pieces. I did a couple from a holiday home last year, thought I would enjoy it, like I used to, but it wasn’t the same. I now do them on my IPad, no missing pieces there.

I didn't buy it from a charity shop..... it was a local Facebook site and now I know better.... first time for everything, I've learnt!

Why did no one o MN warn me

I'm a novice, that was 500! I'm just starting my jigsaw journey.

WFH has led to be needing "downtime" when finishing work and weather is shite did a walk.

I'm learning to purchase new.

I've had it happen - once. And why do charity shops sell puzzles with 'one piece missing' on the front without marking it on the box! Who buys a puzzle knowing a piece is missing without knowing roughly which one? Rant over. Still getting back into puzzles after cancer treatment induced brain fog, used to love doing them and am hoping that by pushing myself the feeling will return! Happy puzzling 😁

We have a family puzzle swap. We pop a post it note in if someone finds they are missing a piece

We count pieces before sending to charity shop... you don't have to do them!!!

I read somewhere that charity shops sometimes have volunteers who will take and do a jigsaw and return it, just to confirm all the pieces are there. Maybe you could volunteer to do this for your local charity shops - free jigsaws to complete and swap, and helping other jigsawers in your area.

I wish you a/speedy recovery and hope your concentration gets back soon.

I agree. The amount of time it takes me to do a puzzle, and the fact I enjoy redoing them a year or so later, it is worth the cost of a new puzzle for me. The anxiety of will there be a missing piece is not worth the savings imo!

That’s the risk you take - and tbh I’ve had missing pieces from brand new sealed puzzles too, so it’s not exclusive to second hand.

I am learning!

If you want nice, reasonable quality at a reasonable price... try The Works.

Thank you!

First one I have done (I mean like adult 500 pieces, not children's), actually found it so enjoyable, addictive and something different to do.

I will visit the Works.

Thank you! X

I have found if purchased on amazon they will send out a whole extra puzzle if you complain!

I did one recently 1000
Pieces , it took ages but very satisfying. Took a photo of it and carefully broke it up , passed it to a friend and there was one piece missing! I swear all the pieces were in the box

A friend of DHs, who was dying of cancer, gifted DH a jigsaw with a picture of an interest they both shared. Sadly we didn't get to do the jigsaw before he died. But when we did do it, there was one piece missing. We're pretty sure he'll have deliberately removed a piece as he was a big practical joker - but we'll never know. Made us laugh so much.

My mum used to volunteer in her local Oxdam shop and she brought home donated puzzles to do, to check they were complete. She was a very speedy puzzler!

My little cat adored jigsaws, she would sit in the box and give me a smack with her paw if I
was disturbing her by rummaging through the pieces. Then at night she would steal a piece to play with before sleeping on the partly completed puzzle. The piece would turn up under the furniture.

My son worked in a charity shop for a little while - they actually count the pieces! We have had a couple of second hand puzzles and they were complete.

I like this, that would've made me smile at his sense of humour.

My pesky pets play tag team with jigsaws if given half a chance. Ninja cat flicks pieces off the table, stupid spaniel ‘stores’ them in her mouth until someone notices. By this point it’s all a soggy mush.

Your cat is to be admired.

This happened to me once. Spent a few hours on a 1000 piece puzzle from a charity shop before realising a bunch of pieces were missing! So frustrating.

They will usually count the pieces in a charity shop but it's easy enough to miscount 1000 of something so still not totally reliable. I'll only buy new from now on.

Just looked at the Works website, so reasonably priced!