Product image from current catalog dataProduct overview
The Detail That Trips Buyers Up: Base vs. Complete Set
ACCO's 12993 is a two-piece filing fastener system component: a steel prong base with 2-inch capacity and 2-3/4-inch prong centers, finished in a bright tin coat for rust resistance, with coined (smoothed) edges so the metal doesn't cut hands or paper. It's designed to punch through standard two-hole file folders and hold the prongs upright so a separate sliding compressor bar can lock the stack in place.
The critical spec buyers need to notice: multiple retailer listings for this exact 12993 item (Staples, Quill) describe it explicitly as 'base only' — meaning the box of 100 gives you only the prong bases, not the compressor bars that clamp paper onto them. If you already have compressors from an existing filing system, or you're topping up folders that already have fasteners, that's exactly what you want and it's cheaper than buying complete sets. If you need a full working fastener from scratch, you'll need to separately buy ACCO compressor bars to pair with these.
On evidence: we found no independent lab test of tin-coat corrosion resistance or prong fatigue life, which is unsurprising for a basic filing commodity. The strongest available signal is the Amazon aggregate rating — 4.6 out of 5 stars across roughly 1,300+ ratings — a solid number for a low-cost office consumable, though we could not find written review excerpts calling out specific durability themes (rust, bending, etc.) for this particular SKU.
ACCO is a long-established filing and office-products brand (also behind Swingline and GBC in the same corporate family), and the 12993 base is sold consistently across major office suppliers — Amazon, Staples, Quill — with matching specs, which is a good sign of a stable, unmodified catalog product rather than a marketplace-only listing.
Bottom line: this is a reliable, inexpensive filing-hardware component with strong aggregate ratings, but the single biggest thing to get right before buying is confirming you actually need bases only versus a complete base-and-compressor set — get that wrong and you'll have prongs with nothing to lock them down.
What Owners Report
Recurring themes synthesized from the linked owner-review sources. These are reported experiences, not TopFiveFind test results.
Overall reception
The Amazon listing shows a strong aggregate rating of about 4.6 out of 5 across roughly 1,300+ ratings, though we could not find specific written review excerpts calling out durability themes for this exact SKU.
Key Listed Features
Steel prong bases with 2-inch capacity
2-3/4-inch prong center spacing for standard file folders
Bright tin-coat finish for rust resistance
Coined (smoothed) edges for safer handling
100 bases per box
Base only — compressor bars sold separately
