MOC G2 ponies arrived badly damaged

[xelli]

I don't really know how to start. After being scummed for 70$, having one pony lost in mail now this happens.

Last week I managed to buy on Ebay  G2 MOC Nosy & Click (!). They are VHTF twins escpecially MOC since they were only released in France with a MLP magazine. I "bought them now" for 100$ plus 35$ shipping (International tracked priority). They are worth more then 200$ so it was a very good deal. In the auction they were described having part of the bubble bend. You can see the photos here:
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q613/xelli88/nic1_zpsmxngsqeg.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q613/xelli88/nic2_zpsblh0rldv.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q613/xelli88/nic3_zpsyhrwlr0c.jpg

As you can imagine I was over the top happy being the new owner of these two lovelies. Today the package arrived. The box was bashed from the outside but it was not the first time when that happened but I started worrying when I opened the box...
Both the card and bubble were badly damaged: card was bent, bubble was squashed in, creased and started to come of at places.

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q613/xelli88/101_6603%20s_zpsz6peldhb.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q613/xelli88/101_6608%20s_zpsaeav5tev.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q613/xelli88/101_6618%20s_zpshj3arxxo.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q613/xelli88/101_6627%20s_zps68dxjp1n.jpg

The ponies were in few layers of bubble foil and there were airbags in the box but: the box is at least 1cm shorter than the card and it isn't made of a very sturdy carton. The card was placed diagonally having airbags on both sides but still ...

And so I'd like to ask for advice. In my opinion it's the sellers fault (despite the PO being XXXX) for placing the card diagonally in a too small box and I'd like to ask them for a partial refund of 40-50$. The seller has lots of positive feedback and sold other G2 MOC ponies and received feedback saying they were well packaged.
What should I do? Contact them and sort things out, open an ebay case or try to blame the PO? How much of a partial refund would you ask for these ponies? Am I overreacting?

[Vintageg2]

Oh no.. Too bad this happened to you
I happen to be another buyer of like 20 MOCS from this seller, and everything was well packaged..
But because I had so many ponies and playsets the box I received was really big..
Unfortunately a lot of people send one moc that way (last week I got one that was wrapped in two garbage bags and then put in a really crappy box ). If she put bubble wrap and airbags in it.. But I think this happened because of the size of the box.
I don't have experiences with filing claims on ebay and stuff so I would wait for other people to respond.. I would definitely try to get some of your money back but I am not sure if you should ask ebay, the seller or the post office..
Good luck with everything..

[Ringlets]

  how disappointing! I think its was probably due to a combination of too small /flimsy a box, and then being bashed around by the PO . At this stage I would not open a case , firstly contact the seller.
Start your message with something positive about the transaction - for example - that your received the ponies quickly, you were really happy to add these ponies to your collection etc... but then  mention that unfortunately you were disappointed to find that they had got damaged on their way to you , and show the seller your pictures. Wait to see if the seller offers a partial/what their reaction is   They may offer a partial without you having to ask.

EBay cannot make the seller accept a partial refund if you want to keep those ponies so be prepared that if you open a case both the seller and ebay may ask you to send them back for a full refund (which is not really what you want given the rarity and value of these two ) . Pictures of the box  (if you have the original packaging that helps a lot) and of the state of the ponies card now would help you win an item not as described case but there is a good chance they may ask you to send them back - so try talking to the seller first and mention perhaps a partial refund depending on how they react.
Please let us know how it goes

[xelli]

Great thanks for your words of advice they helped me get my thoughts straight. I calmed down and wrote the seller a polite message, sending the photos in it too. I'm waiting for their response.

Vintageg2:
I'm happy to hear that your ponies arrived safely and congrats for such a great haul Thank you for your kind words and yes I know how people send ponies but if they don't know what they are sending I sometimes let it pass. But here the seller definitely is aware of the value of the items he's selling.

Ringlets:
Thank you very much for writing how ebay's rules regarding  partial refunds work, I didn't know that. Double thanks for the advice of how to write the message, I'm glad I didn't do it yesterday when I was all hyped up and asked you folks for your opinion instead. 

Giving it more thought maybe the seller is not to blame here, maybe even the box wasn't too small - it just got violated so badly that it became smaller (it looks like that could have happened to be honest). I have photos of the box and the ponies before I packed them out of it, just in case. Maybe it all was just a very bad accident and I rushed out with pointing fingers  . But on the other hand I never had a box arrive in this condition. I had MOC ponies sent internationally in a bubble mailer (arriving almost "not touched"), ponies with card bent by the seller to fit in the box (it didn't cost more than 30$ so I wasn't making a fuss about it, and they bent the card in such an "easy to be fixed" way), ponies going on a detour but arriving safely. Bad luck I guess.
Right now I'm repairing the ponies: I straighten up the card, and bent out the plastic, put some books on the card and the edges on the bubble. We'll see how it works.

[HoustonCollector72]

Wow so sorry that they got damaged ,but I advise you ,not to open a case as well, the outcome will be the one already mentioned
if the seller does not want to refund you any money ,I would just let it go, you got them for a bargain , as these are super rare
so Congrats even damaged  as they arrived , they are worth so much more than the price  they went for 

I would double what you paid for them any day if you don't want to keep them

[xelli]

HoustonCollector72:
Thank you I still will keep them they are too beautiful to let go

As for a little update: the seller isn't responding which I think is a bit rude. But fallowing your advice I think I will let it go, I calmed down now and the positive thing is that after a "treatment" the card straightened pretty nicely, there are still cracks and dents but it looks a lot better than it did before.
And I've got another question: what feedback should I leave? I was thinking about a positive but now with the seller not even bothering to respond I'm confused. It doesn't matter what the response would be but addressing the case in any way is something they should do in my opinion. What do you think?

[Vintageg2]

I should not give her feedback until she responses..
I have messaged her about another playset as well and she got back to me about one week later apologizing for the delay..
Maybe she will reply when she sees that you didn't gave her feedback yet?
I am glad that you aren't really mad anymore and that you can enjoy your amazing twins right now

[HoustonCollector72]

HoustonCollector72:
Thank you I still will keep them they are too beautiful to let go

As for a little update: the seller isn't responding which I think is a bit rude. But fallowing your advice I think I will let it go, I calmed down now and the positive thing is that after a "treatment" the card straightened pretty nicely, there are still cracks and dents but it looks a lot better than it did before.
And I've got another question: what feedback should I leave? I was thinking about a positive but now with the seller not even bothering to respond I'm confused. It doesn't matter what the response would be but addressing the case in any way is something they should do in my opinion. What do you think?

Yes , Enjoy them , is an awesome deal you got

Yes, I did message the seller too, She got back to me as well but with delays , so just wait and see what she does , I would not give her negative,because the handling of the box is the posts fault, maybe you could raise a complaint with the post in Poland ,because I have never received any of my French post here damaged .
maybe no feedback will be the best if she does not get back to you, Neutral will count as a negative pretty much on ebay .

[bluerose9978]

Maybe if she doesn't get back to you, give her a positive but ding her stars for communication.

[Sky_Rocket]

Jumping in here to say, if you ever want to part with them, I would be more than happy to give them a home with my other MOC twins. I was absolutely gutted when I saw that missed the auction and for that price, after looking from them MOC for at least 12 years.

There's been a few times I've gotten a steal on an MOC pony and it's arrived in the condition you received yours in. There was very little that happened in my case, and the seller accused me of 'opening' the pony.

[xelli]

Getting back with a quick update:
The seller responded saying she can't do anything and it's definitely the PO fault but she can offer me a 10 Euro refund which to I agreed and the communication went silent again.
Anyway I will leave her positive feedback and maybe cut a star as bluerose9978 suggested. Thank you for all your advices and kind words. Now I know how things work and won't be overreacting if something similar happens again