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Author Topic: Receiving Damaged Item....Any Advice?  (Read 2482 times)

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Offline Pumpkin_Tart

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Receiving Damaged Item....Any Advice?
« on: August 19, 2020, 03:39:18 PM »
     So, I need some advice for how to handle this situation. Around a week ago I purchased a G-3 pony off of eBay. The seller listed in the description that the box had a dent in the corner and I checked all the pictures. As the box only had that small dent in the corner and the price was reasonable, I decided to go ahead and purchase her. Yay! More pony mail, right?
      Fast forward a to a week later....She arrived today and the box was practically falling apart near the top. The plastic has come out of the back card and and is torn in about four places. I messaged the seller with attached pictures asking if they would partial refund me as the item arrived damaged and that they do not accept returns. I know that I can file an "Item not Described" claim but since I thought that they were trying to get rid of these things then they would prefer to do a partial refund. I typically would not be too worried about a small bit of damage from transit but this was the entire top of the box. The seller responded promptly saying that they did say that there was a dent in the corner and because they stated that the box had damage and the pony itself was not hurt that they do not accept returns. If any damage happened in the mail, then it is not their fault therefore they are not liable for damages. And then they proceeded to tell me that I should complain to the post office instead of them.
     Okay, but what if I bought this one to add to my NIB collection or set? The message came across as a little rude. I am also a seller on eBay also but I ALWAYS ship new in box ponies in a BOX with bubble wrap as any mail service could damage a package in transit. It is my understanding that it is the sellers responsibility to make sure that the item is in the appropriate packaging and arrives to the buyer in the condition that it was in the pictures. Now, I am worried that if I file a "Item Not Described" case or leave negative/neutral feedback that the seller will reciprocate and leave negative feedback on my account. I am tempted to just un package the pony and eat the extra cost and not have to deal with this seller right now....
     
Has anyone dealt with this kind of situation before? Any advice would be appreciated! In hindsight, I would have just filed a case right away. I am just getting a little frustrated!  :mad:

Offline flying_narwhal

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Re: Receiving Damaged Item....Any Advice?
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2020, 07:31:51 PM »
It is my understanding that it is the sellers responsibility to make sure that the item is in the appropriate packaging and arrives to the buyer in the condition that it was in the pictures. Now, I am worried that if I file a "Item Not Described" case or leave negative/neutral feedback that the seller will reciprocate and leave negative feedback on my account. I am tempted to just un package the pony and eat the extra cost and not have to deal with this seller right now....

You are correct. It is the seller's responsibility to make sure the item arrives to the buyer safely and in the stated condition. They can't just pass the blame along to the post office. Even if the damage was caused during shipping it would be their responsibility to initiate contact with USPS, not you (though if they didn't buy insurance the USPS isn't going to do anything).

You don't really need to worry about seller retaliation. Sellers cannot leave buyers negative or neutral feedback on eBay. If they leave positive feedback with a negative comment it can be removed (I believe this is against eBay policy or used to be, though I can't find where it says this anymore). The worst thing they can do is block you from purchasing from them in the future (though you may not want to anyways based on this experience).

How you proceed depends on how badly you want to keep the pony and how much of a headache you want to deal with. If you do not want the pony because of the damage to the box, open an "Item Not as Described" case. I can pretty much guarantee eBay would find in your favor. A seller's return policy doesn't really matter to eBay if what you got doesn't match the description. I'm not sure whether the seller or buyer would be responsible for return shipping, I've read mixed things.

If you want to keep the pony you have a couple of options. One is to leave neutral/negative feedback to warn future buyers, block the seller and move on. Or if you prefer you can just not leave feedback at all. I would personally probably at least leave a neutral based on the seller's rudeness and lack of accountability. Unfortunately, sellers are not required to provide partial refunds. When a seller refuses this solution the options are basically force a return through the INAD case or keep the item/leave appropriate feedback.

I'm really sorry this happened to you  :( I had a similar experience with a MOC figure set that was thrown into a box at an awkward angle with no protection (no bubble wrap, air pockets, paper, nothing) and the plastic part arrived completely separated from the back card. The seller apologized and offered to let me return it but because it was a rare set I had been searching for for so long I just decided to keep it and left neutral feedback for the poor packaging.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2020, 07:39:03 PM by flying_narwhal »

Offline banditpony

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Re: Receiving Damaged Item....Any Advice?
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2020, 04:57:42 AM »
This is a pretty straight forward item not as described case. A buyer needs to receive an item in exactly the condition it was described as. Because of the tears in the box, you aren't going to have a hard time proving your case.

Sellers haven't been able to leave negative feedback since 2008. If they try to do it under a positive, it will be removed.
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Offline Pumpkin_Tart

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Re: Receiving Damaged Item....Any Advice?
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2020, 01:15:30 PM »
Thank you for your responses Flying_ Narwhal and banditpony! Flying_Narwhal, I am so sorry that happened to you! :( I was not sure about the feedback possibility so thank you both for the clarification.
So, I have thought it over and I have decided to keep the pony (as I wanted a de-boxed version anyway so might as well) and to avoid paying for extra shipping. I am not to keen on dealing with this seller again.... I will leave a negative or neutral feedback as appropriate. I generally try to give grace as I get that sellers can get frustrated with buyers being  rude,etc.  but to not even acknowledge (or seem to care) that it arrived damaged kinda rubbed me the wrong way.

Offline banditpony

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Re: Receiving Damaged Item....Any Advice?
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2020, 01:44:10 PM »
I'm glad you figured out a solution you were ok with.

For the most part, when you open up a case of INAD you don't pay for return shipping. It's a part of buyer protection. It's different then lets say an item didn't fit right, or buyers remorse.. where you WOULD pay for return shipping, if the buyer allowed returns.

I don't actually know who pays for return shipping for INAD cases.. My thought was it is a part of the hefty fees. I've only had one case open against me, and it was such a long time ago I don't remember. (And it was irritating too, because I had messages from my buyer that she loved it. But then her girlfriend thought I ripped her off.)
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