eBay- Sold item, arrived broken- now what?

[SailorEarth]

I've sold tons of stuff on eBay but this is the first time something I sold arrived broken, it was a glass cookie jar. The buyer just messaged me and is being rather rude about it. They accused me of poorly packaging it. I wrapped it in bubble wrap, made a bed of packing peanuts, put the bubble wrap encased jar on the bed of peanuts then filled in with more peanuts and I put an air packet on each end to keep it from shifting. I closed the box and shook it to make sure it didn't shift around inside. I don't feel that this is poor packaging. They said the box showed no signs of damage so I'm a bit perplexed as to how it was broken. Maybe it was tossed and the shock was transferred to the glass causing it to shatter? I hate that it was broken because it was a cookie jar from my childhood. Sure, I was selling it but only because I'm trying to downsize and I wanted it to go to someone who would enjoy it. It's sickening to think it's just trash now. Confrontation also freaks me out so the fact that they're being a bit aggressive about it has me literally shaking. Gah! I messaged them back apologizing and I asked them to mail it back to me and I'd refund them for the sale price, initial shipping and return shipping. No response yet.

There's also a little niggle in the back of my head wondering if perhaps it really isn't broken and they're just trying to get something for free. That's most likely not the case but at least in that scenario my cookie jar isn't shattered. Ugh, I'm sensing by their attitude that they'll likely leave negative feedback. I've never gotten negative feedback before  Can they still leave feedback even if I refund them 100% of their costs? I'm going to have the heebie jeebies until this is resolved 

Update 12/27- It has been 10 days now since the buyer contacted me with no further contact and no broken cookie jar has arrived in the mail. No case has been filed against me, no negative feedback left, nothing. This is a very strange transaction.

[Sunshine]

I hope you can get this resolved, and it's not someone trying to scam!

It always stinks when an item gets broken by the post during shipping, to no fault of your own it sounds like it was packed well!

I shipped a plate for my mother and it arrived broken. We didn't want to deal with return shipping so we asked for photos. Once it was shown it was indeed broken, we refunded them and then we made the claim to the Post Office for the broken item. (That was per the post office instructions when asking them if WE should make the claim or the buyer should, and they said we should). So, they accepted just a photo of the broken item and the correspondence and my mother got the money back and the buyer was also refunded 100%, so hopefully it'll work out for both of you.

[goddessofpeep]

You'll probably get more advice in the Trader Support section, but this should start things off:

First, was the item insured?  If it was, you can claim your money back from the post office.  You will probably need the buyer to take a picture of the item, and a copy of the ended auction listing to prove to the post office the value of the package.

If the package was not insured, then it gets a bit more difficult for you.  Technically it's the buyer's responsibility to pay for insurance(unless you're offering free shipping - then it's yours). However, since this is an ebay auction, ebay considers it 100% the sellers responsibility to get the item there safely.  That means you're on the hook for the refund. 

Since you're likely to have a difficult buyer on your hands, make sure you keep things *extremely* polite and *extremely* professional.  You can ask the buyer to send you a picture of the damage if they won't send the item back to you.  That probably won't go down to well, but at least you'll know for sure if they're just trying to scam you.

Do not mention feedback in any message to the buyer.  If the buyer mentions feedback AT ALL, you might be able to report them to ebay for feedback extortion, and you can have any bad feedback they may leave removed.  If you've got a difficult buyer, keep your eyes peeled for that.  If they slip up, you could walk out of this unscathed.  And yes, as far as I know they can slap you with a negative even after you've given them a refund. 

Good luck!

[Lollipop]

I agree if they don't want to send it back ask to see a picture. I actually had 2 things arrive damaged to me this Christmas one seller sent me a free replacement and extras straight away no questions they were lovely. Another refunded me half because only one ornament was broken the other 2 weren't (this was poorly packed though they were glass & were not wrapped in bubble wrap even though I asked them to before hand )
Hopefully the buyer will accept your offer of sending it back to you with a full refund I would if I was them

As for worrying about them giving bad feedback... Don't worry you can actually contact ebay to have it removed because you are going by Ebay's rules so rightly you are doing nothing wrong. (you can also leave a comment under theirs but I would ask ebay to remove it tbh)

Hope it works out for you

[SailorEarth]

Sunshine- Thanks for the well-wishes! I'm glad your situation worked out Did you have insurance on the plate? I didn't put insurance on my package and the buyer didn't request it so I don't think the post office will reimburse me.

goddessofpeep- In truth, the Trader Support section never crossed my mind since it's a non-pony issue. I mostly needed to vent some stress and stomped straight into WYP No, it wasn't insured but I've already offered to give her a full refund. Luckily, it wasn't a high price item. Thanks for the advice about not mentioning feedback. I've never had to deal with anything of this sort in my years on eBay so I didn't even know that was a thing to look out for. Hopefully they'll calm down and be reasonable and I won't have anything to worry about.

Lollipop- With all these damaged items I'm imagining postal workers playing kick ball with the packages It's relieving to know I can have it removed if they leave negative feedback. Fingers crossed it won't come to that!

[Lollipop]

Got my fingers crossed for you. I am sure they will calm down just make sure you stay calm when dealing with them & very very polite

Good luck 

[kitkatvintage]

USPS now includes $50 insurance with the cost of priority mail on packages sent within the US. You should be able to make a claim with the post office even if you did not purchase additional insurance, as long as it was shipped via Priority.

Best of luck getting this mess sorted out!

[Dragonflitter]

USPS now includes $50 insurance with the cost of priority mail on packages sent within the US. You should be able to make a claim with the post office even if you did not purchase additional insurance, as long as it was shipped via Priority.

Best of luck getting this mess sorted out!

I was just about to say this. It would be nice if you could get something back, since you packaged as best you could!

[Ringlets]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this - and a difficult buyer at the same time     It sounds to me like you packed it very securely , but unfortunately even the best packed things can get damaged by rough handling from the post people  (I saw a postman locally literally haul up and  throw a huge heavy ironing board shaped package on top of a lot of smaller light parcels in the back of his van! it was disgusting! I was soooo thankful that I posted my parcels a little later that day! i was sorry for whoever ended up with the squahed and probably damaged parcels though!) .
Goddessofpeep gave some very good advice on how to reply to a buyer like yours - keep extra polite and helpful no matter how horrible they get   Do ask for photos of the damaged cookie jar - even though you already offered them a refund - so that they dont take offense and think you are accusing them of lying you can say its to make a claim with the PO for the damage(which is what you should try and do if you are covered by priority shipping or insurance since it clearly was the fault of the PO unless you have a dodgy buyer) 
please let us know how they respond, and I hope everything works out ok (or as ok as it can. I;m sorry your childhood item is damaged of course)

[ponylady]

 ...I am sorry you are having to go through this. It's bad enough the package was damaged but then having to deal with her rudeness is adding insult to injury. There are problems with shipping everyday that our out of our control once it is in the postal system. It's not like you intentionally packaged it so it would get broken and you would have to refund her and be out your item and money from the sale. 

I think godessofpeep has just about covered everything I would have recommended.  I will add though to make sure she either provides pictures of the damage or have her open a case. I know that no one wants that to happen but eBay will then be involved. They will require her to return the cookie jar at her expense and then a refund can be issued.  Of course you can pay her return shipping if you feel like it but it is not required.

In regards to your question about feedback.  In a word, yes. But is there anyone out there who thinks that this is even remotely fair? The Ebay geniuses have skewed virtually everything to the buyer's overwhelming advantage to the point that selling has become, well, not worth the effort. The only time that a buyer cannot leave negative feedback is if an UnPaid Item case has been closed with no payment from them. But you can respond to that feedback with a follow up comment " full refund given" or whatever.  There are though a few instances that eBay will remove a negative. Here is the link so you can familiarize yourself with it just in case she happens to violate any of these policies.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

[SailorEarth]

kitkatvintage & Dragonflitter- My auction had the option to send it using Priority mail but the buyer chose Parcel Select instead so no insurance, unfortunately. That would have been wonderful, though. I might consider shipping fragile items exclusively with Priority to prevent future incidents. 

Ringlets- I've seen that kind of thing happen as well. I used to work in the shipping department of a warehouse and some of the drivers would just throw the packages into the truck haphazardly. Granted, it was sporting equipment but most companies didn't appreciate squashed packaging. Thanks for the advice as well. I only contacted them the one time but I was polite and apologetic. It wasn't easy lol. Still no reply from them yet and no case has been opened against me. Hopefully they went ahead and shipped it back and just didn't notify me.

ponylady- Yeah, by their message you'd think this was all part of my diabolical plan to ruin their day If they refuse to ship it back I do intend to request pictures. I'd prefer to have it back so I can possibly recycle it instead of it winding up in a landfill. Failing that, I can have my grandmother fire it in her kiln for a funky art project. I totally agree that eBay has become very one-sided in favor of buyers. I used to sell a lot more regularly there until they overhauled the feedback system so heavily in favor of buyers. I may quit altogether depending on the outcome of this mess. Thanks for the link and the advice!