Urgent/Problems/controversies/Ebay/Advice?

[gdmetro]

Hi all. Long post so be warned.

I just got a package from Taiwan off EBay which had Encore Soundwave and Henkei Mirage. And I need to rant/ need some advice on what to do.

Positives:
The packaging from seller was decent, box with styrofoam ball thingys inside.
However, upon taking the package out, im pissed.

The BAD:
The Mirage package has a dent in the bottom right hand corner of the plastic packaging. I can live with that. But my major gripe is with the encore soundwave.

The box is trashed from collector's standpoint- maybe c5 or 6. the edges, corners are whitened from wear. the inner edges of the box (the window display) are worn, some edges torn.

However, the box is sealed tightly in plastic wrapping, almost case fresh wrapping, but the wrapping feels very tight. Now i have bought a few encores from RobotKingdom, some with a case-fresh wrapping, i.e. encore convoy and omega supreme, these were wrapped differently, in a light plastic but had a kind of edge crease on the top edge of the box, like how you would wrap a present. Whereas the encore soundwave is like vacuum sealed- i cant explain- I guess i will need pics.

I cannot see how the kind of damage is done i.e. tearing in edge and such extensive wear to the box with the way it is sealed- assuming it was sealed in such a way from factory.

There are however some possibilities:
1. It was sealed in the condition from the factory as is?
2. Is it possible customs inspection would do this damage, then reseal it? I am inexperienced in this area.
3. I cant help but wonder if this was damaged, then the seller resealed it.

I dont know what to do at this point, I am quite unhappy with this especially since i paid premium price. Note that the listing said they were mint products, but seller is not liable for damage during shipping- which is fine, but explain the damage to the encore soundwave?

I dont have camera on me right now, but I will have to get pics up soon.


I am relatively new to ebay buying aswell, so any advice would be appreciated.




Thanks,

gdmetro.

[SkyWarp91]

If your Ebay seller has a 100% positive feedback rating and at least 500 successful sales, I'd say that you were on the unlucky end and that the postage system/customs must have interfered with the delivery of your figures resulting in damage to the packaging. This is then not really the seller's fault but those that intervened, reminding us the risks associated with online shopping.

If your Ebay seller does not reach 100% positive feedback, they should not even be trusted even if they are 99.5% because they failed to satisfy or ripped off one of their customers. However, there is also the possibility that the seller was poorly a victim of buyers that did not read the description of the item before buying them and thus were outraged at what they received. It is imperative that you do research into the reputation of Ebay sellers before buying items off them, no matter how cheap or expensive the item is.

Did you read exactly what the description of your items in interest said? word to word? Ebay sellers tend to promote their products with promotional language at the same time of mentioning the faults in the fine print. It may sound like the sellers can be misleading, but it's also the buyer's fault for not carefully inspecting their items before buying. That's the harsh truth with online shopping.

And yes, pictures would help.

[gdmetro]

If your Ebay seller has a 100% positive feedback rating and at least 500 successful sales, I'd say that you were on the unlucky end and that the postage system/customs must have interfered with the delivery of your figures resulting in damage to the packaging. This is then not really the seller's fault but those that intervened, reminding us the risks associated with online shopping.

If your Ebay seller does not reach 100% positive feedback, they should not even be trusted even if they are 99.5% because they failed to satisfy or ripped off one of their customers. However, there is also the possibility that the seller was poorly a victim of buyers that did not read the description of the item before buying them and thus were outraged at what they received. It is imperative that you do research into the reputation of Ebay sellers before buying items off them, no matter how cheap or expensive the item is.

Did you read exactly what the description of your items in interest said? word to word? Ebay sellers tend to promote their products with promotional language at the same time of mentioning the faults in the fine print. It may sound like the sellers can be misleading, but it's also the buyer's fault for not carefully inspecting their items before buying. That's the harsh truth with online shopping.

And yes, pictures would help.


Thanks for the advice.

The terms are ambiguous, however I they lean towards the seller- of course.

Although now i cant be bothered to do anything about it.
It is just not worth the effort to dispute or try and talk to the seller.

There is 7 day refund option, but then Id have to pay for shipping to return it, and with such dodgy sellers, I can foresee more dispute.

Luckily im not a MISB collector, so im not going to cry about it.
This incident did teach me a valuable lesson, so even if i got ripped off like 10 bucks, it could be a whole lot worse if happened to other more valuable stuff.

[griffin]

Toys aren't plastic wrapped from the factory - toy dealers do that to protect the items in transit from scuffing and scratching.
If the outer carton is undamaged, anything inside the plastic wrapping is exactly the condition the seller boxed it up in.

Check the item condition against the exact wording and picture on the ebay listing. If it doesn't match up, or the listing says 'mint', contact the seller and let them know that you don't believe it isn't in the condition listed.
If the seller is decent and agrees that it wasn't listed correctly, they may do a deal like partial or full refund.

[kaiden]

if you're buying from china/taiwan/hongkong check their negative feedback and read what other people have said as that will give you a general idea to what kind of seller you are dealing with.

i've had mostly bad experiences with sellers from that region. they've lied to me constantly. once i bought 2 'NEW' dslites and when i opened them, i could tell they werent genuine. they were actually refurbished as i had noticed from the slightly off colouring and dodgy screws. they promised to reimburse me return shipping but that never happened. and paypal wouldnt do anything that. and ebay did nothing about them selling fakes.

the latest was my sister using my account to purchase a formal dress from sydney. a month had passed and it still hadnt arrived. when queried about it, he said it had to be made in hongkong and was stuck in customs and to wait another 2 weeks. so i checked his feedback and someone who had bought the same dress for their daughter at the same time as me had complained of the same thing and gotten a refund - so i did the same.

so i dont think the dress was actually stuck in customs otherwise it would have arrived anyway.

so yes, you cant really believe what they say from behind their computer keyboards. its sad that you cant give most people the benefit of the doubt.

pretty much if you feel like something isnt quite right, it probably isnt.

[langzixinxin]

I had an experience. The box was 10c, but the seller folded the upper part just in the last minute and packed sent it to me. :eek:

I think some of the sellers they think they just "selling toys".

I usually have a look what they are selling, if they only sell transformers, good chances they are "collector like" sellers and be considerate on box.


If they are selling dolls, trains, toy guns and transformers. You probably have to remind them you are a collector. Most of time they are just sellers. They may think by folding the upper part and fit in a smaller box, they saved a few cents for you and you should be happy. :o

[gekisou]

I find it unfortunate that you got a box in that condition and I agree with kaiden, I usually try to steer away from Taiwan/China areas, especially China as I have had bad experiences from there and you really never know if its a KO or not.
I have also had bad experiences with HK but not as much and sometimes its more due to the seller's negligence rather than them trying to lie to you.
On the packaging, I agree that without photos, its a little tough to make a decision but I will try to make an eduacated guess that the box looks crumpled, as if the edges have been crushed, as well as the front and back of the box. And you mentioned that the box was vaccum-packed. This may be due to vaccum pack actually, cos its happened to me before and its common with HK sellers to ship it like this.
I'm not sure you could (although you aren't going to anyway) to claim damage cos they could easily claim it was the postal service's fault.