Receiving badly packaged items from eBay... Where do we go from here?

I'm so furious now...
Won a local auction on eBay to which I promptly paid for the item when the auction ended.
Waited for approximately 8 days and nothing.
Messaged the seller and he didn't reply.
A couple of days later he marks the item as shipped on eBay.
No communication.
After over 2 weeks of waiting, I get the item and it's damaged! :mad:
How can it not be when it's a heavy toy and the seller just chucked it in a large envelop, no bubble wrapping, no external box but threw some styro peanuts in :confused:
I can't believe my luck.
2 crap eBay deals in a row.
That's enough for me.
So ticked off.
Want my money back.

That sucks.

Did you pay by paypal? If yes, open a dispute. Think you have 45 days from payment date.

I've never had to deal with anything like that. Everything I've gotten has had at least a mailing box around it.

But I think the first step is to photograph the damage and contact the seller. Give them a chance to do the right thing.
If that doesn't work (and lets face it, nobody's expecting it to) then get ebay involved.

Open a case and claim a refund. Take photos - if you still can - and attach them to the case. I wound't bother trying to communiate with the seller directly if they didnt reply to earlier messages. They will get in touch as soon as you open the case if they want to work it out.

Worst I had was a G1 boxed Jetfire sent from the uk with one layer of paper around it. :(

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by CBratron

I've never had to deal with anything like that. Everything I've gotten has had at least a mailing box around it.

But I think the first step is to photograph the damage and contact the seller. Give them a chance to do the right thing.
If that doesn't work (and lets face it, nobody's expecting it to) then get ebay involved.

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The seller just replied...
Says he's new to online selling and packed according to the advice received from the post office.
I need to cool down... I'm so pissed off.
He appears genuine to resolve the problem but I need time to cool down... seriously.
This has just wasted both our time... a mailing box or even a shoe box would have prevented all this.

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Originally Posted by Skullcruncher

Worst I had was a G1 boxed Jetfire sent from the uk with one layer of paper around it. :(

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I total get what you're saying... and I'm probably just as pissed off as you were then.
As an occasional seller myself, I'd take the added effort to ensure that the buyer receives the item as described and I make it a point to reinforce the packaging.
Buyer happy, seller happy.
So it really irks me when I receive sloppy packaging AND the item gets damaged.
This one is the worst I've had in over 20++ years of online trades/purchases (with the bulk of those being non-eBay ones).

That's really disappointing

Worst I had was a vintage joe vehicle thrown in a box and sent without any packaging or even a plastic bag around it :(

Suffice to say, the toy was badly damaged in transit and I got a full refund

Certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouth.....I can sympathise

Yep , That sucks.

I remember i bought a heap of MOSC Gobots once (About 20 in a few lots) the seller just sent them in one of those large parcel post plastic bags with no protection.

I managed to get in touch with the seller, She turned out to be a little old lady that was just selling someones collection, (son or nephew or something).
She was a little upset, She chased up the post office for me and said they would have a look and assess the damage. I never bothered with it, the way they were sent i'm surprised they weren't completely destroyed.
The problem was, she just had no idea that the card back condition mattered to me.
Probably thought i was going to rip them open when i got them.

In your case, if you paid via Paypal you should be able to get the money back.. pain in the ass though,, sorry

You can lodged a claim but if the item is vintage, I'd rather have the item in the condition I paid for than a refund because tracking down a replacement can be an impossible task.

Bought and paid for a vintage book (30 years out of print) and it was in C9 condition which is unheard of. It was shipped in a thin cardboard envelope. The postie folded it in half to make it fit into the letterbox. I didn't know whether or not to cry or hunt down and kill the postie. This was about 5 years ago and I haven't been able to find a suitable replacement to this day.

Thanks for all your comments guys.
The item is thankfully not a vintage one but I missed out on another deal because I'd thought that I'd already secured myself a piece through this auction.
The seller appears to be genuine and new to this as he had now given me a full refund.
I thankfully mess around with weak attempts at customs so I might just offer to buy this off him now as a junker parts deal instead... If the seller wants to that is.
I don't wish to discourage this chap as he's new, but I do hope he puts more effort into packaging his items for his own good.
Saves everyone the hassle and avoids wasting anyone's time.
Now I've got to look out for another piece!

One thing to be aware of- if you open a dispute with Paypal, it can be very difficult to get a just outcome. I once had an issue with a similar thing with a Captain Power Power Base and I wound up blasting Paypal over the phone, where it came out that they'd stupidly believed it wasn't an ebay transaction, when the disput clearly says it is.

A couple of points- firstly, be prepared for frustration and for the possibility of needing to give paypal a verbal smack to the back of the head in terms of them recognising the bleeding obvious.

Secondly, what Paypal will demand from you is for a recognised dealer of what you're buying, or expert in that field, to verify the damage in writing as an "expert testimony". THe best advice I can give you there is to get hold of a toy dealer (and I think there mght even be one or two here on the boards) and get them to give you a hand.

I wish you all the best of luck with it.

Is it normal for the refund to take a while to go through?
Paypal has got it as "pending" and it's been more than 24hrs :confused:

The seller agreed to sell the item as a loose broken toy... I offered him 50% of the cost of the toy plus shipping to cover his losses as he seemed genuine.
Think I've learnt quite a bit from this, when dealing with newbie sellers (he had just over 10 positive feedback points), really gotta specify my shipping expectations in the comments box when paying by Paypal!

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Originally Posted by ChlorHex

Thanks for all your comments guys.
The item is thankfully not a vintage one but I missed out on another deal because I'd thought that I'd already secured myself a piece through this auction.
The seller appears to be genuine and new to this as he had now given me a full refund.
I thankfully mess around with weak attempts at customs so I might just offer to buy this off him now as a junker parts deal instead... If the seller wants to that is.
I don't wish to discourage this chap as he's new, but I do hope he puts more effort into packaging his items for his own good.
Saves everyone the hassle and avoids wasting anyone's time.
Now I've got to look out for another piece!

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at least it looks like it's working out

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Originally Posted by ChlorHex

Is it normal for the refund to take a while to go through?
Paypal has got it as "pending" and it's been more than 24hrs :confused:

The seller agreed to sell the item as a loose broken toy... I offered him 50% of the cost of the toy plus shipping to cover his losses as he seemed genuine.
Think I've learnt quite a bit from this, when dealing with newbie sellers (he had just over 10 positive feedback points), really gotta specify my shipping expectations in the comments box when paying by Paypal!

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It's better to talk to the seller first and find out how they intend to package an item. That way you know what's going on before you send the money.

Depending on how he transferred the money it can take longer while PayPal have the money sit in their investment pool. just like an ordinary bank.

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Originally Posted by ChlorHex

Is it normal for the refund to take a while to go through?
Paypal has got it as "pending" and it's been more than 24hrs :confused:

The seller agreed to sell the item as a loose broken toy... I offered him 50% of the cost of the toy plus shipping to cover his losses as he seemed genuine.
Think I've learnt quite a bit from this, when dealing with newbie sellers (he had just over 10 positive feedback points), really gotta specify my shipping expectations in the comments box when paying by Paypal!

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Paypal does take some time to process refunds. As long as they have confirmed that there was a resolution and that you will be getting a refund, the money will appear eventually.

Thanks guys.
I was expecting PayPal refunds to be as swift as PayPal payments.
Apparently not :p

This has happened to me a few of times too chlor, so I know exactly how you feel man. G1 vintage items sent in a paper bag was one of my scenarios. They did however, wrap the G1 stuff in a plastic bag to prevent it from being water logged. Very considerate of them :p

I've opened up a paypal dispute before to resolve one of these incidents and it was decided in "my favour". Basically I had to mail back the damaged G1 items I had purchased and provide paypal with a tracking ID.

I forked out $40 of my own money to return the broken mess and (upon delivery of the returned goods) I got an immediate refund from paypal. The refund only included the cost of the item + original shipping fee, which left me $40 out of pocket because I had to ship it back.

If a seller has any sense of responsibility, they will refund you the return shipping cost.

Whether or not paypal's policy has changed since then, I dunno.

But my suggestion to you is;

- If it's a bulky item, ALWAYS ask the seller to ship in a sturdy cardboard box with plenty of padding (foam peanuts or scrunched up newspaper). Cardboard boxes are in endless supply if they visit their local major retailer or supermarket

- If it's a book or relatively flat item, ALWAYS ask the seller to ship in a padded bag with two solid pieces of cardboard to prevent it from being bent

- Ask the seller to print "FRAGILE" on the parcel or padded bag

After I started doing the above, I had no more troubles with my G1 stuff being poorly packaged and damaged in transit.

Hope that helps bud

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Originally Posted by canofwhoopass_87

- Ask the seller to print "FRAGILE" on the parcel or padded bag

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I'm not so sure that is a good idea, I've read accounts of items marked Fragile being singled out for very aggressive punishment in transit.

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Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

I'm not so sure that is a good idea, I've read accounts of items marked Fragile being singled out for very aggressive punishment in transit.

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Envelopes or tough bags with "do not bend" always seem to get a bit of extra attention :(

Your experience sounds bad, canofwhoop-dude.
Thankfully for me this seller was willing to resolve the matter swiftly and thus I was also willing to compromise.
We both didn't really win but neither did we truly lose I guess.
As for the envelope and the postie... It honestly looked as though he sat on it.
No, this one wasn't marked as fragile or do not bend.