Box arrived damaged

[Seven Costanza]

So I get a request for a full refund because two boxes inside were damaged during shipping.. I paid for insurance on the flat rate box.

I packed it safely, so I can only assume that the usps beat the hell out of it.. I'm not worried about a scam, I have pictures of all the boxes holo numbers.

My real question is, do I have to refund him and take it up with usps or does he?

Also should i request that a photo of all boxes be made before he ships them all back? He sent a photo of the 2 boxes that were damaged, but that was it.

Thanks in advance

[mc1]

Refund only after you received all the items back.

Youre the one that has to seek compensation from USPS For any damages and losses.

Good luck

[Seven Costanza]

Thanks.. why am I reading that if the buyer sends back the damaged items that it voids out insurance purchased? Dont like that, lol.

I asked for a picture of the usps box and was told that the box was in ok condition? So did the bubble wrap and peanut inside dent up the Mosaic boxes?

I was also just given the option to offer a partial refund... come on man.. he said in another message he was a breaker, but sells kaboom packs on ebay? I'm not seeing any breaks listed, I guess those are filled on Facebook:rolleyes:

I'm sure somehow this is my fault, I just want to make sure I dont lose the opportunity to make an insurance claim.

To be continued, as soon as I can find a dang number for ebay

[shrevecity]

Did he ask for a partial? If so then odds are there is no damage he is just fishing for a lower price. Return for full refund. There is a good chance the usps will deny your claim regardless of what you do. They are good at saying damaged things were not packaged well enough no matter how you package. If buyer is fishing though odds are if you stick to return for refund he will go away

Calling ebay is useless right now. Go to ebay for business on facebook

[nam812]

Shrevecity is correct. Your buyer is on a fishing trip; do not bite the hook. Stick to your "return for full refund" (telling him you will compensate him for his shipping cost) and he will most likely bark a little about how returning it to you is too much of a hassle so he may as well just keep the item.

Hopefully he doesn't play out his con to the fullest and ding you up a little (stars and feedback) after he keeps the "damaged" item."

[frenchquarter]

It is important that your customer hangs on to the box, the packing, etc. With damage claims, many times it is required that the damaged item, along with all of the original packaging, be taken to the buyers local Post Office, where the Postmaster will fill out a form and issue the buyer a receipt for the items.

Without these items, your claim may be denied.

Go to USPS.com to file your insurance claim.

[tier1dc]

Buyer is full of it. There was no damage, they're scamming. Tell them to file a proper return and send back everything.

No partials, no refunds.

[Seven Costanza]

Thank you all for the guidance.. that was my gut reaction.

I will instruct him to go see the post master and provide him the insurance claim number. He can get refunded by the usps maybe?

Its weird to me why he wont send me anymore pictures. He had no problem sending the first one

[gregr2]

Shrevecity is correct. Your buyer is on a fishing trip; do not bite the hook. Stick to your "return for full refund" (telling him you will compensate him for his shipping cost) and he will most likely bark a little about how returning it to you is too much of a hassle so he may as well just keep the item.

Hopefully he doesn't play out his con to the fullest and ding you up a little (stars and feedback) after he keeps the "damaged" item."

This is exactly what just happened to me. Buyer claimed item was damaged. I sent a few polite emails stating to return the card for a full refund. He refused, wanted a partial refund to make it right. I refused again asking him to return the ard, he didn't respond back but has now left a negative.

[Seven Costanza]

One other thing just popped into my mind. If all else fails and ebay instructs me to give a full refund, should I offer to just replace the 2 damaged boxes with other boxes I have? And only have him send me the damaged boxes back and I'll replace them?

I am going to request a picture of the 2 damaged boxes holograms so that I can compare to the numbers I sent him.. that also seems like a fair request and that will eliminate any possibility he is trying to replace any dinged walmart boxes he found.

Dont get me wrong I want to do the right thing by the buyer.

[Dobber2330]

One other thing just popped into my mind. If all else fails and ebay instructs me to give a full refund, should I offer to just replace the 2 damaged boxes with other boxes I have? And only have him send me the damaged boxes back and I'll replace them?

I am going to request a picture of the 2 damaged boxes holograms so that I can compare to the numbers I sent him.. that also seems like a fair request and that will eliminate any possibility he is trying to replace any dinged walmart boxes he found.

Dont get me wrong I want to do the right thing by the buyer.

Nope - your buyer is a scammer looking for a discount on the items. The boxes arrived undamaged and he is just looking for a partial refund.

Tell him to return everything to you for a full refund and insist on that and I guarantee he will go away.

[tier1dc]

One other thing just popped into my mind. If all else fails and ebay instructs me to give a full refund, should I offer to just replace the 2 damaged boxes with other boxes I have? And only have him send me the damaged boxes back and I'll replace them?

I am going to request a picture of the 2 damaged boxes holograms so that I can compare to the numbers I sent him.. that also seems like a fair request and that will eliminate any possibility he is trying to replace any dinged walmart boxes he found.

Dont get me wrong I want to do the right thing by the buyer.

nothing was damaged. buyer is BS.

Do no communicate with buyer anymore.

If there is just reply that you'd like the buyer to process a return THROUGH ebay. Nothing more or less. Use the least amount of words and don't bend.

eBay will make buyer return items before return is processed. Don't offer anything. 99.5% chance they'll shut up and go away if you keep it simple.

[glen87]

Thank you all for the guidance.. that was my gut reaction.

I will instruct him to go see the post master and provide him the insurance claim number. He can get refunded by the usps maybe?

Its weird to me why he wont send me anymore pictures. He had no problem sending the first one

on top of not communicating with the buyer anymore, and all the other advice given so far which i agree with, this is not how usps insurance works.

insurance is for the seller, not buyer. if they approve a claim, they will not pay the buyer (since the buyer is not the one who paid them). they will mail a check to the payment address on record.

[Spicoli]

I'd love to be able to block this buyer. ID?

[shrevecity]

This is exactly what just happened to me. Buyer claimed item was damaged. I sent a few polite emails stating to return the card for a full refund. He refused, wanted a partial refund to make it right. I refused again asking him to return the ard, he didn't respond back but has now left a negative.

Should be easily removed if they asked for a partial. Refer to the abusive buyer policy

[Seven Costanza]

Should be easily removed if they asked for a partial. Refer to the abusive buyer policy

I really appreciate the advice from all.. Taking the time to reply on my situation speaks volumes of your integrity! It is greatly appreciated!

My real job has kept me from jumping on this, but in a couple hours I will request a call from ebay, because as of right now the only option I have is to process the refund which I do not want to do just yet. He hasn't replied to either of my two messages, asking him for photos of the damaged boxes hologram codes or asking for a photo of the usps box (but he replied in 2 minutes to my first message by asking for a partial refund).

I will happily supply the ebay ID once i reach a conclusion, but I'll continue to skeptically believe him that USPS damaged the box until I can at least see a little proof :rolleyes:

thanks again

[Seven Costanza]

on top of not communicating with the buyer anymore, and all the other advice given so far which i agree with, this is not how usps insurance works.

insurance is for the seller, not buyer. if they approve a claim, they will not pay the buyer (since the buyer is not the one who paid them). they will mail a check to the payment address on record.

thanks for answering that.. That actually makes sense.

[shrevecity]

I really appreciate the advice from all.. Taking the time to reply on my situation speaks volumes of your integrity! It is greatly appreciated!

My real job has kept me from jumping on this, but in a couple hours I will request a call from ebay, because as of right now the only option I have is to process the refund which I do not want to do just yet. He hasn't replied to either of my two messages, asking him for photos of the damaged boxes hologram codes or asking for a photo of the usps box (but he replied in 2 minutes to my first message by asking for a partial refund).

I will happily supply the ebay ID once i reach a conclusion, but I'll continue to skeptically believe him that USPS damaged the box until I can at least see a little proof :rolleyes:

thanks again

You will likely have to accept the return. Once you do that he is on the clock to return which sadly right now is 3p days. Odds are he will not return anything. The fact he is ignoring more requests tells me with more certainity he is fishing

[Seven Costanza]

You will likely have to accept the return. Once you do that he is on the clock to return which sadly right now is 3p days. Odds are he will not return anything. The fact he is ignoring more requests tells me with more certainty he is fishing

ahhhh, ok I get it. Thank you. I'll give him 24 hours to respond, but i'm starting to think nothing will come of this. So when I accept the request to refund, I assume the funds are not reimbursed to him from me until I get the boxes back

[Seven Costanza]

just a quick update, I had ebay phone me after waiting 24 hours after requesting photos to verify the damage. He walked me though the " how to report a buyer" for improper use of return/refund.

I guess that ebay will now say to him either prove it or deal with it.

[frenchquarter]

on top of not communicating with the buyer anymore, and all the other advice given so far which i agree with, this is not how usps insurance works.

insurance is for the seller, not buyer. if they approve a claim, they will not pay the buyer (since the buyer is not the one who paid them). they will mail a check to the payment address on record.

Either the buyer or the seller can file a claim, and the insurance check can be sent to either the buyer or the seller, depending on the info that is chosen when filing the claim.

https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm

[shrevecity]

Either the buyer or the seller can file a claim, and the insurance check can be sent to either the buyer or the seller, depending on the info that is chosen when filing the claim.

https://www.usps.com/help/claims.htm

BUT the seller should be the one who gets it in all situations. If the buyer gets it there is nothing really to stop them from continuing their claim and getting a double refund.

[shrevecity]

just a quick update, I had ebay phone me after waiting 24 hours after requesting photos to verify the damage. He walked me though the " how to report a buyer" for improper use of return/refund.

I guess that ebay will now say to him either prove it or deal with it.

They will do exactly nothing. That report a buyer thing is generally to make the seller feel accomplished. If they did not actually fix the issue like close the case then don't expect anything. A buyer is not required under any Ebay rule to prove the damage to an item. Reps are good at telling you what you want to hear to get you off the phone.

[Seven Costanza]

They will do exactly nothing. That report a buyer thing is generally to make the seller feel accomplished. If they did not actually fix the issue like close the case then don't expect anything. A buyer is not required under any Ebay rule to prove the damage to an item. Reps are good at telling you what you want to hear to get you off the phone.

And circle takes the square.. :(

Ebay granted the return, guess I'll just inspect the boxes returned and match them with the hologram numbers I sold.. if all checks out, I'll just rip the 2 damaged boxes and sit on the others that were not damaged I suppose..

Thanks for the guidance/suggestions.. I'll give one last update with pictures whenever it all arrives

[Seven Costanza]

OK NOW WHAT?

A tracking label was created on June 3rd for the buyer to return the items..

Nothing has been shipped to me as of 6/19

Ebay Pulls the full $494 from my paypal account

I now have nothing, the cards or the money

I am waiting on a callback.

[Seven Costanza]

Continued from above...

I contacted the buyer with a message that it was in their best interest to get involved.

He actually responded by saying he decided to keep the boxes and it wasn't worth the hassle to return them. (SHOCKING, Great call by the thread).

So Ebay calls me and said that it was a 'mistake' by an agent and that to please allow them 48-72 hours to correct it... NOPE, that is not good enough right? Like how can I be ok with ebay pulling $500 from my paypal account when a 'returned item' was never tracked as delivered back to me, let alone the tracking was never updated from just a label created. That is straight up stealing... automated stealing or not, it's reckless

I'm again waiting on a call back from a supervisor

[shrevecity]

I would not hang up until i have it. Go to ebay for business on facebook

[Seven Costanza]

So Ebay calls me and said that it was a 'mistake' by an agent and that to please allow them 48-72 hours to correct it.

It has been 7 days since ebay stole $471 from my paypal and 7 days since they reversed the case in my favor.. I still have not been paid back, even after 3 calls requesting a status update this past week.

[Seven Costanza]

Final result:

After 13 days passed from eBay stealing money from me, they finally paid me back...well, almost... They shorted me $7.50.. So in a nutshell, I gave eBay $7.50 to " borrow " $472 from ME for 13 days..

So moral of the story, if you get a refund request and a label is created and no tracking shows up after 5 days, you better tell the buyer to either ship the items back or cancel the return. Otherwise, if they do nothing eBay will take that money from you regardless of what their Rules state (they do not wait 5 days after package was delivered back to you to pull money).

Thanks for all the advice, hopefully my thread helps someone else down the line.