Item broken in transit - what happens now?

purplepatch

Second problem purchase in a week

I bought a beer glass, only a cheap item, and it's arrived smashed. It wasn't packed particularly brilliantly, but was marked fragile which the PO have obviously ignored.

Emailed the seller yesterday morning (attached a photo of the broken glass as proof) but no reply yet. Where do I stand with this as the item was only sent standard first class, no insurance - it wasn't offered. I paid by paypal.

Is the seller obliged to refund me? Or is it my tough luck?

culpepper

I would tell the seller it arrived broken and ask for my money back.It is up to the seller to package it safely and they didnt.

I noticed a man in front of me in the post office with a long very flimsy looking packet the other day.He had put fragile on it but that assumes it isnt just slung into a pile of packages which I expect they all are.

JPS

Hi PP

Sorry to hear about your item being smashed - must have been v annoying when you received it.

Unfortunatly, I don't think it is up to the seller to refund you, if it was packaged well enough and it had fragile marked on it. Does this seller sell a lot of fragile items?

If it is the PO's fault, you need to get in touch with them. I believe any package is covered up to £28, even if it is just standard 1st class mail. How much did the item cost you?

If you contact the seller and RM, you should be able to sort something out. Don't be too surprised if your compensation is 12 1st class stamps from RM though!!

soolin

As you paid by paypal give the buyer a day or so to refund you and if you don't hear from him just start a chargeback. It isn't up to you to make a claim from the post office it is up to the seller to do that. It is also up to the seller to ensure that he covered himself by taking adequate insurance, or by obtaining a certificate of postage. However, the seller will need your co operaton to make a claim, the PO may need the item back, so do co operate if asked, as I'm sure you will.

As for the parcel being marked fragile it doesn't really matter, the only thing that matters is whether it was packed properly.

Soo

purplepatch

soolin wrote:

As you paid by paypal give the buyer a day or so to refund you and if you don't hear from him just start a chargeback. It isn't up to you to make a claim from the post office it is up to the seller to do that. It is also up to the seller to ensure that he covered himself by taking adequate insurance, or by obtaining a certificate of postage. However, the seller will need your co operaton to make a claim, the PO may need the item back, so do co operate if asked, as I'm sure you will.

As for the parcel being marked fragile it doesn't really matter, the only thing that matters is whether it was packed properly.

Soo

Thanks Soo

I've now heard from the seller, who whilst he sounds fairly sympathetic, has told me to contact my local sorting office to sort it out. He says he packed it well - it was in a bubblewrap lined box packed with straw to be fair. I'd received a similar glass the week before that was just bubblewrapped and in a jiffy envelope, and that was fine - obviously this one has taken a massive whack - it is a really chunky glass and the base of it was smashed to smithereens.

Is there any ebay link that I can refer him to that says that the onus is on him to refund me and claim the money back from royal mail? He says he can send me the receipt if it helps.

Not sure how to tackle this - I don't mind ringing the sorting office, but it isn't particularly practical for me to go down there with it as he suggests. It would probably cost me as much in petrol as the bloody glass is worth!

soolin

Hi purple patch,

The post office will probably not deal with you, only with the seller as he will be the one with any postal receipts. It might be worth giving your sorting office a quick ring just to say you have received a broken item and see what they say, and then if they want postage details refer them straight back to the seller.

I find the help system on ebay difficult when trying to get an exact reply to a question, however the following link does give the information that the seller needs to protect themselves against disputes (lost or broken items) by sending an item trackable and insured, so that might be useful:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/confidence/know-buyer-tips.html

However, you still have the option of starting a chargeback via paypal, the seller cannot prevent you doing that. Log into your paypal account and click on resolution centre and work from there. However I don't know how easy it is to prove your case, my only experience has been for non received items where paypal almost always find for the buyer. EVen if paypal do find in your favour they can only get money back that is in the sellers paypal account and he may have cleared it out already. However, once paypal lay a charge on his account it means that if he continues trading and received another payment they can use that to refund you.


Good luck

Soo

purplepatch

Thanks again Soo.

I phoned the sorting office and they said that the sender should fill out a claim form. They may or may not send an inspection team member round to my house to check the item, then they will pay out. I've found a claim form on RM's website which I will send to the seller and advise him that he needs to make the claim himself and in view of this will ask him to please refund my payment. If he won't play ball, I guess I will have to do a chargeback. I believe I've got 45 days to make a claim.

What happens about feedback - neither of us have left any yet. If he gets funny about it and I do a chargeback, do I risk him negging me?

What a palaver over something that cost less than a fiver

soolin

Hi Purple Patch. You always run the risk of a negative but it is a Catch 22 situation as the seller knows you can leave him feedback as well.

Soo

3card

I am a seller & buyer on Ebay.
Only this week I sent an item worth £20 to a buyer, he emailed me the following day to tell me it had arrived damaged.
I packed the item so the buck stops with me as any liability risk with regards to the damage. I would not expect the buyer to sort this out as I have a contract with the carrier & it is me to sort it out.
Tell the seller to sort it out or you will put the wheels in motion to claim back your money.
This as now happened to me 3 times & each time the carrier/post office say that if the item was damaged it obviously wasn't packaged properly. Its hard to argue with this thinking. Isn't it???

I came to an arrangement with my buyer to offer a reduction in the price to offset the damage. We were both happy!!

3card