eBay

jlb2 · ‎08-16-2017

On July 28th I sent an antique slag glass lampshade to a buyer who said she was in Canada but the shade would be shipped to Washington State (because i don't sell out of the country). So, the sale went through and she paid.

I packed it very well...I used a plastic storage tub and put slabs of styrofoam around it after wrapping it in bubble wrap. I then added styrofoam peanuts, more styrofoam pieces and put the whole thing in another box to ship. It was delivered 3 days later and I never heard another thing. Positive feedback was left for me and i left positive feedback for her. Alls good I'm thinking.

Fast forward to today and I get a nasty e-mail that the lampshade had two broken panels and I didn't know how to pack because there was nothing between the inside (hard plastic) box and the outside (heavy duty cardboard) box.

I told her it was well packed, positive feedback was left and I don't know what she's trying to pull but I'm not buying it.

She didn't mention insurance and didn't send any pictures of the damage. I did buy insurance on the item because it's was on the expensive side ($199.00).

This has me pretty upset and I don't know why she waited over 2 weeks to contact me, why she would leave feedback or what the heck is going on.

What should I do...if anything?

imakesugar · ‎08-17-2017

Definately a reshipper....

imakesugar · ‎08-17-2017

@omgitlightsup wrote:
Why on earth would a reshipper do anything else but put more padding and more box around what they received?
Probably much like GPS they probably take it out of the outside box to save weight.
And if they did open it and (poorly) re-pack it, would one not assume that they'd have noticed the damage then and alerted the sender than an insurance claim was appropriate?
Seems like thecompany will take pictures at at additional charge (See below pic)

Why on earth would someone buy an antique glass lampshade and have it shipped all over the world?
Do You think they save on customs charges? I see they will take out the invoice as a service. There is also an additional cost for other requests. Sugar

jlb2 · ‎08-17-2017

Thank you! I started using the plastic storage bins for the box because they are so strong and almost crush proof compared to cardboard boxes. I get them at auctions and Goodwill fairly inexpensively. I've sent whole sets of dishes and other fragile lamps and have had no problems, that's why I was so shocked when I got her message. I had doubled boxed the shade because she specifically requested that I do so.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the reshipper unpacked it because the box was quite big. I used a good sized plastic bin to accommodate all the Styrofoam and bubble wrap. Then the second outside box added more to the total.

This is my first experience with a buyer using a reshipper.

When she messages me back I'll ask for pictures, I'm especially interested to see what the boxes looked like to see if they are mine.

I wonder if she can file a claim with the reshipper?

imakesugar · ‎08-17-2017

I posted 4 pictures from Google and one from an online link. ( I found the link by googling reshippers Portland OR )Be sure and put the pictures in the file IF she files a NAD case. You will then NOT be responsible! after You get the pictures from Her I'd quit talking to her. Tell her to file a case. Then call CS and tell them where the item was sent. Ask if they will close this case in Your favor right away. Call early AM so You can get an American CS.

Either that OR You could just send her the link to the rules where YOU are Not responsible after the item is sent to a reshipper. She already left You a Positive FB Send her the pictures that I posted.

I think the ITEM DID arrive perfectly. I think that She probably broke it herself by mishandling the Shade herself. I think She then thought the money back guarantee would cover her mistake... Sugar

penguins_dont_fly · ‎08-17-2017

@jlb2 wrote:
This is the address I sent to box to:

13820 NE Airport Way Ste 79251
Portland, OR 97251
United States

Googling that address gets me "ReShip" ... a freight forwarder...with some horrid reviews.

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.reship.com

penguins_dont_fly is a Volunteer Community Mentor
Buying and Selling since 2013

a_c_green · ‎08-17-2017

@jlb2 wrote:
Hi, I know exactly what you mean and I did stuff the inside of the shade tightly with wadded paper and bubble wrap. Then I wrapped the whole thing in small bubble wrap...then in large bubble wrap.
I also put a slab of styrofoam on the bottom and the top of the box so there was some insulation between the two boxes...in addition to the styrofoam in the plastic tub.

Let me first say up front that the reshipping does render the damage claim moot anyway, so the following here is purely academic now:

While the item was double-boxed as recommended, if those "slabs" of styrofoam were rigid pieces (such as the stuff used to make picnic coolers and such), they not only would not provide cushioning to the inner box, but also would in fact act to transmit outside shocks directly to the inner box. Try punching a thick piece with your hand, and you'll find that although styrofoam is very light, it has no real cushioning ability. The buyer seems to hint at this in a portion of their email that you quoted in Message 6 of this thread (here😞 "It is unfortunate you do not understand the principle of double boxing. To have the inner box basically the same size as the outer box with no insulation material between the 2 boxes defies all logic."

I would have wrapped the inner box in at least two layers of large-cell bubblewrap, and then placed that into the outer box. The bubblewrap will serve to suspend the inner box in an air gap all around, and soak up impacts without transmitting them to the item inside.

jlb2 · ‎08-17-2017

You may be right about that but I did put a deep layer of peanuts and about 5 layers of bubble wrap around the lamp.

I used the Styrofoam slabs from other things that have been shipped to me. I just wonder why any manufacturer uses it if it has no real cushioning effect?

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-17-2017

Damage may not have occurred before the re-shipper repacked the item, and that is why they did not notice it. It wasn't there. It could have occurred after the reshipper repacked and sent the item on. They are interested in shipping inexpensively, so they don't put more packing or box around the item.

This has been commonly reported on the Boards, the repackers remove the packing the seller put there, and thus the damage occurs after they do this and send the item on. This was confirmed by sellers asking buyers how the item they received was packed, and from the buyer's description, it was inadequately packed and not how the seller had packed it.

a_c_green · ‎08-17-2017

jlb2 wrote:
I used the Styrofoam slabs from other things that have been shipped to me. I just wonder why any manufacturer uses it if it has no real cushioning effect?

Right, it's used in those cases not for cushioning but for crush-resistance, because the retail packaging in which you find it is shipped as palleted freight (i.e. multiple, identical units, stacked like bricks in a cube and moved by forklift). The rigid styrofoam inside serves to protect the box on the bottom from being crushed under the weight of the others above it.

But when you mail something, it's traveling loose, by itself, and needs different protection, to guard against tumbling, dropping, hard hits, and other hazards that retail shipping doesn't have. It needs cushioning to protect it from impact when it rolls off a conveyor and drops into a bin, and I suspect that's how the glass may have cracked in shipping. The internal padding alone may not have been enough to protect it from its own inertia, and it slammed against a hard surface inside that was just enough to crack it.

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-17-2017

This is also why Ebay does not hold the seller responsible; it is not that the seller is shirking responsibility. Their responsibility ends when the item is received by the reshipper, which is fair, since it got there safely and many reshippers repack, so the packing at that point, and any issues thereafter, is not the seller's responsibility but the reshippers. Seller do not and should not have to take responsibility for the acts of the reshipper.

rolenboy01 · ‎08-17-2017

@pinupsplus wrote:
@sg51 wrote:
maybe put in my listing that I won't send the package to a reshipping facility.

You can put that in your listing, but you sure can't enforce it. More precisely, if you do enforce it, you will take painful defects for each such event.
@sg51
@jlb2
You cannot enforce that you will not ship to a reshipping facility. HOWEVER, you can block payments from international buyers in you Paypal account. I stated this in another thread and another poster came in after me and said that it only works if you have a business account. Then another poster came in and stated that wasn't accurate. I have a business account, so I cannot say which is correct. Two points, if I didn't want to ship international via a freight forwarder, I'd certainly be on the phone figuring out which statement was correct. IF only business accounts are the only accounts able to block international payments (I simply can't believe this would be true), I'd be figuring out what it takes to make my Paypal account a business account.

BTW, if you block international payments, you will not be able to participate in the GSP... not that you would want to anyway.

I've blocked international payments they still get around it anyway.

penguins_dont_fly · ‎08-17-2017

<<I've blocked international payments they still get around it anyway>>

The wording on that setting is "block payments in a currency I do not hold"

So, if a buyer is using a Credit Card that allows the buyer to choose the currency, then the block will not apply.

penguins_dont_fly is a Volunteer Community Mentor
Buying and Selling since 2013

jlb2 · ‎08-18-2017

I did go into Paypal and set all my settings as tightly as possible to block international sales.

I also check mark "US sales only" (or whatever the woding is) on ebay.

I had the setting checked when I sold this lampshade because I didn't want it shipped out of country because of the hassles.

I really wish there was a way to block re-shipping, it doesn't seem right that ebay won't allow sellers to decided about that or not...especially since the insurance I bought doesn't cover the item once it leaves the country. That's so frustrting.

papermoneyforme · ‎08-18-2017

@pinupsplus wrote:
@jlb2

Your Canadian buyer utilized a freight forwarder in Washington. Your buyer has lost their eBay buyer money back guaranty the moment they had that package forwarded, They cannot claim INR and they cannot claim SNAD, they CAN give ou a negative FB unless you can get eBay to block their FB.
Not covered
Buyer remorse or any reason other than not receiving an item or receiving an item that isn’t as described in the listing (see the seller’s return policy for return options).
Items damaged during local pick-up.
Items not delivered, damaged during collection, or damaged during shipment when the buyer arranges pick-up or shipping of the item (for instance, the buyer arranges freight).
Duplicate claims through other resolution methods.
Local pickup items that were not collected by, or on behalf of the buyer.
Items shipped to another address after original delivery.
Vehicles (see eBay Vehicle Protection), Real Estate, Websites & Business for Sale, Classified Ads, services, and some Business Equipment categories (see eBay Business Equipment Purchase Protection).
Items sold through Sotheby's.
Items purchased on half.com, eBay Wholesale Deals, or Close5.

FB is blocked if a buyer loses a case. So in "theory", if the buyer opens a SNAD through eBay, you can contact eBay and have them review the notes where she says it will be shipped to Washington and then forwarded to her in Canada. Once they establish the buyer no longer has the MBG, they close the case in your favor and the buyer is blocked from leaving you a negative.

The buyer can then go to Paypal and open a SNAD there, however they would be required to return the item AT THEIR EXPENSE to get a refund.

May not be a freight forwarder.

There are border shipping locations where parcels can be picked up by the purchaser and taken through customs themselves. Sometimes it takes a while to get picket up.

They exist all over the place along the US and Canadian border.