What should I do with this buyer?

[jlb2]

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?

[bubbleman2010]

A insurance claim will be denied the item was forwarded...

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@fab_finds4u wrote:

I think it's terrible a seller gets to shirk their responsibility and they're not held accountable for breakage due to insufficient packaging because it was forwarded.

Generally an item won't break unless it was run over or the packaging was insuffient.  You have to pack it like you can throw it throw it down a flight of stairs and it doesn't break.  

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Many reshippers repackage things down to fit in as little space as possible.  All that protective packaging gets removed and tossed aside in the interest of saving space. THIS is the reason why sellers are only responsible for getting the item to the reshipper. The seller cannot control what the reshipper does with the package once they get it.

[southernfriedbelle]

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@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.

My husband and I were just talking about this and he said maybe the re-shipper unpacked the box and didn't do a good job of repacking before they sent it on to her.

IDK, I guess that's possible, but that seems like a lot of work for them to do for no reason.

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This is what I suspect may have happened. I know when we lived overseas, it was not at all uncommon to receive items that had undergone inspection. Usually it would occur in customs. These items were never repackaged in a manner that could have withstood any mishandling by a carrier. Any protective materials had simply been discarded. We finally just had to let people know not to send us anything breakable.

Of course, I have no idea if items forwarded by a reshipper are subject to the customs requirements of the country they end up in or not...

[moondogblues]

OP, from what I understand the Portland USPS has a vertical drop of quite a few feet. You did the best that you could by putting the item in a plastic tub, and with all the bubble and styrofoam...couldn't have done much more.

I live on the OR coast and all our mail comes out of Portland and a few things have been damaged or broken. Even 1st class envelopes now have bits out of them, which is distressing.
If I were you I would probably apply for the insurance refund, and then ask the buyer if they would like a partial to fix the lamp with. I'd also ask them to get a receipt for the repairs. And to message that receipt to you. Oh, and pics of the damage too.

I realize that since it was reshipped you are not responsible, but it would be the 'nice' thing to do.

[pvcliff]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Antique glass is very brittle and it isn't a hit that cracks it its the sudden stop concussion from a drop that cracks it. Glass has gotten a lot more shock resistent since the 1920s....

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Had a business associate who sold custom stained, etched, etc. glass. She always carried a 2'x3' sample panel into potential clients' homes. One day she banged her sample against the edge of the door as she was getting it out of the car. Checked it, good, no damage. Twenty minutes later she and her customer started to hear a weird noise and couldn't figure out what it was. Eventually they realized it was the glass panel cracking as it belatedly reacted to the vibration caused by getting bumped as it was removed from the car.

[jlb2]

I would do that  but I don't think the insurance will pay because it was re-shipped out of the country.

I guess I can try if she can send me  pictures so I can use them for the claim.

I think I'm going to have to limit what I ship  (breakable-wise) in the future and maybe put in my listing that I won't send the package to a reshipping facility.

This is so frustrating, not to mention discouraging.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@jlb2 wrote:

I would do that  but I don't think the insurance will pay because it was re-shipped out of the country.

I guess I can try if she can send me  pictures so I can use them for the claim.

I think I'm going to have to limit what I ship  (breakable-wise) in the future and maybe put in my listing that I won't send the package to a reshipping facility.

This is so frustrating, not to mention discouraging.

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Insurance won't pay since it was reshipped.

Your buyer apparently liked it so much, and it was apparently in good condition when she got it, right? Because she left positive feedback, right?

The reshipper is not the problem in this case. The buyer is trying to get something for nothing IMO.  (and this is coming from a very buyer-centric seller)

[sg51]

 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.

[jlb2]

That figures.

[pinupsplus]

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@fab_finds4u wrote:

I think it's terrible a seller gets to shirk their responsibility and they're not held accountable for breakage due to insufficient packaging because it was forwarded.

Generally an item won't break unless it was run over or the packaging was insuffient.  You have to pack it like you can throw it throw it down a flight of stairs and it doesn't break.  

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@fab_finds4u

I'm thinking you may not really be familiar with what freight forwarders are.  eBay and the seller have no way of knowing if the item was repackaged and shipped to the buyer.  Many of these freight forwarders are like mini-cubicles that are "rented" out to buyers.  Buyers have the choice of having the items immediately reshipped to them when the arrive at the forwarder or waiting until the items accumulate and are shipped at specific intervals.  The forwarders may open the boxes and consolidate the items so they ship in the most economical way possible.

Of course the seller isn't responsible, anything else would be completely inappropriate.  There is no shirking of responsiblity... They flat out aren't responsible.

[pinupsplus]

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@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.

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@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.

[sg51]

 HOWEVER, you can block payments from international buyers in you Paypal account.

Not if buyer pays directly by credit card, as is increasingly common these days.  No buyer paypal account is needed nor referenced.

[pinupsplus]

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@sg51 wrote:

 HOWEVER, you can block payments from international buyers in you Paypal account.

Not if buyer pays directly by credit card, as is increasingly common these days.  No buyer paypal account is needed nor referenced.

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Hmmmm i don't think that is an accurate statement, but the OP and anyone else can call Paypal and confirm this since I'm not really interested in blocking international buyers.  The block blocks the currencies type, not by the buyer's address.  I suppose it is possible that a buyer in Japan would hold a credit card that would pay out in USD, but that doesn't seem plausable... Like I said, anyone interested can actually CALL Paypal.  In the meantime, the OP can always set his/her Paypal account so that payments must be accepted or denied.  If the seller sees the processing fee is approximately 2.9% + .30 they can accept the payment.  If the processing fee is closer to 4% + .30, they know they have an international buyer and they can deny.

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/sell/mc/mc_receive-outside

Paypal also has a forum to answer questions, perhaps the OP and anyone else interested in blocking international payments can pose the question there:

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/PayPal-USA-Community/ct-p/US

[mr_lincoln]

@jlb2  I read your original post but nothing else on this thread so am just replying to it.

1. Awesome "box - in box" packaging, I've used the same type arrangement on fragile items and have ZERO issues with fragile things ... since you obviously know what you are doing I would doubt the damage claim

2. On the rare occasion when a Buyer messages that an item is damaged my reply is this simple: "Please send pictures for my records".  And then I wait ... oddly, items have been miraculously fixed when I get a reply.  If pictures are supplied and I believe there is damage then I ask them what they want to do and go from there. 

3. Insurance is great if one can win a claim ... the is NO set procedure with USPS on who processes the claim.  I spoke at length with our local Post Master and the one thing they stressed is either party can process the claim but ONLY one person should and there may need to be an inspection so if the Shipper does it then the item has to be returned.  I would tend to want to process the claim myself (as the shipper), then I would have control over the process and timing.

4. If the Buyer has a high FB count I would tend to think they might be trying to work the system and get a partial refund from you ...

[omgitlightsup]

Why on earth would a reshipper do anything else but put more padding and more box around what they received?

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?

Why on earth would someone buy an antique glass lampshade and have it shipped all over the world? 

I have so many questions. 

I bet your customer lives near a stained glass artist like me though. You might send her a helpful suggestion (after the dust clears) to have a local artisan repair it. It can be fixed, however bad it looks.