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Item arrived broken
Hi everyone! I have bought a number of Franklin Mint Star Trek items off of eBay. The ships and diorama’s and other things are very hard to mail without the original box that comes with the styrofoam made in the shape of the item. The ships are the hardest to mail. The nacelle’s are very easy to break off, the pewter bends easily, etc. Without the original box and styrofoam, you have to find a way to protect the ship without the protection itself causing it to break in transit. Just putting bubble wrap and peanuts around it doesn’t always work to protect it from breaking or bending. I recently bought Franklin Mint Star Trek Beyond The Final Frontier and the seller put bubble wrap all around the stand, all around the three little ships, between the nacelles of the two ships, and then taped pieces of cardboard boxes around all the ships. These pieces of cardboard were also taped to various other things in the box. Oh, and the ships seem to be attached to the stand and not removable. Tons of other bubble wrapping, too. It didn’t work. I think the jostling caused the bubble wrap around the ships and nacelles to damage them. Two were not attached to the stand, two were bent on the nacelles, and one ship had a nacelle torn off.
I contacted the buyer through eBay, but have not filed a claim with eBay yet. Maybe I am wrong, but I like to contact the buyer first and give them a chance to make it right. I sent photos, of course, and also offered to get a partial refund and just keep the item. The buyer said she had bought full coverage postal insurance for it, something no other buyer ever did with items I purchased, and would file a claim. (The cost of the item was more than the $100 insurance that comes with priority mail.) I heard from her later and she said she did file a claim. She said the post office might want to see the box and item, might be in contact with me, and she would be in contact me. With something like this, does the buyer wait until the post office makes a decision about the claim before getting refunded? If the post office does pay the claim, who gets the money? The seller, right?
How does this usually work? Does the seller file a postal insurance claim and then wait for the post office to make their decision before refunding the buyer? Doesn’t the seller usually ask you to mail it back and then refund you when they get it, refund you and say keep it, or do a partial refund and have you keep it? Then they do any postal insurance filing after that? She hasn’t refunded me any money, asked me to mail it back before she’d refund me, or said anything about me keeping it and refunding me half the money or anything like that. As far as I know, we are now waiting on the post office.
How long does a postal claim usually take? I suspect the post office is going to take a long time to deal with this. I also seriously doubt that they are going to pay the claim. I’ve read that the post office tries to avoid paying insurance claims. Also, I don’t know if the post office did mishandle the package. There isn’t much proof they did. The box wasn’t a priority mail box, but was mailed priority mail and had fragile written all over it. The box is in good condition, too. There isn’t a dent in the box or anything.
Since I have a limited time to file a claim with eBay, how long should I wait before just filing a claim with eBay?
Not to be paranoid, but for all I know this seller could be doing some kind of rip off scam. She could have gotten the pictures for her listing anywhere and the ship she sent could already have been damaged. If I wait until the post office makes its decision, that might take so long I can’t file with eBay any more.
If the buyer wants me to mail it back, do I have to do the packing up or can I have the buyer pay for a business to pack it up? I don’t ask that because I’m lazy. I ask because these things are hard to mail. This item might arrive back to the seller in even worse condition. What happens then? Can they use any damage that happens on its return trip to avoid refunding me all of the money? Also, this item will take a lot of wrapping up to mail it back and that does take a lot of time.
Thank you! Sherri
rfmtm
Mentor3 years agoOpen a Return Request for an ITEM NOT AS DESCRIBED, damaged, and let the seller take care of this.
Seller will pay for the return, if he wants it back, and/or refund. If no response by the fourth day, go back and ask ebay to step in. Do not close or let the case expire without doing this, if not resolved.