Seller shipped iPad in envelope...

[armymanmom]

 I recently bought an iPad and paid for it immediately after the auction ended. I got a message from the seller within five minutes of my payment asking me if I would like to purchase insurance for an extra $10. He told me that he did not offer refunds and he would hate for me to lose my money. I ask if he planned to wrap the iPad in bubble wrap and write fragile on the box. He replied that he would write fragile on the envelope that he was shipping it in. He kept repeating that he would really be sad if it got broken during shipment because he didn't want me to lose my money. I sent him a message the next day and told him to please wrap it in bubble wrap and put it in a box as it would not survive shipping in an envelope and that the insurance would not pay anyway if it wasn't properly packaged in a box. He replied that he had already shipped it that morning and then he paid for the insurance with his own money and if he had known that I was going to message him with a concern like that that he would not have even have shipped it. From that point on, he was very rude and told me that I was hostile just because I tried to tell him that the insurance would not pay if it was improperly packaged. I was very suspicious of him from the start but as our conversation went on I was really suspecting that he was trying to pull some kind of insurance scam. He said that he took the iPad to the post office and put it in the envelope and that the post office inspected the iPad and the way he packaged it and said it was fine and insured it. I called USPS and talked to two different people who both said that the post office would not even have accepted the envelope if they had known that there was glass inside it, much less have watched him package it and told him it was fine. He said that if it arrived damaged I would have to take it to the post office and file for the insurance. (Now his story has changed and he says he has to file for it. )As I figured it would, it arrived shattered and sticking out through holes in the envelope. There was basically no padding in the envelope and the charging block was laid on top of the screen. I now have tiny bits of glass in my fingertips and under my eye that hurt pretty bad. I am diabetic and recently had 3 eye surgeries. I cannot afford to get infections from these glass pieces and will have to go to my dr to probably go back on antibiotics. I have been admitted to the hospital before from what would have been a simple cut for anyone else. After a lot of back and forth, he accepted my return but would not reply when I asked if he was going to send the return shipping label. eBay has now stepped in and sent the label. After the past few days, my fingers and eye are very sore and I am pretty hesitant to handle this glass anymore. It is like a fine powder of glass all over this package. It needs to go straight into the dumpster. Is it even legal to send this through the mail? I am chronically ill with many different conditions including chronic pain and I have no one to help me with this. I have until May 9th to return this and I do not drive. I have to try to find someone to help me and if I do, I don't want them to get the glass powder on them either. I'm not sure what my options are here but I paid $86 plus $11.65 shipping for this and I do not have a lot of money. You would think that for that much in shipping cost, that he could have at least shipped it in a box. Does anyone have any advice? Thank you.