Buyer states glasses broken, provides photos that are PHOTO Shopped, what do I do?

[fenixdog]

I sent 6 wine glasses via UPS very carefully packaged,  wrapped in bubble wrap, placed in a Styrofoam box and then placed in a box.  Buyer upon immediate delivery sends message, 4 glasses are broken.  I request photos and initially I receive no photos, then 2nd request I receive one photo, looks strange and I then request additional photos to show breakage.  I receive photos but the photos appear to have been edited, looks like what they call  photo shop editing.  What do I do?  I used for the first time UPS through eBay but I feel like I am dealing with a dishonest person.  If ask they return the package for a full refund, they may fill it with rocks and cost me a bundle in postage.  Please help by directing me what to do, calling eBay is a waste of time, they have no interest in getting involved. The eBay person I spoke to doesn't even know the difference between UPS and USPS and that Louisiana is a state.

[ittybitnot]

If they are just messaging you, wait until they file a return request.  It is best not to engage in a lot of back and forth communication.  Keep it simple. 

Dear buyer, 

Sorry your are not pleased with your purchase.  Please return for refund.

Sincerely, 

you

Yes, I know it doesn't make sense to 'return for refund' for broken glass.  You are not required to tell your buyer how to file a return request or claim either. 

Just about anything on ebay can be had for free by making a fraudulent claim.  It is very easy to do, and part of doing business on this site. 

[jayjaspersgarage]

I give up.  Do people know how poorly packages are handled by delivery drivers these days?  Never would I ever ship wine glasses.  Beer steins perhaps.  Thicker crystal glasses, sure.  Not wine glasses, real thin walled ones at least.

I sold a few dozen snow globes six years ago.  All were full and many were on music box bases.  I packed each one very carefully.  Only one out of the whole lot of 40 or so that took a couple months to sell off separated at the base so the liquid escaped.  I knew it was risky and the customer who bought the one that drained was all good with it because she knew how to refill them.  Talk about hitting gold with a customer with understanding and skills!

People are desperate these days and if they can scam a seller for even ten dollars they will.  Shoplifting of food has doubled in the past eleven months.  Be careful about selling expensive electronics and breakables.

[m_pthisandthat]

First, you need to handle the buyer carefully alot depends on what you can get him to do I suggest in all manners like this definitly use kid gloves. In my opinion others may differ. I really do not think you can do much about altered photos.  Have they filed a return request? Wait until they do. At this point in many cases I will try to get the buyer to accept some type of offer. You can sometime issue a partial refund and just then end the matter if they agree. Who wants to pay  for the return of broken glass. What also might be important here is did you insure the item? If you did and you have the buyer working with Photos of the damaged box and item might allow you to issue a postage claim. Having said all this if the buyer is a scammer issue refund and move on.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

Sounds like packing was good. Did you also mark the package "fragile", "handle with care", and / or "glass"?

Did you ship priority over ground so it was out there being moved / handles too many times?

[fenixdog]

Will I be able to send a UPS return label through eBay if they opt to return? And if so, if the dishonest buyer makes package heavier than what I sent, what happens?

[luckythewinner]

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@fenixdog wrote:

If ask they return the package for a full refund, they may fill it with rocks and cost me a bundle in postage.  Please help by directing me what to do, calling eBay is a waste of time, they have no interest in getting involved.

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Generally speaking, any buyer can steal any item from any seller at any time by filing a fraudulent dispute.

The corollary to this is that whenever you sell an item on eBay, you are risking the cost of the item and the cost of the shipping. (And the cost of return shipping, if you want to believe the buyer will actually return it).

EBay is not going to get involved because there is really nothing they can do. The only way to know conclusively what you shipped and what the buyer received would be to have a time machine and send an impartial observer back to witness you pack the item and the buyer open it.

They certainly aren't going to abandon their Money Back Guarantee because it "appears" to you that "it looks like" a photo was edited. If they did, they every seller would say that every time a buyer disputes an item, and all the buyers would leave.

So if a dispute gets filed, the pragmatist in me says you have two options - refund the buyer and take a $60 loss, or pay for return shipping of what will probably be a different item and take a $90 loss.

Your situation is one of the big reasons I only sell items that can ship for $5 or less by media mail or first class.

All that being said ...

Someone will be along shortly to explain how to file forms with UPS and the police and IC3 and try to coerce eBay into giving you a courtesy refund.

[lightlily_arts]

There is always going to be someone who attempts to scam you.   I have now had two buyers in the past year claiming damage during transit but wouldn't send me pictures.   I'm currently in process with my third.   On my other two I accepted the return and required for it be returned for a refund.  I never heard from them again.  If they send you something else back that's a different problem.  That means Mail Fraud, and those will require different actions. 

[ra_201044]

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@fenixdog wrote:

Will I be able to send a UPS return label through eBay if they opt to return? And if so, if the dishonest buyer makes package heavier than what I sent, what happens?

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You can send a USPS return label if they open a return. You won't get billed for that unless they use it.

Also, when they started this return label stuff, you aren't supposed to pay more for the return label than you paid for initial shipping, but I think that probably got knocked off of the list. 

[ra_201044]

The eBay person I spoke to doesn't even know the difference between UPS and USPS and that Louisiana is a state.

This is just out of control for ANY customer service from ANY company.

[lightlily_arts]

It is quite possible to ship wine glasses without breakage.  I ship them the same way I ship goose eggs.  In boxes that have cardboard dividers.  I wrap each glass with bubble wrap, and pack styrofoam peanuts all around them so they don't move.

[lightlily_arts]

Look you can send them your label, but there isn't anyway of controlling what they do but if the weight is off that could be helpful in filing a fraud claim.

[fenixdog]

The photos show the bottoms of the wine glasses broken off 

The bottoms are nicely sheared off and notice the wavy cut on the yellow glass.  I have never seen glass break so nicely and flat bottoms just break off at the very bottom.

[regren42]

Oh for crying out loud. The wavy break is due to the pattern on the glass, and thin stems like that are prone to shearing off if not packed properly. Stop accusing your buyer of fraud and do the right thing.

[1grandmashope_1]

I ship predominantly breakables.  I pride myself in my packaging.  With that said, sadly, I have had a few items damaged in shipping.  It makes sense, to me, that these glasses may have been broken at their stems.  The most vulnerable place on them during shipping.  I have handed certain USPS persons my packages to scan that were clearly marked fragile and seen them tossed in the bin. If it is done in front of the shipper, can you imagine how some may be handled?

So......I don't know about the photo shopping of this or not, but I personally would either ask for them to be returned with a return label or just refund. It really depends on the investment you have in them, whether you'd like them returned or not. 

Hope you find your way through this with the least amount of stress,

Grandma