Item Arrived Damaged--Need Advice

[jott182]

Hello, 

I have a situation on my hands where I shipped a computer via eBay-purchased UPS label, insured, and packed with utmost care. It was heavily cushioned and suspended in the box to prevent what happened...The glass panels on the side shattered.

The buyer is being pretty chill as far as I can tell. I asked if he wanted to return it, or what he wanted to do. He quite honestly isn't forthcoming with any solutions of his own. He says he in fact wants the computer, but perhaps isn't computer savvy or willing to repair it, so he did mention he'd have to take it for repair locally.

He's going to attempt to power it up tonight and see if it functions, which I assume it should...

I am lost as to what to do here. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I'm avoiding getting eBay's LOVELY customer service involved here. They are useless and frustrating at best. Not to mention they have a history of screwing things up and screwing over sellers. 

The buyer sent me photos of the package and shattered glass inside, and the golden egg: he had a camera complete with sound at the front door. He sent me a video clip of the UPS man walking up, dropping the box callously on the ground, and looking sketch as you can believe, like he knew he messed up. He also turns as he's walking away, and jokes about how the box was, "rolling around in there [the truck]."

Please help me out with a resolution process here. Do I file a claim with Ebay immediately, do I wait for the buyer to tell me what he's thinking? He seems to want the computer. I'm thinking I may even be willing to refund him the cost of a repair if it means avoiding interaction with eBay's farce of customer service.

This was the last item I had planned to sell on eBay. I've had the most messed up experiences on here lately. I don't sell frequently, but of course my final sale had to go wrong.

Thank you.

[glasser]

If it was insured why not make the claim?  Everyone will be made whole.

Another option would be to have him get a written estimate for the screen repair (or maybe just look at a site youbreakIfix and see what it costs and refund him that amount.

As for the video, that could easily go viral 🙂 No really, I would contact UPS that is not what they what their drives doing and it would be PR disaster for them should it ever become public. The UPS drivers in my neighborhood are all top notch professionals. 

[bonjourami]

"Please help me out with a resolution process here. Do I file a claim with Ebay immediately, do I wait for the buyer to tell me what he's thinking?"

What kind of claim would that be? 

[shag182]

That video doesn't prove anything besides the UPS delivery guy mistreated the package. The computer's glass panel could of shattered anywhere from it's journey to the buyer. Unless you have a camera with a time and date stamp to record the instant the glass shattered inside the parcel.  Just file a claim with UPS, and refund the buyer. That's why you insured it. 

BTW, was it UPS ground??? I've sold hundreds and hundreds, maybe a thousand of expensive lappys ($500 to $2000 range) in the past, and NEVER had even one damaged. I read somewhere to always send/ship electronics via PRIORITY (USPS), or air (UPS, FedEx), and not slow ground. The reason being ground travel has a lot more bumps and shaking along the longer journey than faster AIR travel, thus FASTER AIR travel is safer for the electronic components inside of the computer. Less can go wrong. I followed that rule and had no problem.

[shag182]

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@jott182 wrote:

Hello, 

I have a situation on my hands where I shipped a computer via eBay-purchased UPS label, insured, and packed with utmost care. It was heavily cushioned and suspended in the box to prevent what happened...The glass panels on the side shattered.

The buyer is being pretty chill as far as I can tell. I asked if he wanted to return it, or what he wanted to do. He quite honestly isn't forthcoming with any solutions of his own. He says he in fact wants the computer, but perhaps isn't computer savvy or willing to repair it, so he did mention he'd have to take it for repair locally.

He's going to attempt to power it up tonight and see if it functions, which I assume it should...

I am lost as to what to do here. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I'm avoiding getting eBay's LOVELY customer service involved here. They are useless and frustrating at best. Not to mention they have a history of screwing things up and screwing over sellers. 

The buyer sent me photos of the package and shattered glass inside, and the golden egg: he had a camera complete with sound at the front door. He sent me a video clip of the UPS man walking up, dropping the box callously on the ground, and looking sketch as you can believe, like he knew he messed up. He also turns as he's walking away, and jokes about how the box was, "rolling around in there [the truck]."

Please help me out with a resolution process here. Do I file a claim with Ebay immediately, do I wait for the buyer to tell me what he's thinking? He seems to want the computer. I'm thinking I may even be willing to refund him the cost of a repair if it means avoiding interaction with eBay's farce of customer service.

This was the last item I had planned to sell on eBay. I've had the most messed up experiences on here lately. I don't sell frequently, but of course my final sale had to go wrong.

Thank you.

---

If the buyer is willing to keep the computer and have the damage repaired, just reimburse the cost of the repair to the buyer.  I had a similar situation happened with a used Remote Controlled 1/10 scale truck, which the motor didn't work right when the buyer received it, which was working when I sent it out, because I tested it. Must of something happened along the way? Who knows. The buyer wants the RC vehicle and to repair it, and told me how much it would cost. I told him.... A-OK! Refunded the repair amount back to his PayPal account. That was the end of that story.  ALL the best to you.

[jonathankirkland]

First of all - has the buyer opened a case yet or just waiting for you to tell them how you'd like to proceed?

Normally I don't recommend giving partial refunds, but if the behavior of the buyer feels honest and legit I would be more comfortable and feel like it's less likely to be a scammer. Sure there are pro scammers out there, but those ones are probably just filing false SNADs and returning rocks rather than making up stories about things being broken.

For me personally, I'd inform the buyer that I would first like go the insurance route and see what happens there, especially if you have a copy of that video you can show someone at UPS or send them via email or something. See if the buyer is willing to be a bit patient before opening a case.

If that fails, and he gives you an estimate for the repair, I would probably just refund the repair amount and be done with it.

I know it really sucks when a carrier is careless and fails us, and costs us money, but by selling here ALL of us agreed that we would take responsibility for what that 3rd party does with our packages and guarantee the item would arrive in the condition we sent it out in, even though it's completely out of our control.

Best of luck, I hope you'll update us once you reach a conclusion to the matter.

[toysaver]

"I shipped a computer via eBay-purchased UPS label, insured, and packed with utmost care."

You have to be comfortable that if you dropped the package on cement nothing would be amiss.   You have to expect every package you ship will be dropped at some point in the process.  It will be tossed, jostled, kicked and packed like sardines with other boxes on it's journey. 

"He sent me a video clip of the UPS man walking up, dropping the box callously on the ground"

That's their job; drop and run.  What did you want him to do, build a nest out of grass clippings?  My FedEx guys are so fast they could qualify for the Olympics.

[jonathankirkland]

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@toysaver wrote:

"I shipped a computer via eBay-purchased UPS label, insured, and packed with utmost care."

You have to be comfortable that if you dropped the package on cement nothing would be amiss.   You have to expect every package you ship will be dropped at some point in the process.  It will be tossed, jostled, kicked and packed like sardines with other boxes on it's journey. 

"He sent me a video clip of the UPS man walking up, dropping the box callously on the ground"

That's their job; drop and run.  What did you want him to do, build a nest out of grass clippings?  My FedEx guys are so fast they could qualify for the Olympics.

---

I feel like packages should be placed on ones porch, not dropped. If it was dropped, thrown or whatever at a weird angle surely that could impact some glass inside even if it was packaged well...

[coolections]

NO, do not have the buyer fix it. You will have to refund and file an insurance claim. Have the buyer keep the item and the original shipping box and let them know you filed an insurance claim. Tell them you filed the claim and to wait for further instructions given to you through the insurance claim.

[drusalina]

I knew someone who worked for UPS years ago.  He told me that they would Purposely throw packages and listen to the sound of the Crash.  He said they did it to make their managers angry and the managers  would have to answer to the damaged goods. 

I shipped an item via UPS one time because of a customer's instance.  It cost me more than USPS and then UPS charged me extra fees for picking it up.  Never used UPS again.  

Once a customer has a bad experience with a company or seller, they usually don't go back.   I know I don't. 

[drusalina]

File the claim with UPS and let him keep the computer.  No point in extra money being spent.   Tell him it is on him to get it fixed if he wants to. 

 Anytime you sell items, especially on eBay, be sure you can suffer a loss. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     I am not sure how the insurance claims work with UPS but with USPS either the sender or the receiver can file a claim with the carrier. It is often easier for the receiver to do so since they can take the package into the shipper along with the original packing to show how it was packaged. 

     Unfortunately l lot of buyers simply want to return the damaged item and the sellers chances of settling an insurance claim from their side, from my experience, have been slim. See if you can work with the buyer and have him take it into UPS they may cover the cost of the repairs or fully refund for the item. If eBay gets involved in this you are probably going to loose the money and the computer. 

     I actually succeeded in working with a buyer once on a damaged USPS arrival that the buyer took into USPS along with the original packing. USPS paid the claim almost immediately probably had something to do with the tire tread marks that were on the wrapping. 

[jott182]

Hey guys, thanks (most of you) for the input. Here is an update of the situation..

The buyer has remained chill thus far. No he has not opened any case against me, but since I bought the label through eBay I need to file the UPS claim through eBay. Either way UPS wants a very specific set of photos of the package and label…

The buyer seems to continue to disregard my asking him nicely in 3-4 different messages for those photos. He’s mentioned that he’s willing to be patient for UPS, and/or accept a repair/replacement of the glass side panels on the PC tower.

I am scared to death. He’s typically been quick getting back to me, but has gone silent for just over 24 hours. He said the computer works fine last we spoke, he cleaned the glass out, and would just like panels. Still won’t talk to me about providing what I need to file this UPS claim.

UPS says they could straight up deny your claim if you don’t have the photos on their list of requirements. I don’t know that the video, although pretty incriminating, would be enough.. 

Man, why oh why did I think I could sell just one more thing on this platform that makes me terribly nervous 😂 .. the fact that my claim has to go through eBay is nightmarish. If I had known that I would straight up never buy labels from eBay. Word of advice to casual sellers…if your item is fragile, just avoid that headache. 

[gjs_16]

The only viable solution would have been to reply to the initial buyer's message with:

Dear Buyer,
I am sorry if you are unhappy with your purchase, please return for a full refund.
Thank you,

Seller

... Unfortunately that option seems to be off the table now.

[jott182]

I’m basically in a position where the buyer claims he agrees he would like to have the computer, and the resolution, but won’t do his part in it. I asked him to get me some specifics on the computer for replacement parts, and he hasn’t paid any mind to that request either.

im just waiting for the dude to open a case and eBay to grab me by the throat and pour their reproductive fluid down my throat, the eBay way.