Seller cut the item with scissors

[bigdeals.etc]

So this happens pretty rarely... about a handful of times during my ebay career. The buyer stabs and impales the package with wolverine-like scissors and tears the item to shreds and cries to me about it. Okay maybe I embellished a bit there, but that's how every seller hears it right? Actually buyers usually just tell me they cut it or play dumb about a hole in the item and upon questioning and investigating we discover that the buyer accidentally cut the item.

That's why I've always included a warning label on every package I send out. It says "CAUTION: Do not open w/ sharp objects to avoid item damage". Since then (years) no one has complained to me about a cut item, until now. The buyer complained that the poly bag was sealed too tight and needed scissors. She cut the item and is asking for a free one.

What would you do?

[lovefindingtreasures2]

Agreed. Once in the buyers hands, if they break it or damage it, they did it, not the seller.

Your buyer wasn't careful when she opened the package. Shifting the blame to you, a clearly very seasoned shipper, is ridiculous. People need to take responsibility for their own actions, she ruined it, it's on her.

No store pays for damages once the item has been paid for and gone, B & M or online.

If it arrived damaged yes. Just my 2c.

[johnrj1226]

Simply tell the buyer  return for  refund.

1.  Have received many packages in a padded flat rate envelope that was stuffed like a Thanksgiving day Turkey and have used scissors  or a knife to open the envelope - ain't  cut nuttin' yet.

2.  Tearing open a poly bag  "ain't" that  easy - poly stretches - hard to tear.    I am male and ain't no 98 lb. weakling.  Do have calluses on my hands.  Simply use my thin  2.5" long blade Buck pocket knife that I've  carried since 1982 and sharpened once a month on a whetstone.

3.  Sold many denim long legged jeans - men's & women's sizes.  Those PFREs were also stuffed tight, end to end.  Not one complaint of a cut pair yet - started selling in 2010 and shipped a lot of high quality denim brands.

4.  Many on line items, probably most, are bought  by women, just from the salon with some new "drop dead gorgeous" (aka awesome)  acrylic finger nails.  They will use a knife or scissors guaranteed to open  the poly or cardboard box  packages.  Married to a Lone Star Lady for 36 years and she won't go outside to go to the mail box unless she is dressed to the nines.  I do like it like that.

[yuzuha]

Whenever I ship something in a poly bag, I wrap it in some tissue and bubble wrap first to ensure that there is a barrier to protect it not just from buyers with sharp objects, but also from getting damaged if the bag gets cut or ripped by sorting machinery, which does happen sometimes.

Most people are going to open poly bags with scissors.  I have never, ever encountered one (other than the eBay ones with the perforations) that you could just pull apart with your hands.  I'm not sure how else you expect your buyers to open them unless you are in fact using the eBay ones.

[coffeebean832]

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@yuzuha wrote:

I have never, ever encountered one (other than the eBay ones with the perforations) that you could just pull apart with your hands.

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I got packages from about a dozen different retailers over the last two weeks- all in poly bags and all with easy open perforation.

[inhawaii]

If this were to happen to me, i would send another.

At least she was honest with you. 

Chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

[yuzuha]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

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@yuzuha wrote:

I have never, ever encountered one (other than the eBay ones with the perforations) that you could just pull apart with your hands.

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I got packages from about a dozen different retailers over the last two weeks- all in poly bags and all with easy open perforation.

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If that's a new trend, then I'm glad for it.  I hardly order any clothing online these days, but when I did, it always used to come in poly bags that were impossible to open without a pair of scissors.

[coffeebean832]

I don't know the last time you ordered clothing or other soft goods online, but the perforation is something I've seen for at least 3 years now- if not longer.

I have no idea if the OP uses mailers with perforation- but even if they don't it's not difficult to "shake down" the package to leave a gap at the top for cutting.

I'm making an assumption that bigdeals does not regularly over stuff since this is their first cut item complaint in years. I think their buyer was careless- possibly a little rushed and not paying attention.

I would give the buyer a big enough discount to sell a replacement at a break-even price. If bigdeals can afford to replace it outright as a gesture of customer service then good for him.

[bigdeals.etc]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

I don't know the last time you ordered clothing or other soft goods online, but the perforation is something I've seen for at least 3 years now- if not longer.

I have no idea if the OP uses mailers with perforation- but even if they don't it's not difficult to "shake down" the package to leave a gap at the top for cutting.

I'm making an assumption that bigdeals does not regularly over stuff since this is their first cut item complaint in years. I think their buyer was careless- possibly a little rushed and not paying attention.

I would give the buyer a big enough discount to sell a replacement at a break-even price. If bigdeals can afford to replace it outright as a gesture of customer service then good for him.

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My poly bags don't have perforations. Personally I think there's room to cut, but I still use that warning label to pretty tell the buyer to use caution. It's cheaper to do that than opt for other poly bags. I use inner layers as well. And when I use boxes I put an extra piece of cardboard under the gap where most people use box cutters (which STILL have that warning label, haha). As a buyer or when I receive returned items, I always use my hands for poly or craft bags.

I'll just replace it to make the buyer go away. Having said that, people have mentioned how "practical" sellers should package their items... have you guys seen the totally crazy packaging (or lack of packaging) some buyers use on returned items??? If I took a photo of each substandard return package and post them here, I'd crash ebay's site by using up too much storage space. It's obviously not a two way street.

[bigdeals.etc]

My buyer sent me a photo of them trying to open my package.

[moondogblues]

I bought a really pretty silk shirt here a few years ago and when it got to me it was so jam packed in the poly bag that I cut it by accident. I didn't complain to the seller, sighed and threw the shirt out. I never bought another thing from that seller again.

[city*satins]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

The buyer complained that the poly bag was sealed too tight and needed scissors. She cut the item and is asking for a free one.

What would you do?

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Offer the buyer a discount on a new shirt and remind her that eBay polymailers- if that's what you use- are perforated so she wont need scissors to open the package.

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The one's they've been issuing for the past quarter aren't perforated and they have a humungous flap that's just begging to get caught in USPS machinery, so it has to be taped after being sealed.  You have to leave room for someone to use scissors to open but then the item moves around and risks (in the case of clothing) getting wadded up or wrinkled, so that means extra inner packaging to fold and bag or tissue it (or both) to minimize movement.

It's a nuisance.

[buyselljack2016]

My poly bags don't have perforations.

And some sellers tape over the perforations anyway

I reuse the many mailers that my wife gets her stuff in.  I shake my head when prepping them for reuse when I see the perforations that are not taped over. They are generally just below where she has opened it with the scissors

[city*satins]

FYI - the blue mailer on the left has a perforation and 2 strips.   The one on the right, has no perforation and just 1 stripe, and although the mailer tells you to open at the perforation, there is no perforation.   

[inhawaii]

 Opening a poly mailer (even without perforations) is not rocket science.  It's totally the customers fault if what's inside gets damaged

But still, as a gesture of GOODWILL i would ship the buyer another one in this situation.  That's just me. 

[2015mhfashions]

I wonder how many goodwill gestures you would hand out if people were to always " attack " packages with knifes or scissors, they know exactly what's inside, careful when opening anything, it's that simple.