Bought UPS Label from eBay and Now I Can't File a Damage Claim

[joezac360]

I sold a vintage clock with glass dome and purchased a UPS label from eBay. The well-packed and taped box was damaged by UPS and the well-packed contents still resulted in a broken glass dome. The buyer reached out and because a dome was not available on eBay, I had the buyer purchase the dome from Amazon. I then made a partial refund to cover that dome UPS broke. It cost me more than the sale, as eBay dinged me.

Now UPS will not accept my claim because I purchased the label from eBay. I see eBay used to have a damage claim form, but no more.  All I'm greeted with is eBay bots. I did the right thing and immediately cared for the eBay buyer. Now I am out a vintage clock and it cost me money. I will never buy a label from eBay again. This is a total ripoff.

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

You have to follow a specific process to file a claim on a UPS label purchased through eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipcover/shipping-insurance-shipcover?id=4643#section3

Step by step guide with screenshots:

https://ir.ebaystatic.com/pictures/sc/pdf/UPS_Claims_Process_for_eBay_Sellers_2022.pdf

Follow the process exactly.

[redlinear]

@joezac360 
    A broken glass claim won't be paid anyway (by USPS, UPS, or FedEx)

[joezac360]

Their website says they do if it was due to their damage of the box and it was damaged by them despite a half roll of tape.

[redlinear]

---

@joezac360 wrote:

Their website says they do if it was due to their damage of the box and it was damaged by them despite a half roll of tape.

---

I've NEVER had a claim paid on broken glass (IF, I said it was glass OR if they knew it was glass)  

    

[wastingtime101]

---

@joezac360 wrote:

Their website says they do if it was due to their damage of the box and it was damaged by them despite a half roll of tape.

---

Half a roll of tape isn't relevant.

Carrier will ask the buyer for the broken item and all packing materials for inspection. They (all carriers) usually deny damage claims on items like broken glass due to "insufficient packaging" unless there's something like a big hole in the box or tire tracks showing it was run over.

If you packed with bubble wrap and foam padding and double-boxed with an added layer of cushion between the boxes they may pay out. Good luck.

[joezac360]

Interesting. Thanks.

[joezac360]

That does describe how I packed it and the corner of the box was ripped open. I mentioned the tape as there had to be major force to rip the corner like that with all the tape. Thank you.

[redlinear]

@wastingtime101 
The tire track thing isn't an exception.  That claim was still denied 🤣

[wastingtime101]

Have you noticed with USPS specifically they automatically deny all claims now? You have to appeal (sometimes twice) to get paid out even on obvious things like lost packages. 🙄

[redlinear]

---

@wastingtime101 wrote:

Have you noticed with USPS specifically they automatically deny all claims now? You have to appeal (sometimes twice) to get paid out even on obvious things like lost packages. 🙄

---

No, I've not even bothered to file a USPS claim in years.
Best we could tell, from early on....All three seemed to have a Standard Operating Procedure:  Pay all claims under $100, Deny everything else.
From 1998 through 2016, I had an employee that took care of all of the shipping issues (aside from actual packaging).  He was also our version of a  "Debt Collector".
Best guess was sometime in the mid 2000's, I told him to just stop "pursuing" shipping claims.
He was to make All claims for a random amount between $80 to $95 (regardless of the sale amount).
If denied, he was done...Do Not Pursue Further.  
His time/labor was costing too much money for basically no gain.

And, like I said above, he was our dept collector.  He was RELETNLESS.  Just flat out the nicest person beginning to end of every phone call, to every unpaid account over 90 days.  BUT, he would call every day, sometimes twice a day. Sometimes three times a day. 
SO, just that, tells ya how he was about shipping claims not being paid.  I almost expected a thankyou card from UPS and FedEx when I made him stop pursuing denied claims. LOL

Anyway, when we started going thru eBay to ship?   Just the initial claim itself was mostly a waste of time/labor.  Most of the claims would be on things under $20.  If ya got paid, it cost $50 to get it.
So, we just refunded the customer and moved on. 
And that's what still do.