Buyer beware or poor seller?

[nixtfy]

Hey Guys,
Here on Pelican I have bought and sold misc. parts and cars over the past 12 years. I think the pelican community is the best place to buy and sell parts. My last purchase has me scratching my head. This was a $500 fiberglass panel

I don’t want to call out the seller, but am really just soliciting opinions. I think the seller did not use care to find the right size box being a large and odd shaped item. He chose to WRAP it in cardboard not box it. He used a minimal amount of bubble wrap on the corners. When I received the package. A corner of the part was sticking/protruding out of the cardboard. A hold down pin was cracked. I immediately contacted the seller and sent him the pics.
He was upset with fedex. I filed a claim with fedex and never heard from them to inspect the item. They just denied the claim
Seller then filed a 2nd claim with the pics I sent him. They denied the claim “ not adequately packaged for safe transportation”. He offered me a refund less return shipping. I had to pay for return shipping for a part that I received damaged. Return shipping was $112.00. This damage was no fault of mine.

What perturbs me is that the seller flat out blames fedex, minimized the damage ( I could glue it; $500 part) and then tells me he will not pay for shipping back. He tells me I can file a paypal claim, but will get the same result.
He states on occasions when he has purchased items on eBay he has had to pay return shipping.
Again I have always found pelican to be a great buy and sell community. This experience won’t ruin it for me.

[nathanbs]

Been there in your shoes. Very frustrating that’s for sure. When packaging is poor I think all that’s lost including any/all shipping should be the responsibility of the seller. It’s like the classic example of the car wash crashing your car into a pole and offering to refund the $14.95 that the car wash cost as their way of making it right.

[Cajundaddy]

I had a similar situation 10 years ago with 3 fairly heavy items shipped from PA to CA. Poorly boxed with stuff hanging out when it arrived and partly broken. I got the finger from UPS and the ebay seller disappeared into the woodwork. I could have spent a lot of energy fighting this and chasing a refund, but after sleeping on it I figured out I could source the broken part for about $25 and with an hour labor have it back in good condition. That is how I chose to spend my energy and those items served me well for a long time.

As for the rat seller? Karma is a ***** and I am certain it will come back around in good time.

[nixtfy]

I learned my lesson Years ago. Don’t go cheap on shipping materials and insurance. I sold a set of h1’s for $350 when prices were reasonable. During transit One lense was broken and apparently a ring was dinged. The buyer still wanted them and I think I refunded half the purchase price. $175

[DFW_IE]

I’m always scared that I will damage something sold during shipping.

I always go overboard when I package the item. Many times it costs me extra to do so. But to me the extra cost is worth not having to deal with broken items, claims, hurt feelings etc. Why sell something if you aren’t going to ensure that the seller gets what they paid for.

[Reno775]

It happens. It sucks when it does. Shipping company will never admit any mishandling. Hopefully net gains sourcing parts from private sellers vs retail outweighs net losses+the occasional extra work of re shipping.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Originally Posted by DFW_IE

I’m always scared that I will damage something sold during shipping.

I always go overboard when I package the item. Many times it costs me extra to do so. But to me the extra cost is worth not having to deal with broken items, claims, hurt feelings etc. Why sell something if you aren’t going to ensure that the seller gets what they paid for.

I do the same, you buy an engine, I crate it for free. Why? Because guy's are too cheap and would say, "Just strap it to a pallet." and then when it gets destroyed they would say, "You should have crated it." A broken engine doesn't help anyone, and that's one less engine in the world.

----Adam

[crb07]

I purchased a Mcintosh tuner off eBay. Asked to confirm it would be double boxed........
Was loosely in a single box with minimal newspaper as packing. Glass faceplate was cracked but amazingly not much more damage. My conversation with the seller was unbelievable. He did refund me the cost of a faceplate but what a clueless idiot. You have to be really clear with packing details but every now and again you will get someone who doesn’t get it.

[Unobtanium-inc]

I knew a guy one time who sold a fiberglass hardtop to a guy, charged him to crate it. Took him six weeks to ship it because the crate was taking a long time to build. When he finally shipped it the top was in a large cardboard box, and it arrive with lots of cracks in the glass. The seller said, the trucking company did it, not me!

---Adam

[sugarwood]

Why would you not name the seller?
Do you want others to have the same experience as you?
What a waste of a thread that solves nothing, nor helps anyone here.

I would return the part and get your $400 back.
At least the idiot seller may learn from his mistake.
As of now, he's learned nothing, and YOU are an enabler.

[nixtfy]

Call out the seller? He refunded the money.. the $112 return shipping was the dispute.

The seller makes a living selling parts. Here on pelican he has quite a few happy customers. This was one experience. He shipped quickly and responded to every message. I think most sellers would be MIA.

[darrin]

my concern here is that the seller basically stuck YOU with the fedex insurance denial. Part was broken before it got to you and you ended up eating the return shipping cost.

Had an almost identical situation occur with Pelican (another seller that "makes a living selling parts" and has "quite a few happy customers") earlier this year -- they shipped me some windshield seal trim that got bent up in transit. However, in contrast to your situation, when I reported it to Pelican, they immediately shipped me replacement parts, sent me a prepaid return shipping sticker and my only "loss" was the few days extra time (and an extra trip to fedex). Pelican handled this situation well, but really no differently from how I'd expect other good sellers to act. Were pelican to have insisted that I pay return shipping for a part that the carrier determined was broken because the seller had "not adequately packaged [it] for safe transportation”and (especially if that liability was over 25% of my purchase price), I'd be PISSED and would likely call Pelican out for this here. FWIW

[matt930s]

That’s why a I’m a buyer 99% of the time, I would **** up the packaging for sure.

[nixtfy]

Just to be very clear.... this was not Pelican. This was someone in the used parts for sale.

Originally Posted by darrin

my concern here is that the seller basically stuck YOU with the fedex insurance denial. Part was broken before it got to you and you ended up eating the return shipping cost.

Had an almost identical situation occur with Pelican (another seller that "makes a living selling parts" and has "quite a few happy customers") earlier this year -- they shipped me some windshield seal trim that got bent up in transit. However, in contrast to your situation, when I reported it to Pelican, they immediately shipped me replacement parts, sent me a prepaid return shipping sticker and my only "loss" was the few days extra time (and an extra trip to fedex). Pelican handled this situation well, but really no differently from how I'd expect other good sellers to act. Were pelican to have insisted that I pay return shipping for a part that the carrier determined was broken because the seller had "not adequately packaged [it] for safe transportation”and (especially if that liability was over 25% of my purchase price), I'd be PISSED and would likely call Pelican out for this here. FWIW

[darrin]

Originally Posted by nixtfy

Just to be very clear.... this was not Pelican. This was someone in the used parts for sale.

Understood -- my point was that I don't think it unreasonable to expect a private seller in this community to provide the same level of support that a merchant like Pelican would/did.

[Rawknees'Turbo]

Originally Posted by matt930s

That’s why a I’m a buyer 99% of the time, I would **** up the packaging for sure.

So Dr. Phatt, are you saying that you do not know how to properly handle a box?!?!

[Munky King]

I’ve just bought two nice vintage (80s) surf watches from evilbay.

One came double boxed, with foam inside the inner box and carefully strapped around another piece of foam with some bands holding it to it.

The other came floating around in probably the cheapest bubble mailer that wasn’t even waterproof with the watch folded over.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess which one had a face that was scratched to hell and not working properly.

Both were sub $100 watches and both with $10+ shipping costs, but it does make me wonder if there was something wrong with the damaged one in the first place, that the seller was trying to hide via poor shipping.

I’ll be looking closer on eBay reviews in future before spending!

[Mike80911]

Fedex has clear guidelines on packaging if those are not followed they will deny the claim. How did you pay? If by CC file a claim with them for return shipping and try to have the charge reversed. I bought a part from a reputable company and they sent the wrong part. They told me I had to pay for return shipping even though it was their mistake I shipped I back called my CC company and they reversed all charges including shipping

[Matt Monson]

This thread reminds me that I owe Nasty Nick some pictures.

I’ve had this happen to me a couple times. People are idiots when it comes to packaging stuff and ALWAYS want to blame the carrier. It has caused me to take several actions to protect myself. I always pay by pal pal. Not friends and family! I happily pay the fee to get the protection.

And I always ask the seller to ship signature required when it shows up I thoroughly inspect it prior to signing. If there are visible dents, dings, or crush marks on the box, I just refuse it. Period. No hesitation. It goes back to the seller. And if they refuse the refund I take it to pay pal.

[matt930s]

https://youtu.be/R8OWNspU_yE

Originally Posted by Rawknees'Turbo

So Dr. Phatt, are you saying that you do not know how to properly handle a box?!?!