What was this eBay seller thinking?

[usagora]

I ordered a hard-to-find hardback book brand new/shrink-wrapped from a UK eBay seller with 1500+ 100% positive feedback. I paid over $120 after shipping. I'm in the US. So what does he do? He wraps it in one thin layer of small bubble bubblewrap and puts it in a thin plastic shipping sleeve. Well of course that's not going to do squat to protect a heavy book even in domestic shipping, let alone international. Sure enough, it arrived with badly damaged corner. If it were I packing this book, it would have a few layers of bubblewrap + enough packing paper in a cardboard box so that you can't feel the book shifting around when you turn the box around. That's just common sense for people who sell books. I requested a partial refund rather than a return, so hopefully the seller will come through. I did take pictures before and after opening and attached those to the request.

Just seems odd to me that an experienced seller wouldn't understand that his packaging was inadequate.

 

[Juicy Box]

Just seems odd to me that an experienced seller wouldn't understand that his packaging was inadequate.

I think eBay has gone down hill, at least from the buyer's experience.

Over the past year or two, I have experience similar situation, questioning how experience sellers with at or close to 100% rating can do some of the things they do.

I usually don't (maybe never?) leave negative feedback as long as I get a refund if it is a problem, but I have came close to it a few times.

For example, I ordered a three-pipe GPU heatsink for the Late 2011 iMac from overseas. It took a while to get delivered, which I expected, but I did not expect it to be delivered in a plastic bag. There was a lot of damage to the fins of the heatsink, and worst of all, the pipes, which could be at a right-angle, was bent almost to 45 degrees. This bend caused more damage fins.

The seller offered a refund, which I took, and didn't ask for the damaged part back, which was nice, but I waited almost two months for it. Why would the seller not put that in a box?

About six months ago, I got a milk frother on eBay, it is a discontinued model that I love, but not sold in stores anymore. It was listed as "new in box", I got it and it was clearly used, dirty, and dried milk inside.

This seems to becoming a more common occurrence. Not sure why.

 

[planteater]

I ordered a hard-to-find hardback book brand new/shrink-wrapped from a UK eBay seller with 1500+ 100% positive feedback. I paid over $120 after shipping. I'm in the US. So what does he do? He wraps it in one thin layer of small bubble bubblewrap and puts it in a thin plastic shipping sleeve. Well of course that's not going to do squat to protect a heavy book even in domestic shipping, let alone international. Sure enough, it arrived with badly damaged corner. If it were I packing this book, it would have a few layers of bubblewrap + enough packing paper in a cardboard box so that you can't feel the book shifting around when you turn the box around. That's just common sense for people who sell books. I requested a partial refund rather than a return, so hopefully the seller will come through. I did take pictures before and after opening and attached those to the request.

Just seems odd to me that an experienced seller wouldn't understand that his packaging was inadequate.

Common sense is not common.

I was in Chicago back in ~2008 for a week long class. Back then Starbucks sold massive coffee mugs that were about a foot and a half high, about the size of a large plant pot, made out of ceramic like a regular coffee mug. It had the city name on it. Nice, big, and fragile.

I took it to a shipping place in the box it was given to me in. I asked them to pack it inside another box with plenty of protection so that it was double boxed, then ship it to my house. I paid extra for thorough packing. Well the day it arrived in its small regular box, I knew it was trash without having to open it. That was almost a 100 bucks down the drain between the cost of the mug and shipping. No common sense.

 

[usagora]

The seller offered a refund, which I took, and didn't ask for the damaged part back, which was nice, but I waited almost two months for it. Why would the seller not put that in a box?

About six months ago, I got a milk frother on eBay, it is a discontinued model that I love, but not sold in stores anymore. It was listed as "new in box", I got it and it was clearly used, dirty, and dried milk inside.

This seems to becoming a more common occurrence. Not sure why.

Yes, the fact that we have to wait a while for an international shipment makes it all the more frustrating. As a seller, I had an opposite situation as your milk frother. I sold a Champion juicer on eBay clearly marked as used with tons of pictures of every part. The lady who bought it left me negative feedback saying the blade was stained and and had to be soaked in bleach. I literally had a closeup of the freaking blade in one of the pictures. And, yeah, juicing hundreds of pounds of carrots will tend to stain white plastic...idiot! Thankfully she eventually agreed to mutually withdraw the feedback, but dang people are crazy sometimes.

Common sense is not common.

I was in Chicago back in ~2008 for a week long class. Back then Starbucks sold massive coffee mugs that were about a foot and a half high, about the size of a large plant pot, made out of ceramic like a regular coffee mug. It had the city name on it. Nice, big, and fragile.

I took it to a shipping place in the box it was given to me in. I asked them to pack it inside another box with plenty of protection so that it was double boxed, then ship it to my house. I paid extra for thorough packing. Well the day it arrived in its small regular box, I knew it was trash without having to open it. That was almost a 100 bucks down the drain between the cost of the mug and shipping. No common sense.

That's a shame. And the shipper didn't refund you for the service you paid for but never received?

 

[Rafterman]

I'm awesome at packing stuff for shipment. But I rarely ebay anymore, too much of a hassle with cranky buyers and sellers.

 

[planteater]

Yes, the fact that we have to wait a while for an international shipment makes it all the more frustrating. As a seller, I had an opposite situation as your milk frother. I sold a Champion juicer on eBay clearly marked as used with tons of pictures of every part. The lady who bought it left me negative feedback saying the blade was stained and and had to be soaked in bleach. I literally had a closeup of the freaking blade in one of the pictures. And, yeah, juicing hundreds of pounds of carrots will tend to stain white plastic...idiot! Thankfully she eventually agreed to mutually withdraw the feedback, but dang people are crazy sometimes.



That's a shame. And the shipper didn't refund you for the service you paid for but never received?

I was quite upset at the time. I felt that I wouldn't be able to communicate to them without revealing how I really felt. So, I did nothing rather than risk saying something I'd regret.

In my case, thankfully the item was not rare but just something I wanted, unlike the book you purchased that sounds hard to replace. I'm glad it wasn't a total loss for you.

I've purchased rare vinyl records from Europe, from the 60's, signed by people involved in the productions, or those that recorded them. I would have hated for them to be shipped without protection and get damaged.

 

[Huntn]

I ordered a hard-to-find hardback book brand new/shrink-wrapped from a UK eBay seller with 1500+ 100% positive feedback. I paid over $120 after shipping. I'm in the US. So what does he do? He wraps it in one thin layer of small bubble bubblewrap and puts it in a thin plastic shipping sleeve. Well of course that's not going to do squat to protect a heavy book even in domestic shipping, let alone international. Sure enough, it arrived with badly damaged corner. If it were I packing this book, it would have a few layers of bubblewrap + enough packing paper in a cardboard box so that you can't feel the book shifting around when you turn the box around. That's just common sense for people who sell books. I requested a partial refund rather than a return, so hopefully the seller will come through. I did take pictures before and after opening and attached those to the request.

Just seems odd to me that an experienced seller wouldn't understand that his packaging was inadequate.

I’d be interested to hear eBay’s response.

 

[diego.caraballo]

I love(loved) eBay so much. I really like the possibility of get used things at good price and give them a second life. I'm a member since 2007 and for most part my experience was really good.

However in the last 2 years I have had issues with most of my purchases. Like other posters, items marked as "open box" but clearly used, wrong items sent, not working items and awful packaging...

I purchased a Velop 6E (that weights 3.25 pounds), and immediately sent several messages to the seller asking to add padding and bubble wrap to avoid damage. When I received the router, it was bouncing around a giant box, with literally one bubble wrap layer that even not covered it totally and of course no protections on the corners/top/bottom 🤨.
Of course, two corners were badly dented. I was so mad, since a perfectly good device was damaged for the laziness of the seller.

It's sad because I really liked the experience, but right now I'm staying away.

 

[usagora]

I’d be interested to hear eBay’s response.

Well, of course I reached out to the seller first, and thankfully he responded promptly and very professionally. He stated he believed the packaging was sufficient, which I strongly disagree with, but he has already placed a call to eBay and is working on getting me a partial refund through the shipper. He blamed "over-zealous postal workers" for the damage, which of course I agree packages can be handled roughly, but that's precisely why they should be adequately protected/padded for shipment!

I'll try to remember to update this thread when a resolution is finalized.

 

[usagora]

I love(loved) eBay so much. I really like the possibility of get used things at good price and give them a second life. I'm a member since 2007 and for most part my experience was really good.

However the last 2 years I have had issues with most of my purchases. Like other posters, items marked as "open box" but clearly used, wrong items sent, not working items and awful packaging...

I purchased a Velop 6E (that weights 3.25 pounds), and immediately sent several messages to the seller asking to add padding and bubble wrap to avoid damage. When I received the router, it was bouncing around a giant box, with literally one bubble wrap layer that even even not covered it totally and of course no protections on the corners/top/bottom 🤨.
Of course, two corners were badly dented. I was so mad, since a perfectly good device was damaged for the laziness of the seller.

It's sad because I really liked the experience, but right now I'm staying away.

The worst thing that happened to me was about 20 years ago when I got scammed buying a 12 string guitar (pictures were not the seller's--received a 12 string but it was trashed and I never got a refund). Other than that I've honestly haven't had any problems as a buyer until this one (and thankfully the seller seems to be taking it very seriously and cooperating). I did order another hardback book from a domestic seller that arrived in quite a tattered, oversized box with only a couple pieces of packing paper inside, but the book was unscathed--just goes to show you the value of a gold old cardboard box vs a thin plastic sleeve!

 

[Huntn]

The worst thing that happened to me was about 20 years ago when I got scammed buying a 12 string guitar (pictures were not the seller's--received a 12 string but it was trashed and I never got a refund). Other than that I've honestly haven't had any problems as a buyer until this one (and thankfully the seller seems to be taking it very seriously and cooperating). I did order another hardback book from a domestic seller that arrived in quite a tattered, oversized box with only a couple pieces of packing paper inside, but the book was unscathed--just goes to show you the value of a gold old cardboard box vs a thin plastic sleeve!

eBay should have refunded you on the guitar.

 

[usagora]

eBay should have refunded you on the guitar.

I agree. I can't remember why they didn't--I certainly tried to get my money back. I guess they weren't as pro-buyer back then as they are these days.

 

[usagora]

Update: Not resolved yet, but the seller advised me to go ahead and ask eBay to step in. Since it's an international transaction, matters are complicated because of the GSP (Global Shipping Program) which supposedly should cover the seller against loss or damage in transit once the parcel leaves the UK, but they say they can't do anything with the return case open. Seller has mentioned several times about how they're likely going to be out money and/or how they're holding his funds from this sale and other recent ones like he's trying to elicit sympathy from me, but I don't feel much sympathy. They did not package this book with due care and brought this on themself, and I'm certainly not going to be content paying a new price for a damaged book. At least they're communicating about it, though and being cordial.

 

[usagora]

Final update: eBay issued a full refund for the item without requiring me to return it. Originally eBay said to return it, but the seller called them and asked them to simply issue the refund, as the book is no longer of any use to him now in its damaged condition. The seller and I ended on good terms and I left him positive feedback (he said he learned his lesson about insufficient packing, so I didn't "dock" his ratings for that or mention it publicly).