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Received damaged item - which path should we take and how?
Summary: starcitizentrader opened a discussion asking for advice on how to proceed after receiving a damaged item. marioelegio replied, but no further details are provided about their conversation.
Good morning.
I received a damaged item (first time this has happened to me). Since we’re talking about model-making, something delicate, I believe it was due to the seller’s incompetence, since:
1) he put it in the packaging of a different model, so the model couldn’t be properly secured, in fact it was moving back and forth
2) for transport the model needs to be split into two parts (which should be stored separately, precisely to avoid them hitting each other) but this wasn’t done
3) the packaging was put in a "snug" box, without padding around it
And in fact the damage was not due to impacts or dents (the outer box and the model packaging are intact) but to the fact that the model was moving around inside the packaging, with the two parts hitting each other. As proof of this, the damaged part is the innermost one and not the outer ones, which would break as a result of impacts. Unfortunately repair is not possible because the parts that hit each other shattered into many small pieces.
I therefore immediately took all the necessary photos and sent them to the seller, with an explanatory message. He replies to me, "what happened? Did you contact your carrier?" Right there.. I sent you 5 photos, what happened is clear.. and then I don’t think it’s up to me to contact the carrier since he made the shipment with the method and courier of his own choice.
I reply in more detail, and then he tells me to send him the photos.. I tell him that I sent them in the first message, but he tells me that Ebay messaging doesn’t show them and to send them by email.. I sent him the email yesterday and at the moment I haven’t received any more reply (I also wrote to him in ebay messages saying that I sent the email and asking him to confirm that it arrived, but he hasn’t said anything).
So here we are finally at the question: how do you advise me to proceed? Honestly, out of fairness toward the seller I wanted to avoid jumping straight into refund requests, disputes, etc. and see if we could work something out directly, but I wouldn’t want him to be trying to waste my time so that any deadlines expire for me to act through ebay etc. etc.
Thanks to anyone who can give me some advice.
marioelegio
Mentore1 year agoRequest a return and refund for a damaged item through the eBay procedure …. https://www.ebay.it/help/buying/returns-refunds/restituisci-un-oggetto-cambio-di-un-rimborso?id=4041
If the seller does not accept the return at their expense or if they do not send you a prepaid label, ask eBay to step in….. https://www.ebay.it/help/buying/returns-items-not-received-refunds-buyers/chiedi-ebay-di-intervenire-acquirenti?id=4701
hi
mario
starcitizentrader
OP1 year agoThanks marioelegio, I waited 24 hours since the last contact with the seller (about 28 had passed since I reported the problem to him and no more than 30 since receiving the item) because it seemed right to do that before moving on to the "official" route, but since he hasn’t given any more "signs of life" either by email or via eBay, I’ve just started the return process for a damaged item, because OK, wanting to prioritize human/direct contact is fine, but I also don’t want to let too much time go by and risk being told that I broke it myself.
Then maybe I’m "stupid", because I do feel a bit bad about having to ask for a refund, putting myself in the seller’s shoes, who ends up without money and with a broken item, but if normally I’d say "it wasn’t his fault" in this case honestly it is his fault because if he had put it in its original packaging, had taken it apart as he should have, and had used a larger box with some packing material, right now I’d be enjoying the model and he wouldn’t have to receive the refund request.
Also because, as luck would have it, the courier brought me 2 packages, both containing models, both coming more or less from the same area, but the difference is that the other one had a box twice as big with foam rubber and newspaper inside and in fact the contents suffered no damage of any kind.