I bought an item on eBay. UPS broke it and subsequently denied the damage claim due to “improper packaging”. The seller wanted me to provide my personal phone number so he could call me and discuss it, but I declined and asked him to stick to email. He never replied but a week later refunded my purchase price in full. Now I feel like a jerk because I was able to salvage some parts from the item so I got some utility from it, but the seller is out both the purchase price and shipping cost. Price of the item was $125.00 and shipping was $150.00, although I think the shipping charge was more than what it actually cost. Had he asked I would have been willing to call it even by splitting the difference.
My mom got brought digicam and the seller just refunded it when it was damaged without negotiation. So is “seller gives a full refund if it breaks” some sort of unwritten etiquette. Should I contact the seller to thank him or even offer to return some of his refund? Just leave good feedback and be done with the issue? Sending the item back isn’t an option because I’ve already stripped usable parts, and due to damage is now worth less than the cost to ship it. Is the seller likely ticked at the fact I made an issue of it?
I have another issue with a Neon sign that was broken and the claim was also denied, but I haven’t heard back from the seller. If he wants to negotiate, maybe ask for what I paid to have it fixed, or what he would sell it for in the condition it arrived in?
Also, I am aware of eBay buyer protection, I’d assuredly win, but I’d have had to return the item at my expense, but he’d then have that case on his record, plus I could have left unavorable feedback. So for the seller it’s a trade-off of potentially that happening and unfavorable feedback, vs ending up with nothing tangible but not having a potentially marred record?
That’s exactly it. I’ve sold quite a bit of jewelry on eBay and most of the time it’s less hassle to just refund and be done with it than to negotiate. But as a seller, I’d be really touched if someone still wanted to make a partial payment for what they could use. A big seller probably wouldn’t care, but I’d appreciate it. It’s never happened.
IMO eBay is slanted towards the buyers right now. Sellers can’t leave bad feedback for buyers, and they are very worried about bad feedback.
The transaction isn’t successfully completed until the item is delivered to you in the condition described in the auction. Whether it’s the sellers fault or UPSs fault, doesn’t matter.
Since you were able to salvage some parts if you were feeling generous it seems that you could offer to give the seller the approximate value of the salvage.
But overall your good feedback will be most valuable to him in the long run.
Edit: I successfully negotiated with a buyer for a reduced price on a phone I sold them. The phone arrived just fine and the buyer was happy with it, but Verizon wouldn’t activate it for her until my billing cycle was over. Even though I’d already transferred the number to another carrier and called Verizon to cancel the service, the buyer couldn’t activate it. I apologized to the buyer for the inconvenience and offered her a partial refund, which she seemed thrilled that I offered. If I was running a bunch of auctions I probably wouldn’t have had time to correspond back and forth with her, but I don’t sell often.
