Need some advice here....

[Dewwen]

I took Steve's advice and contacted by eBay and PayPal. eBay told me he had not opened a case yet so there was nothing they could do at this time. PayPal told me to go ahead an file an insurance claim with PIP Insure as I purchased insurance through eBay shipping.

I was contacted by a claims representative. They asked to see all of my correspondence with the buyer and that they would contact me for my side of the story. Here is what I wrote them, along with the attached messages:

Attaching HTML copies of his messages. Let me know if these work or if I need to send them over differently.

It sounds to me like he wants nothing short of a full refund. At first I thought he was having buyer’s remorse, so I pressed him pretty hard on proving the damage was done by the Postal Service. After making him jump through hoops I have to believe he has enough evidence of the damage to believe him. I offered him $50 partial refund, then I offered to pay his $80 duties. But he wants a full refund.

I do not believe I was negligent in my shipping process. I placed the card in a plastic top loader, taped the top shut, placed it in a small bag with two pieces of heavy card stock to protect the card. I then placed the bag into a 000 bubble mailer, and placed that bubble mailer in a 0 bubble mailer. I’ve shipped thousands of cards over the years and I’ve NEVER had a card damaged with this shipping method. Which is why I initially thought he was scamming me. But the hole he showed in the picture almost looks like someone dropped a safe on the package and crushed the top corner.

I’ll stand by my initial offer of paying $80 CDN as partial liability. The card appears to be pretty much useless as no one will pay anything for it in crushed condition, so I see no recovery on that side.

If you wish to contact me directly cell phone is the best way. I have a staff meeting tomorrow so will be unavailable from 10:00am-2:00pm PST. My cell number is (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

Thank you,
Dan Tracy

Today I opened my email and had a full refund for the claim. I sent the buyer the full $399.00 refund and am waiting to hear his response. I told him to keep the card. I then called eBay to see if I could cancel the transaction so he cannot leave me feedback. Again, eBay was completely useless and told me to call back if he leaves me a negative. I guess they don't want to lose the transaction fees.

But it looks like the most I will get is a negative feedback, which may or may not get reversed. I'm still out all the shipping fees, $43 US, but I guess it's better than being out that on top of the cost of the card.

Thanks for everyone's input!

:beer:Cheers,
Dan

 

[pwag31]

glad to hear it worked out for you.

 

[13stepper]

Wow, nice work. You think they could refund the shipping as well considering they paid out the insurance claim.

 

[uvic99]

Nice to hear that all worked out for you! That buyer was a total pain. Wouldn't surprise me if he sent the card into UD for a replacement. LOL

 

[hduong]

Glade it worked out for you. Looks like he damaged the card for sure. Whether on purpose or not, only he knows. There is no way he wouldn't have closely inspected a card of this value, noticed it and reported to you immediately. I do this for all my cards I purchase. 99 cent or 99 dollars..lol.