Have a ebay question, time sensative

amother

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 6:31 pm

I sold something on ebay.
I made sure it was wrapped very well as it was breakable.
I wrote fragile on the box.
I sent it usps. It was under $40.
The buyer just sent me a message that it arrived broken.
What now?
I thought it was a bit strange that the day after he paid for it he messaged me to ask if mailed it out yet which I find stange because I had three days to do it but mailed it the next day of receiving money.
He is going to send me a picture of the damage but I was very careful when I packed it and it wasnt broken so either usps damaged it or he is not telling the truth.
Now what do I do?
Make a claim with usps? Ask for him to return it but then I will be out the postage, make a claim with ebay?
Please help

amother

Peachpuff

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 6:36 pm

Ground advantage offers some insurance if you shipped with that.

Definitely ask for pictures before you refund.

If it did break I guess you need to take the loss.

amother

Olive

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 7:17 pm

amother OP wrote:

Was it sent via USPS priority? If yes, I think it comes with a $50 insurance for damage or loss.

amother

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 7:49 pm

Thanks.
I shipped ground advantage.
The buyer is sending me pictures but what if he is lieing?
Do I make a claim with usps?
Do I ask for the item to be shipped back?
I sold on ebay before but never had an issue.

amother

Oleander

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 7:55 pm

You will not win if you attempt to file a claim.

Let this be a learning experience because you always insure anything you ship for loss or damage. If you are selling you factor in the cost of insurance When you calculate shipping.

I used to sell accessories and vintage items in the internet and I insured unkess I was willing to take the loss if the item was lost in shipping.

You can forego insurance and essentially self insure. I did that for some stuff that was relatively inexpensive and completely not breakable.

With priority you do get tracking so it is less likely that someone can claim they didn’t get something when they did.

However I sometimes shipped large heavy packages and priority was super expensive so I would generally purchase insurance which came with tracking

amother

Peachpuff

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 8:00 pm

amother OP wrote:

Ground advantage does have some sort of insurance so look into that.

If the item is broken why would you want to pay for it to be shipped back to you? The buyer definitely won't pay.

But I wouldn't do anything till I saw pics of the broken item.

amother

Olive

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 8:07 pm

amother Peachpuff wrote:

Ground advantage has $100 insurance. So you can file a claim directly with USPS without involving ebay. If you have the pics from the buyer, you can use that to support your claim.

tothepoint

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 9:02 pm

What possible advantage could the buyer have from lying? It’s either broken or not. It’s not like he claims that he never received the package

amother

Peachpuff

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 9:06 pm

tothepoint wrote:

What possible advantage could the buyer have from lying? It’s either broken or not. It’s not like he claims that he never received the package

Buyers do crazy things. He could have had a broken one of that item and is saying he got it broken when really it's his own that was broken. But alas, that's the risk of selling on ebay and there is nothing to do about it. I read some crazy stories on a ebay sellers Facebook page I'm on...some people are just pathetic...but there is really nothing to do about it.

amother

DarkGreen

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 9:07 pm

tothepoint wrote:

What possible advantage could the buyer have from lying? It’s either broken or not. It’s not like he claims that he never received the package

He claims it's broken, asks for refund and tries to keep item.

amother

Olive

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 9:15 pm

amother Peachpuff wrote:

Exactly this. A buyer may have a broken item and is looking for a way to get a free replacement. Unfortunately happens way too often.

amother

Daisy

Mon, Dec 11 2023, 10:27 pm

I always assume a certain percentage buyers could do that and that's the sellers loss.

I think you gain nothing by having the buyer return the item because he could send back his old broken one instead the new item. If a buyer wants to cheat the system it's just that easy and eBay will be on buyers side.

I'm not sure what the value of your item is but you can def make a claim with USPS. Although I'm not sure they will pay you anything if the buyer didn't receive the outer packaging damaged. If the item broke I side the package then they may claim you didn't package well enough.