Yes I guess the buyer could do as you suggest.
But hang on a minute, does not the relevant legislation say, delivery to the buyer is deemed to have been complete when the item has been handed to the carrier. That is delivery to the carrier has the same legal effect as if the item had been handed to the buyer.
Now if you accept the above is the correct legal standing of the parties when it comes to the definition of when the item is said to have been delivered, then you must accept that if it’s damaged after it has been handed over to the carrier, this means it was damaged after it was delivered. I only say this because this is the legal concept as it was explained to me when I undertook the Commercial Law component of my course in Business Studies, but what the heck, what do they know.
So what will you say to the buyer when they say, “I took your advice and simply binned the item and packaging and instead of claiming compensation from Aust Post I lodged a PayPal Item Significantly Not As Described claim only to told, as the seller has disputed the claim, your claim has been refused because PayPal agrees with the seller interpretation that damaged items do not within PayPal Buyer Protection of the Australian User agreement, and as such they recommended I lodge a claim with Aust Post. Unfortunately, as I had already, on your advice, disposed of both the packaging and the item, Aust post is now telling me they can’t/won’t consider my claim. As for the seller they are telling me, we can’t assist you further.
So let’s look at the alternative. Buyer sends e-mail to seller advising item arrived broken and they will take it to the post office tomorrow and lodge a claim, and requesting (note the word requesting) advice as to the seller attitude should the claim be denied on the grounds of inadequate packaging; to which my response would be, “once you have lodged the claim, simply assign your compensation rights to me, and once Australia Post confirms that has been done, I’ll reimburse you the cost of the claim”. Rationale, if Aust Post accepts the claim I get the compensation. If they reject it, I can always fight the decision, either with the ombudsmen or in the small claims court and I already have the necessary blank forms on file. All I need to do is fill in the blanks.
So let’s get back on topic. The first thing this buyer should do is take the item and packaging to Aust Post and lodge a claim and if the claim is accepted that is the end of matter excepting for feedback, and as the seller has already indicated they are not prepared to assist, neutral or negative feedback is warranted, with my leaning being towards negative.
Now, if Aust Post refuse the claim, as the item was in all likelihood purchased from a listing on the US site, the buyer may well be entitled to be compensated vide eBay USA under their Buyer Protection policy, but they need to get on to the US site live help to find out if they qualify or not.
Finally, if Aust post say no, and eBay US say no, then the only further advice I can give this buyer is, you, the buyer, own the goods being transported. Therefore it’s you who is at risk if the item is lost or damaged in transit. So if you want to mitigate you risk, insure the item; and the PayPal User agreement clearly sates Buyer Protection is not a policy of insurance.
As for “The seller could have dropped it as they were packaging it, who knows. Regardless, it has been received as not as described” this statement itself demonstrates such a fundamental lack of understanding of the legal principles involved, as not to be worthy of further comment, excepting to say buy yourself a good legal reference book, and look up the chapter headed Sale of Goods and then find out the meaning of words such as specific goods, delivery, receipt, risk and recovery, as it is how these words are actually defined, and not how you think they should be defined, which determines what rights the buyer actually has.
