plant has arrived damaged

[justinwong86]

Hey everyone,
Just need your 2 cents worth on this. I won a plant auction, and upon paying my message to the seller was asking if it would be sent bare rooted or potted, as well as a picture of the plant in the packaging and a tracking number. There's no response, and the next day ebay notifies me that the plant is being sent.
I message the seller again, and his response 1 day later is "sorry I did not see your message, it has been sent bare rooted". I am upset as I would have been willing to pay extra if he mentioned bare rooted.
Anyway the plant arrives and it is clearly damaged as the tip and 2 leaves are broken. It was ripped out of its pot and banged into a zip lock and into a box, with no wet tissue around the roots and not secure in the box
The pieces of bark were like rockets inside the bag hence the damage. The seller also then shows me a picture of the tracking number, where upon checking, has been sent from a location different from what he advertised. I message him and tell him all the detailswith no response.
I then proceed to open a case file and ask for a refund. He immediately responds asking for my phone number so he can call me to 'sort it'.
Any advice?

[lyndal1838]

Item number please?

As for the item being posted from a different location to that shown on the listing....how far away?

If I was selling plants on ebay I would not be be posting them from my local post office for several reasons.....I would post them from the city where clearances are several times a day.   The items would arrive much quicker than posting locally.

Any advice for you.....yes, give the seller a chance to answer your concerns before flying off the handle.

[davewil1964]

Disclaimer - I have a black thumb.

You claim that you were dismayed to find it was being sent bare-rooted when you would have paid extra for a bare-rooted plant. Why is this an issue, you are already in front?

How did you expect the plant to be sent?

Is the plant likely to recover if treated with due care?

What is your question, exactly?

You got the item. You claim it is damaged, but it is a living thing. To quote you - 'the tip and 2 leaves are broken'. If it is not dead then what remedy do you expect from the seller? I assume it has more than 2 leaves and that some TLC will see the tip and many more leaves come forth and be fruitful.

Why do you want a refund? You seem to expect a lot more than buying living things online would be reasonable for.

Perhaps buy your plants from a nursery.

Why do you think a tracking number is relevant? You received the plant, at which point the tracking is no longer relevant, regardless of where it came from.

[jellybirddesigns]

I would be pretty annoyed at the selller, but I wouldn't hand over my number as anything you say on the phone is inadmissable to Ebay.

You can message the seller that you prefer all communication to be in writing on Ebay's messaging system (or you can ignore the sellers request).

Assuming you filed an Item Not As Decribed case, I would escalate it at the appropriate time and get your refund. 

A seller has 4 days from the time you open a dispute to resolve it, or else Ebay will do it for them.

[davewil1964]

Which just facilitates buyer fraud.

NOTHING the OP has said gives any sort of case for any sort of case.

[jellybirddesigns]

@dave - to me it didn't look like the buyer got what he ordered and that by arriving in a poor condition such as described may mean it cannot flourish, especially with no moisture provided to rooots during transport. Whilst I personally wouldn't necessarily buy plants on Ebay, a seller should still take due care to ensure it arrives in the same condition as advertised, or not sell plants on the site if they can't do that.

It's no different from any other item bought on the site - whether living or inanimate - the buyer should get what they paid for.

[kopenhagen5]

From what I see, the seller has done everything as per the listing and you should have asked these questions before purchase.

Be reasonable and work with the seller towards a reasonable outcome rather than being one-sided.

Then if the seller is not prepared to help, I would go the case route through eBay.

[gutterpunkz05]

---

@justinwong86 wrote:
Hey everyone,
Just need your 2 cents worth on this. I won a plant auction, and upon paying my message to the seller was asking if it would be sent bare rooted or potted, as well as a picture of the plant in the packaging and a tracking number. There's no response, and the next day ebay notifies me that the plant is being sent.
I message the seller again, and his response 1 day later is "sorry I did not see your message, it has been sent bare rooted". I am upset as I would have been willing to pay extra if he mentioned bare rooted.
Anyway the plant arrives and it is clearly damaged as the tip and 2 leaves are broken. It was ripped out of its pot and banged into a zip lock and into a box, with no wet tissue around the roots and not secure in the box
The pieces of bark were like rockets inside the bag hence the damage. The seller also then shows me a picture of the tracking number, where upon checking, has been sent from a location different from what he advertised. I message him and tell him all the detailswith no response.
I then proceed to open a case file and ask for a refund. He immediately responds asking for my phone number so he can call me to 'sort it'.
Any advice?

---

Please tell me the plant is not worth  nearly  $1500

[digital*ghost]

---

@justinwong86 wrote:

I message the seller again, and his response 1 day later is "sorry I did not see your message, it has been sent bare rooted". I am upset as I would have been willing to pay extra if he mentioned bare rooted.

---

I'm guessing by this you mean you would have paid extra for express shipping or, just extra for the plant to be potted, since the plant would not be as sustainable for as long outside of a pot? 

TBH, in the current climate (by which I mean postage delivery times / delays, even for express, rather than anything weather related), express shipping is probably the best option for plants regardless, so hopefully that was the shipping method either way.

On the one hand, the questions asked really should have been sent to the seller and any additional requirements negotiated prior to you even bidding on or buying the plant, but on the other hand it sounds like the seller did not package the plant appropriately to ensure safe arrival, which is their responsibility, so I think your INAD case is justfied.

If the seller is asking for a phone number via the case, if you think speaking to them on the phone has a chance of resolving the issue amicably, you can provide it -  with regards to the way to move forward with the case itself, it depends on whether there's still value to the plant; i.e. can it be nursed back to health and grown successfully? Is there any point sending it back to the seller (as an ebay case will require that)? If you can salvage it, something like a partial refund seems more appropriate than returning for a full refund. 

If you would rather not speak to the seller directly,  perhaps just reply that you'd prefer to keep all communications on record with eBay, as any options they can voice on the phone, can surely be written in a message, too. 

[audio-spot]

I've bought plants online before (both on eBay and nursery websites) and I think all have been sent bare rooted. I would prefer this than being in a pot, but all have had spagnhum moss in the bags to keep the roots moist. Most posted on Mondays to avoid sitting in a mail centre over the weekend, but this was pre-Covid days. However, this was all made clear in the descriptions.

We are getting closer to spring, so it's probably the best month to have the most success with a bare rooted plant. Don't forget to Seasol after planting to encourage root growth. Unless we are talking big $$$, I'd pot the plant and hope for the best, and ask questions next time before purchasing.