How do i complain about an item delivered damaged.

[eastperthboy]

G'day,

I have had two items delivered damaged.On both occasions the cards slipped out of there plastic sleeve and the top corners of the cards were damaged.Also the second card which arrived had the plastic sleeve bent in an l shape.On top of that i was charged Global Priority international postage.The items got to me quicker but poorly wrapped for shipping.I believe ebay is responsible for the Global Priority mailings. Can i get some compensation for these damaged cards.

Thanking you.......Keith Hancock

[bsal6160]

you open a dispute through paypal for item not as described.

[siddieswans]

As a seller, I would hope that your first communication would be with the seller / s of these items. Unless you tell them about the damage (and I would attach a photo to explain each complaint) they will be unaware of your problem. Hopefully they will want to compensate you, either by replacement (if possible) or by refund. If they are unwilling to help, then of course you can open a PayPal “Item Not as Described” dispute. However by opening such a case, you will automatically give the seller a defect, even if they willingly compensate you once they know there is a problem. So I would hope you would give them a chance to compensate you without a defect – simply message them through eBay.

I do really feel sorry for USA sellers who use the Global Priority System. As I understand it, sellers forward the items to a central depot, where they are re-packed in such a way to make postage as cheap as possible for the forwarder. So it may well be that the items were properly packed when they left the Seller, but the re-packing meant that they arrived damaged. Hardly the original Seller’s fault, but it is them who will carry the blame.

[twobowerbirds]

I have been contacted by a buyer who received their item damaged somewhere in the transit between Sydney and Victoria. I am happy to reimburse but did require a photograph, which they provided on request. Best to contact the seller and at the same time provide at least two photos. Good luck

[siddieswans]

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@twobowerbirds wrote:

I have been contacted by a buyer who received their item damaged somewhere in the transit between Sydney and Victoria. I am happy to reimburse but did require a photograph, which they provided on request. Best to contact the seller and at the same time provide at least two photos. Good luck

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This is a slightly different situation as the items were posted under the eBay Global Priority International system (which thank goodness we do not have in Australia.) It think it is only recently that Global Priority International became backed by the eBay Guarantee – which appears to absolve the seller from liability for items not arriving and damaged in transit. However on reading the Terms, there appears to be so many caveats and conditions applying, that it would make your head spin. Also it raises some very interesting questions – one obvious one is how you differentiate between item not as described and item damaged in transit?

However the initial response it would seem to me is the same – contact the seller with photo proof of your concerns. They will either attempt to rectify the situation, or advise you how to proceed. In the end if you get no satisfactory help from the seller, a complaint through the eBay Resolution Centre is available to you.

[eastperthboy]

Thanks for those answers.It appears ebay try to get the sellers(USA) to use Global Priority International.The service is certainly faster but the packing of items is a shambles. I agree the the senders are probably packing the items security and forwarding them to ebays despatch depot.Here they are probably rewrapped lightly and forward ed to the buyers.Also i find with Global Priority that Paypal charge a postage and handling fee when you pay by Paypal. Also Pitney Bowers the ebay courier charges postage and handling as well.WE seem to pay twicw for postage and handling.Easy money for paypal and ebay. Has anybody else come across this?

[siddieswans]

I am not completely across this, as obviously it is not a system we use here. As I understand it, it is an Opt OUT system for new eBay sellers, rather than Opt IN. It appears to have lots of advantages for Sellers - ie as long as the Seller posts to the Pitney Bowes hub within 4 days, any negative Feedback / low stars for posting delays will be removed by eBay. I have read on chat boards many many angry messages from Australian buyers where packages are taking much longer than normal Air Mail delivery to get to the customer. It appears there can be long delays within USA itself, and then further delays with the delivery couriers here in Oz. And the Seller is absolved for Item Not Received - as long as the parcel arrives at Pitney Bowes, PayPal will refund the Buyer. For an Item damaged in transit, it would appear that the item needs to be shipped back to the seller with tracking at your expense, and PayPal will refund you only the cost of the item, not the original shipping cost, so as a buyer you will be considerably out of pocket. As I have said before, for Item Not as Described, it may be a moot point whether any damage was original, or occurred during transit.

As for the PayPal double charges, they are explained here:

"When you pay for the item through PayPal, you are authorizing 2 payment transactions. The first payment goes to the seller and consists of the item cost and the domestic shipping costs. The second payment goes to the global shipping provider and consists of the international shipping costs and any import charges."

So yes you are paying twice for shipping BUT the total cost should be as shown on the original invoice. You will not be paying more than expected. However if you Google you will find lots of instances where buyers claim they are being charged Customs and Duty charges by Pitney Bowes which should not apply.

It would appear from what others say that for bulky / heavy items the cost is very competitive - for lightweight items the cost is a lot more, because of the double-handling.

It doesn't worry me because I find it very difficult to buy  from the USA any more - because GPS doesn't ship to PO boxes. It is particularly annoying because some sellers' listings don't state that they only use GPS or that they can't ship to PO boxes - I now email all sellers first to find out, after having had to cancel sales.