Who is responsible for items damaged in transit?

[collectocopia]

hi, item i sold has arrived in pieces. It was bubbe wrapped, boxed and further bubble wrap. it looks as if someone deliberatel chucked it along the way. I suggested buyer contact aus post to deal with it as its covered in the postage...theyve put in a refund request via ebay and want me to pay? am i liable for the damage and do i have to refund when i state i dont?

[melinachristina]

It may sound harsh, but yes, you are responsible for the safe delivery of the item to your customer and eBay would find in favour of the latter.

Experience will be along shortly to give you some advice.

Melina.

[davewil1964]

Australia Post requires articles to be packaged sufficient to allow a 22kg weight to be dropped on them from waist height. Unless there are tyre marks or similar on the packaging it is unlikely that AP will reimburse for damage.

In that case, you are liable for the damage. 'No returns' is for change of mind. eBay consider 'not as described' (broken, eg) to be the seller's responsibility (like the statutory protections that new items attract) if the items are not fit for purpose. If you do not voluntarily refund and the buyer escalates the case, eBay will refund them with your money, and you will get an unresolved dispute strike. You can get very few of those before your selling privileges are in danger. Just ask crows.

[chameleon54]

Unfortunately ceramics, china and glassware are quite high risk items to sell on ebay, due to the risk of breakage in transit. One trick worth trying is to keep a supply of biscuit and sweets tins on hand as mailing boxes. Wrap the glassware in bubble wrap, tight enough that the tin lid needs to be pressed against the bubble wrap to close and then run a bead of sticky tape around the tin lid to hold it in place. Works a treat for smaller items that will fit in tins..

[collectocopia]

thanks for feedback, but now buyer is claiming i only bubble wrapped item and tossed it into parcel bag, which is riduclous, it was thickly bubble wrapped, put in box, a decent sturdy box, and bubble wrapped again. My feedback talks of people happy with how well packed items are, im religious about it. how do i prove theyre simply lying?

[lotsamagsnbags]

sorry that it won't help you in this case, but photograph your packaging, or at least the most fragile items.  also take out the $2 per $100 insurance for loss or damage extra cover out of your own pocket, particularly if the item is worth a lot to your budget.  you can't prove it, ebay will find in the buyers favour - (unfair I know) as without buyers they have no ebay.  

PS - for fragile items double box - time consuming yes but if stood on etc the outside box "should" take the impact

[shoppingbag*]

I have heard this one about the 22 Kg weight before (there is also one that says 10 Kgs) and wonder what stupid  Australia Post employee has made that statement!!  I mentioned it to my Post Office and they had a great laugh, I also asked Australia Post Customer Service, they laughed also.  Look at the packaging they sell at the Post Office, the boxes are not very sturdy. I use better quality ones.  Things would have to be sent in a steel box to withstand this sort of impact. As a buyer I have received quite flimsy things send in a postbag, that arrived surprisingly unscathed. The postman discovered that a loose Barbie doll in a bag will not fit through the slot in the letter box, got the legs in ok, happened twice. Dolls were ok. Over the years I have had the most ridiculous statements made by employees who insist and insist they are right, only to be proven wrong over and over.

Just as an example, some stupid woman employee of Woolworths(middle aged) just told me Woolworths do not sell whole turkeys frozen or otherwise, never have, and I would need to get one from a Butcher. Despite the fact I bought one from that very store last year, she was having none of it, insisting I am wrong, even though we have these every year and never ever from a butcher.  Well, this week they have heaps of them in the store frozen and also fresh.  If I could find her, I would like to shove that size 55 frozen Turkey in her face and she what she has to say then.

I also own a washable sleeping bag that according to a camping store, does not exist. I also have a product that was never produced, need I go on???

I think people should stop listening to the rot and rubbish that comes out of the mouths of some know-it-all employees who generally know nothing, and let common sense prevail.  End of rant!! I feel good now.

[lyndal1838]

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@shoppingbag* wrote:

I have heard this one about the 22 Kg weight before (there is also one that says 10 Kgs) and wonder what stupid  Australia Post employee has made that statement!!  I mentioned it to my Post Office and they had a great laugh, I also asked Australia Post Customer Service, they laughed also.  Look at the packaging they sell at the Post Office, the boxes are not very sturdy. I use better quality ones.  Things would have to be sent in a steel box to withstand this sort of impact. As a buyer I have received quite flimsy things send in a postbag, that arrived surprisingly unscathed. The postman discovered that a loose Barbie doll in a bag will not fit through the slot in the letter box, got the legs in ok, happened twice. Dolls were ok. Over the years I have had the most ridiculous statements made by employees who insist and insist they are right, only to be proven wrong over and over.

I think people should stop listening to the rot and rubbish that comes out of the mouths of some know-it-all employees who generally know nothing, and let common sense prevail.  End of rant!! I feel good now.

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And I think some people should do a very minimum of research before sounding off about know-it-all employees who definitely know nothing.

I suggest you refer your Post Office employees to the Australia Post website where it clearly states that the maximum weight for parcels is 20kg for International and 22kg for National.

StarTrack subcontractors have those weights mentioned in their Contracts.

Just because the rules state that parcels should be packed to withstand those weights does not mean it is going to happen every time you post a parcel.

When parcels get back to the depot they are unloaded from the vans onto a conveyor belt which is about waist height and then sorted into the cages according to destination.   The first parcels into the cage may be small and later ones may be up to 22kg, so yes the earlier parcels need to be well enough packed to withstand the heavier parcels.

[shoppingbag*]

Yes and the sky may fall tomorrow too. Let's all buy steel cabinets to send our items in, in case one of those millions of 22 Kg parcels may just happen to fall on our packet of bone china.

[davewil1964]

If you want to ensure it won't get broken, you should possibly do that.

As Lyndal said, regardless of what the staff at your local PO think, AP's guidelines are explicit.