help! someone is claiming i sold a broken game on ebay!

[___]

hey guys, i need some advice. i sent a parcel to a buyer in germany with ff7 for psx. when she bought the game it took over two weeks for her to write me a message, that she was not able to pay because she was in the hospital. so i waited an had the game boxed up, shipping arranged etc. when the money came after three weeks, i sent the parcel, only to receive a message, that the first cd was broken into two!


the box was sturdy cardboard, stuffed on all sides with paper crumpled up around the cd case. this seems really fishy. i think she broke it herself... or they screwed up badly at dhl, but in all my years of trading games, i've never received a snapped through cd, even on international deals.


i am a private seller, no experience, what are my options? even she tries to screw me, i can't prove jack and will end up with a bad review and trouble with ebay, right?

 

[rygD]

Did they pay for insurance for shipping?

I don't think damage in transit is your problem unless you didn't package it properly.  Unless she has pics suggesting it wasn't packaged properly it really isn't on you.  If ebay will see it that way is a different story.  I know many former sellers who refuse to use ebay because it supports dishonest buyers and screws sellers who try to do the right thing.

 

[mcobit]

If it was insured shipping, just tell dhl.


Would be good to have some photo of the undamaged disc.

 

[comradekingu]

Ask her to show you a picture of it, and the box.  And why she didnt sort it out at the postal office.  If its reg they should have an image of the parcel on delivery.

 

[Wally]

The whole thing sounds fishy specially the hospital part. People use any excuse not to pay early or at all.


I had some guy say "I'll come pick it up from your workplace" and he never turned up.. He then turned around and gave me "Seller was impatient" feedback but this was after 2 weeks of me hassling him.

If I were you from a "sometimes" ebay seller I would put in a dispute with Paypal before she does and give every thing that you know (especially the hospital part and the waiting period) and if you have pictures that the first disc was not broken then you should be fine. (Always take pictures of the discs and list them at auction but sell everything as-is unless you are confident that it works).

Good luck!

 

[Nintendo]

How much is all this worth?

 

[Nilsnsn]

german law (§ 447 Abs.1 BGB (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch)) says if you're a private seller, the risk of a lost or damaged shipping is on the buyer, unless she can prove you didn't pack it properly. So i guess law's on your side

Article in english about shipping insurance:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Shipping-Insurance-What-you-need-to-know-/10000000003424113/g.html

...it is not the seller's responsibilty if the shipping carrier loses, drops, kicks or stomps on your package. Their responsibility to that package ends when they turn it over to the care of the carrier.

Two articles in german you can show her:

http://pages.ebay.de/rechtsportal/private_vk_5.html

https://www.das.de/de/rechtsportal/internetrecht/internetauktionen/versandrisiko-und-versandkosten.aspx

That doesn't protect you from bad reviews though...

 

[thatgui]

If it was insured shipping, just tell dhl.

Not exactly (sorry for beeing a smartass again): He needs to tell her to talk to DHL as they will only get active if the receiver opens up a case. A notebook I sold half a year ago got "lost" on its way and the buyer had to open up a case at DHL, luckily it "appeared" again after some investigation through DHL in the delivery mans vehicle.

 

[rygD]

german law (§ 447 Abs.1 BGB (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch)) says if you're a private seller, the risk of a lost or damaged shipping is on the buyer, unless she can prove you didn't pack it properly. So i guess law's on your side

Article in english about shipping insurance:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Shipping-Insurance-What-you-need-to-know-/10000000003424113/g.html

...it is not the seller's responsibilty if the shipping carrier loses, drops, kicks or stomps on your package. Their responsibility to that package ends when they turn it over to the care of the carrier.

Two articles in german you can show her:

http://pages.ebay.de/rechtsportal/private_vk_5.html

https://www.das.de/de/rechtsportal/internetrecht/internetauktionen/versandrisiko-und-versandkosten.aspx

That doesn't protect you from bad reviews though...

This is the kind of thing I was saying.  I am surprised ebay supports the seller on this one.  We will see if they stand by that.  If so, they should, imo, prevent negative feedback that has nothing to do with the seller, as supported by the above quote.

A notebook I sold half a year ago got "lost" on its way and the buyer had to open up a case at DHL, luckily it "appeared" again after some investigation through DHL in the delivery mans vehicle.

Was it in use by the man, or was it still boxed up?

edit:  I may have misunderstood.  Did you mean his delivery vehicle or his personal vehicle?

 

[___]

thanks for all the helpful advice! i will ask her to send me a photo of the disc and parcel and advise her to talk to dhl, the package was not insured btw. also i did post several detailed pics of the case and all cds on my ebaylisting! we did not involve paypal, she used bank transfer but i didn't offer anything else. if she paid through ebay anyway and not through her bank, it should be on file with paypal aswell. i will also escalate the issue to ebay customer service.

 

[mcobit]

See if you can see some serial number on the disc to check if it is the same.


If it is, you wouldn't have any reason to break it before shipping so it had to be destroyed while in transit.

 

[thatgui]

Was it in use by the man, or was it still boxed up?

edit:  I may have misunderstood.  Did you mean his delivery vehicle or his personal vehicle?

The delivery vehicle, I don't know only what the buyer told as I wasn't involved anymore when DHL customer service told me the buyer needs to active. Long story short: through delivery tracking te buyer knew when the package would arrive, so he stayed home for the whole day. After no delivery had happened that they he had a look again on the tracking website, and the package was marked as "deliverd". He contacted DHL the next day, and the day after that another delivery man (than the usual) showed up with his (still sealed) package and an apology. According to him the delivery man responsible for the whole mess was a new vacation replacement, that was fired the next day.

the package was not insured btw.

Then don't tell her to waste her time on it, DHL won't move a finger (why should they?)

 

[Exophase]

I can't even fathom how a CD inside a jewel case inside packing material could end up broken in half, unless someone cut through it all with a sword or something. Dented or shattered maybe but halved, no way. Ask to see a picture of the jewel case, if it isn't also snapped or at least bent then tell her the story doesn't make sense. Also, if the CD looks snapped near the middle as opposed to just a piece missing that's another big indicator that a person did it.

 

[WizardStan]

I can imagine someone owning a broken CD and buying a new one only to complain about that new one being broken when it arrived.

How nice do you feel like being? You've got pictures that show it was in good condition before it was sent so it's not on you. The buyer didn't pay for insurance that's their own fault. You didn't go through paypal so they have no recourse of getting their money back. As near as I can tell there's nothing that you need to do: either this person is trying to scam you or they should take a life lesson and always opt for the insurance.

If you're feeling nice though and genuinely believe the person isn't trying to scam you then it's up to you whether you refund or not, whether it's worth it or not. At the very least, if you do decide to refund, make them send it back on their dime.

 

[DaMummy]

either way, never expect ebay to take the sellers side

 

[rygD]

DaMummy speaks da truth.

 

[___]

haha after i asked for fotos, she is suddenly very friendly. apparently the cd is not snapped but cracked. she claims she is also able to play the game on someone elses ps2 and has been trying on a ps3 before. it took 50min to get through the intro, whatever that is supposed to mean... i call bullshit. either the game works or it doesn't, never had a video play and load for 50 minutes.


i am still asking for fotos just to be sure. still this whole "suddenly everything works but i would still like my money back" business makes me believe this issue has solved itself and the scammer has gotten wet feet.

 

[rygD]

Does ebay force you to accept returns?  I would advise you not to if she possibly damaged a disc.

 

[___]

no it's more a problem of courtesy or bad review.

 

[rygD]

So because someone changed  their mind and damaged the product they will leave negative feedback?

Good luck with whatever happens.  At least it mostly sorted itself out.