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A note to those selling on eBay


hayfield
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Over the past two months I have had 4 kit built locos which have arrived damaged, all due to being poorly wrapped. One was a total write off, another resulted in a hefty partial refund, the other two were minor issues easily repaired.  The

common threads were that they were all kit built, heavy white metal models, which had been glued together, but worst of all badly wrapped allowing the model to move in the box resulting in damage. Postage cost in most cases was not the issue as the dearest being £15 and the cheapest was £3

 

When sending something through the post I assume it will at least once be thrown from one side of the room to the other, or have something heavy dropped on it. So try and protect it from that, and follow the Royal Mail's guidelines on packing, so if the worst happens I can claim

 

I think I am right in thinking that the packets travel through a large revolving drum during sorting , and I assume its being dropped quite a few times (which is what does the damage), so stopping the model moving in the box is a must with these heavy models. The Royal Mail expects for compensation purposes that the item has 2" all round of protective material. I use bubble wrap externally to absorb the knocks I assume it will have during transit, as well as internal packing to keep it from moving in the box.

 

I don't think many of us mind paying reasonable sums for P&P, so its worth charging a bit more and certainly not scrimping on packing is in my opinion worth it. In the end the seller may well end up with a far greater loss than the odd £ or so on a bit of packing. Lets face it we all would prefer the item to arrive safely

 

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Very pertinent comments John.

 

Whenever I sell anything, first in my priorities is that the item is securely packed within its box with bubble wrap so that it can't 'rattle about' in any way and then packed up with styrene peanuts (where needed) . Then the final packaging would be such that would stand the usual 'roughness' of delivery.

 

I just charge the current RM 1st signed for price. I don't charge for packaging as I always keep the packaging/bubble wrap and boxes etc (where usable!) from purchases. ...probably because I'm a cheapskate!

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1 hour ago, hayfield said:

Some sellers do not realise that some kit built items are not as robust as RTR models and care is needed. I once had a kit built loco just dropped into a Jiffy bag !!

 

I received an item of rolling stock in a jiffy bag, with no extra padding; how it survived I'll never know.  The seller got the 'ump when I gave him neutral feedback because of it, cos' it spoilt his 100%. Tough

 

I recently sold an item via ebay and sent it via Hermes; they tried to deliver it 3 times without success (it's August, people go on hols) and obviously leaving it with a neighbour was all too difficult.  So they sent it 200 miles back to me.  Only it sounded dodgy when I received it back.  Yep, they'd smashed it.  So I'm down the cost of delivery, plus the value of the item (turns out it falls outside Hermes compensation terms) - lost about a tenner in all.

Now I pack pretty well (I think) but obviously Hermes saw this one as a challenge....

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2 minutes ago, Re6/6 said:

I wouldn't touch Hermes with a barge pole.

From what I've heard of Hermes

I wouldn't waste a barge pole on them

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I spend hours packing models in what can probably be described as over-engineering however I find not all sellers are so cautious. One chap sent some wagons to me through my Hermes, the unboxed wagon in the parcel was poorly wrapped in the large bubble style bubble wrap usually used for packing out boxes to stop items moving around rather than to wrap with. Unsurprisingly it received some damage on it’s transit to me, but the seller refused any responsibility or to even give me a partial refund because ‘the item wasn’t damaged when you won it and I posted it’, well duh. 

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17 minutes ago, Re6/6 said:

I wouldn't touch Hermes with a barge pole.

I had several Big Big Triang coaches delivered via Hermes and although well wrapped in bubblewrap they had shattered into pieces like glass shards, i dread to think how it had happened. I photographed the remains and got my money back but expect the seller had a harder time claiming off them.

 

Alan

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I had Parcel force break a well packed parcel. Put the compensation claim in back in April and still have not heard a thing back from them.

 

I presume they process all claims received straight through the paper shredder?

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9 hours ago, Boco_D1 said:

Unsurprisingly it received some damage on it’s transit to me, but the seller refused any responsibility or to even give me a partial refund because ‘the item wasn’t damaged when you won it and I posted it’, well duh. 

 

Just do an ebay reclaim as damaged - in my experience they stump up without issue.  I've also had times when I've returned items and ebay provide a pre-paid parcel label free of charge, even though the seller was saying postage was down to me (do ebay pass on the shipping cost to the seller?)

 

p.s. I'm only using Couriers for heavy/big stuff now (and not Hermes if I can help it) cos' RM are just too expensive for those items

Edited by polybear
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I think I've made complaints about one of our local Hermes couriers 4 times now for signing for something "on my behalf" and dumping it. Twice I've had to use the CCTV to find where it is. I get stuff delivered to work as there are people here 18 hours a day. I always get a canned response to those complaints unsurprisingly. 

 

The other local Hermes courier is great - he actively posts on the local facebook group with queries on an address, or if he is going to be late etc. But he can't mend squashed parcels so I still avoid them like the plague.

Edited by Bucoops
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12 hours ago, Re6/6 said:

I wouldn't touch Hermes with a barge pole.

 

In the past I did agree with you, lately their service has become very good, in my opinion the Royal Mail still holds the upper hand, but a useful backup service for when the packet exceeds the Royal Mails size and weight limits

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12 hours ago, Boco_D1 said:

I spend hours packing models in what can probably be described as over-engineering however I find not all sellers are so cautious. One chap sent some wagons to me through my Hermes, the unboxed wagon in the parcel was poorly wrapped in the large bubble style bubble wrap usually used for packing out boxes to stop items moving around rather than to wrap with. Unsurprisingly it received some damage on it’s transit to me, but the seller refused any responsibility or to even give me a partial refund because ‘the item wasn’t damaged when you won it and I posted it’, well duh. 

 

 

Just open a dispute with eBay, they will stand no nonsense from the seller, will automatically refund you

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18 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I received an item of rolling stock in a jiffy bag, with no extra padding; how it survived I'll never know.  The seller got the 'ump when I gave him neutral feedback because of it, cos' it spoilt his 100%. Tough

 

Not sure if neutral feedback was right in this case.

The item arrived as advertised?  And you were not charged a huge amount?  So it's what you asked for.

But then to be honest, I'm not one to judge.  Have already been told I'm not a good "buyer" here because of action I chose to take when something didn't go to plan.

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On 19/08/2019 at 13:12, polybear said:

I received an item of rolling stock in a jiffy bag, with no extra padding; how it survived I'll never know.  The seller got the 'ump when I gave him neutral feedback because of it, cos' it spoilt his 100%. Tough

Neutral feedback has no effect on one's feedback rating (it is, after all, "neutral"), at least on ebay US.

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6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Neutral feedback has no effect on one's feedback rating (it is, after all, "neutral"), at least on ebay US.

 

 

I think its a bit of a halfway house, lighting up there was an issue that could have been dealt with better. Certainly in my case the seller took notice and  most of the issues was through thoughtlessness, initially in the packing of the item then in their response. When I bought a second item  certainly they took on board my comments  about packing

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On 19/08/2019 at 18:12, polybear said:

 

I received an item of rolling stock in a jiffy bag, with no extra padding; how it survived I'll never know.  The seller got the 'ump when I gave him neutral feedback because of it, cos' it spoilt his 100%. Tough

I'd be pissed off if I sent something which arrived as intended and I received anything but positive feedback because of something that could have happened. Would you have left neutral feedback if it hadn't been built as well as you thought too?


What if it had been well packed but had been run over by the delivery lorry, whereby he'd apologised profusely and refunded?

 

What's your eBay name? Just want to make sure I never sell you anything!

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On ‎19‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 21:36, Boco_D1 said:

One chap sent some wagons to me through my Hermes, the unboxed wagon in the parcel was poorly wrapped in the large bubble style bubble wrap usually used for packing out boxes to stop items moving around rather than to wrap with. Unsurprisingly it received some damage on it’s transit to me, but the seller refused any responsibility or to even give me a partial refund because ‘the item wasn’t damaged when you won it and I posted it’, well duh. 

 

4 hours ago, njee20 said:

I'd be pissed off if I sent something which arrived as intended and I received anything but positive feedback because of something that could have happened. Would you have left neutral feedback if it hadn't been built as well as you thought too?


What if it had been well packed but had been run over by the delivery lorry, whereby he'd apologised profusely and refunded?

 

What's your eBay name? Just want to make sure I never sell you anything!

 

I think that neutral was pretty fair under the circumstances (negative would have been very unfair), if only to (hopefully) make the seller think more next time.  It could very easily have gone pear-shaped and ended up damaged, or worse.  Not a good result for the seller or buyer, as the latter (whilst entitled to a refund) may not only have to make his/her case with Ebay (or lose out, as it seems Boco_D1 above has experienced) but also has the disappointment of receiving something they were looking forward to in a damaged condition.

Do you think the method of packaging was reasonable - if so, let me know your Ebay Name and I'll make sure I never buy anything from you!

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Of course I don't think it is, but I don't appraise things on what could have happened either. My questions still stand, what if it had arrived adequately packed, but still damaged due to some totally unforeseeable incident and you were refunded?

 

How is it reasonable? You bought an item. It was delivered undamaged. How is that deserving of anything but positive feedback?

 

You could have just messaged the seller and said "FYI you may want to package things better next time", or used the detailed feedback to give 1 star to the P&P section or something like that. You seem pleased that the seller "got the 'ump" about you being unreasonable.

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1 hour ago, njee20 said:

Of course I don't think it is, but I don't appraise things on what could have happened either. My questions still stand, what if it had arrived adequately packed, but still damaged due to some totally unforeseeable incident and you were refunded?

 

If it was adequately packed but been run over by the Hermes Fork-Lift Truck then I'd be (a) pleased that Ebay/Paypal make claiming a refund easy, and (b) Pissed off for the seller cos' his sale was totally screwed up, and hope that they are successful in claiming compensation accordingly.  On a more minor note in the circumstances, I'd be (c) disappointed that my purchase didn't turn out as hoped, but compared to the seller's misfortune it'd be small beer.

 

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

 

How is it reasonable? You bought an item. It was delivered undamaged. How is that deserving of anything but positive feedback?

 

I've vague feeling (but it was a bloody long time ago) that the seller was "doing well" out of his postage charge also.  Ok, I wanted the item....but at least the seller could make some attempt at justifying the charge.

 

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

 

You could have just messaged the seller and said "FYI you may want to package things better next time", or used the detailed feedback to give 1 star to the P&P section or something like that. You seem pleased that the seller "got the 'ump" about you being unreasonable.

 

I'm pretty sure the detailed feedback option didn't exist then; anyway, from what I understand of that system then giving poor star ratings is far more likely to screw a seller than a neutral feedback ever will.

It's apparent that we're not going to agree on this matter (fair enough) so I'll stop playing ping-ping...

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On a separate note (and I wasn't aware until yesterday) the compensation terms for some (many?) couriers may catch many of us out, should the worst happen; I usually use the following site for quotes, in the event that Royal Mail costs make heavy or large parcels unviable:

https://www.parcel2go.com/

(this isn't a recommendation, but it's worked ok for me so far)

 

Taking UPS as an example, the terms are (I've deleted those items that are unlikely to be applicable in a Railway Modelling context):

 

Items Covered For Loss Only:

 

The services provided to us by the couriers will send the following items, however, they will not compensate for any damage.

  • If the item is lost within their network they will refund the cost of the carriage and the items value (Parcel protection must be taken out for any loss to be claimed).
  • Electrical Appliances That Are Not Considered White Goods Such As Cameras, Monitors, Computers, All In One Computers, Drones, Lamps, Laptops, Scanners, TV, Projector Etc.
  • Models, Kits

So unless Models, Kits, DCC controllers etc. etc. are actually lost then they're not covered.  If it's been flattened by the Hermes fork-lift but still delivered, then....tough

 

I see a snag there.....

 

 

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I sent a small server by TNT earlier in the week, their list of what's not covered is pretty comprehensive - it even included "all fragile items". No definition of what a fragile item is though.

 

It had a very curious entry - "Filth". The mind boggles.

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