False Damage Claim From Buyer After Nearly 3 Weeks After Delivery

[wikitara]

 In July I sold a DC Direct statue to a customer in the US.  It was sent with Canada Post Expedited Shipping, so it was tracked.  Tracking showed the statue was delivered on July 23.  On August 12, the buyer messages me and claims that the statue arrived damaged, note that this was 19 days after the item was confirmed as delivered. 

The buyer included pictures showing the statue broken in multiple places, with at least 8 pieces broken off of it.  The pictures show the statue out of the box and lying on a floor surrounded by its pieces.  I asked the buyer to send pictures of the packaging, thinking that were it damaged during shipping, the boxes must be pretty damaged.  They sent pictures of both the inner and outer boxes, which were not damaged in any way.  

When shipped, the statue was in its original packaging, a cardboard box with Styrofoam inner pieces that are formed to the statue itself.  If you know anything about this type of packaging, which is what the majority of similar collectibles come packaged in from the factory, you know that the statue will only fit into the Styrofoam in one way and that when the two halves are put together, they conform tightly around the statue.  It should be noted that the Styrofoam is at least 1" thick at every point.  Further, the original box was placed in another cardboard box, packed so that the original box could not move in the outer box.  

The buyer is claiming that "The boxes don't have any damage. The statue was not secured inside the styrofoam, and it broke within the packaging itself."  This of course ignores the fact that by being in the original Styrofoam packaging, the statue was secured.  The custom cut Styrofoam is the definition of being secured.

I own and have seen many similar collectibles.  The fact is that I have never seen, nor know anyone who has seen, a statue, in its original packaging, be damaged, particularly broken in 8 places.  If this was a possibility, the companies would go out of business due to their poor packaging. 

Frankly, it is impossible that the damage claimed by the buyer could have occurred during shipping without there being damage to either the inner or outer packaging.  Logically, this leaves 2 possibilities to explain the damage -- the first being that it was damaged before I put it in the package and shipped it.  This is not the case as it would be utterly stupid to ship such a damaged item as it would be a waste of both my time and money.  The second possibility, and the most logical, is that sometime during the 19 days that the statue was in the buyer's possession, they dropped it and it broke (the damage indicates a drop onto the statue's front/ right side).  Now that the statue is damaged, they no longer want it and are trying to get their money back by claiming it was damaged when it arrived.  

The item was partially insured, but Canada Post won't cover it because there is no damage to the packaging (also because they don't insure breakable things for the most part), and because the buyer had the item for nearly 3 weeks.

I realize that eBay's Buyer Protection Plan vastly favors the seller over the buyer, but I refuse to accept this spurious claim as the item is too damaged to be resold.  Is there any way to get in contact with someone at eBay that will actually investigate this claim and apply logic in determining which side to support?  I have already phoned eBay multiple times and tried to get them to investigate this as a false claim, but they only quote the protection plan to me.

[retroman_studios]

Has the buyer sent photos by way of a claim or have they simply messaged you about it?

Keep trying to contact eBay and get someone state side. If you get the call centers (accent most of the time) they read from a script and don't really know much etc.

In the photos they sent, does it show the styrofoam insert? This does sound fishy.

@happy_pigeon Perhaps someone can help?

[reallynicestamps]

Play softball.

I have some statues like that, I think. Are they molded resin*? Or are they harder plastic action figures with moveable parts?

I take it this was not a New In Box item?

Tell him politely to return the statue in the original packaging for a refund.

The strategy is that he probably doesn't want to return anything.

No returns. No refunds.

And yes, getting in touch with Customer Service about this (during the day because the US reps may be more familiar with comic book collectibles than the late shift Pinoy-- except for anime/manga figurines.)

*I'm thinking of QMX Miini Masters here. And molded resin is pretty tough.

[reallynicestamps]

Looked at a couple of your listings.

Frankly you spend way too much time on Terms of Sale --most of which are irrelevant --and way too little on description.

You need to give the size of the figures and the material and whether or not the original box is included.

And the majority of your customers are buying on phones. Have you seen how little information you are giving your customer?

"Well, maybe I'm not a fancy gentleman like you, with your ... very fine hat. But I do business. We're here for business."  - Captain Malcolm Reynolds

[sylviebee]

Have  you tried to file a claim with the PO for damage?  If so, have they turned  you down?

If not they may insure your item if it wasn't made out of glass.  Items can break even the box is still intact.

[hlmacdon]

Having dealt with this before the timing of when it is reported unfortunately doesn't really matter as long as it is within the greater of the window that you take returns or eBay's buyer protection period. If it is a statute made of polystone, those are a pain in the **bleep** to ship as they have a habit of breaking as the material is brittle in nature. Most of the brands have good packaging, but that doesn't help with the way things get handled by carriers. A good slam across a speed bump is equivalent to a 6 foot drop.

[momcqueen]

While I strongly suspect, as you do, that the buyer knocked it over while vacuuming, there's not a a lot you can do here but try to cover your losses. Contact the post office to try to initiate an insurance claim. You can, of course, call ebay with your suspicions. Maybe this is the MO of the other user and that will finally be enough to out him for it. If not, I'm afraid there's little more than to ask for it back. If the buyer used a google image to show you a smashed statue, they will have little recourse but to drop it. The case, I mean.