How to Deal with Grossly Inadequate Shipping

[Zoomer3989]

About a week or so ago, I ordered an Italian Nether Void from Ebay. The card seemed "gem" mint in the picture (and was), and was stated to having come from the home of a former player.

When I opened the already late package, this is what I found:

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/6315/photoruf.jpg

I am extremely angry. The listing described the owner as a former MTG player. Doesn't every MTG player on the planet know to use a top-loader and sleeve at the very least? Doesn't it occur to every MTG/card game player that it is quite easy to destroy a card like that, if all of the weight is on the card when trying to remove it? Christ.

Note: I was not offered any other shipping options.
The total came to $75.75, with $.75 of that for shipping. I realize that it's not high, but you'd think that someone would put more than zero effort into protection. While the card that came is mint, I can't fathom how it stayed that way.

I'd like to file a complaint over this, and I'm wondering what is the appropriate way to accomplish this and what kind/or if I should ask for any kind of compensation.

[lochlan]

[Edit: this post hinged on my incorrect assumption that the card arrived damaged. The image link didn't work earlier.]

Send a message to the seller through eBay messages asking for either a partial refund or a return. Usually I ask for a specific dollar amount right off the bat because inevitably the seller will ask you for a number and it saves time to just open with one. DO NOT ask for them to pay return shipping if you're planning on leaving negative/neutral feedback as this is a violation of eBay policy and can get you a warning/eBay will delete all your negative/neutral feedback (this happened to me). I usually am friendly in these messages and open by saying "I received the card today, thank you for shipping so quickly! Unfortunately the card arrived damaged due to insufficient packaging yadda yadda..." I've found that this tends to get the best results.

If that doesn't work, use the eBay resolution center. If the product is damaged in shipping or otherwise falls short of what was stated in the auction description (the product arrived "significantly not as described") you are entitled to file a report through the resolution center. eBay will let you return it but you have to pay for shipping. I personally hate this because I feel that if the seller is negligent then they should at least pay for return shipping considering all your time that they wasted...but that's eBay's policy.

This has happened to me a LOT. (I buy thousands of dollars of cards a year.) For this reason I avoid low-feedback sellers and also explicitly ask everyone I buy from to use a certain shipping method (penny sleeve upside-down in toploader taped shut). If it's a high-dollar card I ask in the message field when purchasing AND send the seller a message through the message center. Honestly people just have no idea how rough it is for packages in-transit.

[Zoomer3989]

Normally, I would do that, but the card actually arrived as stated condition-wise. I'm just furious that someone would mail a Legends rare without even a toploader.

[lochlan]

Oh. The image link in your post didn't work before you changed it to the image shack link.

Dude, why the hell do you care if it arrived OK? Yeah, it's annoying, but all's well that ends well. So you paid for the card, it arrived safely, and you're "extremely angry" because...? Chill out and don't buy from that seller again.

[Chmur]

Dude, why the hell do you care if it arrived OK? Yeah, it's annoying, but all's well that ends well. So you paid for the card, it arrived safely, and you're "extremely angry" because...? Chill out and don't buy from that seller again.

Because you would expect some sort of card treatment at certain priced card. Not to mention, taping the top side of sleeve is NEVER okay even if the card is in perfect size. As someone who sells often cards over the internet, jackasses who can't even package properly piss me off. Just yesterday opened a package contaning 100USD worth of bulk rares and the person shipped them 8 stuffed in a single sleeve. That's just not how it's done.

A card over 50USD should get shipped in perfect size, toploader, taped to cardboard in bubble envelope.

[Zoomer3989]

Because you would expect some sort of card treatment at certain priced card. Not to mention, taping the top side of sleeve is NEVER okay even if the card is in perfect size. As someone who sells often cards over the internet, jackasses who can't even package properly piss me off. Just yesterday opened a package contaning 100USD worth of bulk rares and the person shipped them 8 stuffed in a single sleeve. That's just not how it's done.

A card over 50USD should get shipped in perfect size, toploader, taped to cardboard in bubble envelope.

This is exactly what I mean. That having been said, a lot of my post was emotional reaction, and I am grateful that the card arrived mint.

[jamied1981]

I too just got a Italian legends tabernacle from a guy in Italy last week, it was shipped priority but only shipped in a thin bubble wrap and penny sleeve. So thank god it wasn't creased, which it could have easily have. I was pissed because I've been screwed over in the past from bad shipping methods.

[jrw1985]

I ordered a $50 card off eBay a few years ago. The seller shipped it in a regular envelope and the cheapest soft sleeve available. No hard material of any kind other than the card itself. I left him poor feedback on eBay. He had the nerve to message me that it was inappropriate for me to leave poor feedback without contacting him first. Some sellers are just assholes, I guess.

[cdr]

I would contact the seller and let him know you're unhappy with the packaging. He genuinely may not know better.

You can leave a positive feedback and mention in the comment that the packing was poor, which is what I would do. You could even leave neutral, though I'm not sure whether eBay's automated rules will let you do that if the seller met certain criteria.

[TheArchitect]

I would contact the seller and let him know you're unhappy with the packaging. He genuinely may not know better.

I think some people are just ignorant to what the "correct" mtg packaging methods are. You should message him first if there is an issue.

I once recieved a FoW playset that was just in an penny sleeves+envelope but he didn't say he would be packing it otherwise, and they arrived in the same condition as described so there was no issue at all. Its fine to leave poor packers some positive feedback saying "Just as described, but poor packaging, luckily wasn't damaged" just so other buyers are warned.

[Michael Keller]

I think there's more than meets the eye in this scenario.

While you got "lucky," that isn't guaranteed the next time the person ships out in the same fashion to someone else. I think being proactive here and communicating to the seller that that way of shipping is horrendous and they should reconsider the fashion they ship cards to future buyers - expressing your lividity - would be beneficial for the community of buyers, sellers, traders and players alike. I think your reaction was completely justifiable and you shouldn't apologize for anything. Someone mailed you a very rare and expensive card in a crude fashion and exposed it to potentially serious damage.

You may save someone from buying a damaged product by sending a simple email.