Record Destroyed In Shipping - Who Should Deal With Insurance Claim?

I recently bought a 1st pressing of Big Star - #1 Record and it was unfortunately destroyed in shipping. The box severely bent and of course the LP is snapped in half and the jacket has a large bend in it.

I purchased through eBay, and notified the seller as soon as I opened the package which was very obviously going to contain a broken LP (I did photograph it before opening). The seller told me to submit a claim with the post office because they paid for insurance on it. I submitted a claim, but I'm a bit pissed because now I'm the one stuck dealing with getting my $200 back from USPS while the seller has been paid and is done with the situation.

Has anyone else dealt with a situation like this before? I'm wondering what the chances are they give me the full amount, what the turnaround time is, etc. I don't think it's right that I have to sit around for potentially months waiting to get my money back when I'm not the one who packed the record poorly and didn't bother spending the extra $5 on a decent quality heavy duty mailer for a high dollar record. Not sure if typically the seller deals with the insurance, as that makes more sense to me. Seems like I essentially just bought an insurance claim process for $200… lol

I'm wondering if I should also open an eBay money back guarantee case, to at least have this on record with eBay. I don't fully trust USPS here, and I'm not okay with getting taken for a ride or waiting several months, by which time paypal and eBay would tell me to get lost. If it was a $30 record I'd just wait it out and take what I can get, but this was a big chunk of change that the seller is now sitting pretty on.

I realize these things occasionally happen, as I’ve had records I’ve shipped get damaged by the USPS too, thankfully not nearly as bad. I’m not out for blood with the seller or anything either, I just find their lack of care, and basically telling me “too bad, deal with it” to be a pretty poor response.

 

I think you are evaluating the situation properly. The seller is the one who authorized USPS to charge him/her for providing a $200 insurance coverage on the package. So it is the seller who should refund your purchase and seek payment from USPS for the damaged record. It’s the seller that has - or should have- the receipt for payment of the insurance costs. I’ve never had that experience but I did purchase an LP from one of the forum members here recently and the package was lost, never showed up. That member gave me a complete refund. I would never expect a buyer to have to deal with USPS if a record was damaged and I had purchased insurance on it. That’s on me, and I would issue a full refund. I’d open a claim with eBay myself. Just my opinion. I don’t have USPS policy to quote here but I’m wondering how they would pay you anyway.

Edit: I did find this interpretation by USPS which says either shipper or recipient may file but you have to have proof of insurance, value and damage plus original mailing receipt. Not sure how you’d have an original mailing receipt.

File a USPS Claim: Domestic | USPS

 

Open an eBay SNAD claim. It’s not you who has to deal with postal insurance, it is the seller.

 

Open a case with eBay now.

 

Go with eBay. How many times do people put expensive records in poor packaging?

 

Open an ebay claim right away. There are time limits for filing a claim.

 

You have 30 days to file a claim on eBay. If you haven't already done so, do it now.

The seller should be filing this claim not you. I doubt you have all the details required to file it properly anyway.

Don't waste your time on stuff like this. Seller is always ultimately responsible for sorting this out.

 

Thank you for the input. Wasn’t sure if I was being an unreasonable entitled buyer or not. I will open a money back guarantee case.

 

My understanding is that the shipper has to file the claim, since he or she has the shipping receipt with valuation. If you suspect damage from the condition of the package take photos of it prior to opening so the carrier can see it, sharing them with the seller.

Poor handling can happen anywhere. Earlier this week I received a damaged case of prescription canned cat food sent via FedEx. It looks like it must have been dropped from some height, but the vendor replaced the entire case and didn’t need proof for a claim with FedEx.

 

The seller is on the hook here. They should initiate the claim with the USPS. The USPS may (and probably will) require you to provide pictures/documentation of the damage--and you are responsible for reasonably working to help to that degree.

In the end, the seller is responsible for getting the item to you in the condition promised. If that is not accomplished, the seller is on the hook.

eBay will have your back on this, and if the USPS drags their feet or denies the claim, you'll still get your refind in a reasonable amount of time.

 

It is important that you help the seller in filing the claim, as they will need that help, photos, and might even want the package back. Once this is done, you can proceed to get your refund for the LP while the sender is waiting for their refund from USPS.

Include the photos in the ebay communications with seller if you have not already.

I would file the claim with eBay after the seller has to you to wait for the refund so that ebay has a record of the communication both ways. If postage was bought through ebay then it's all that much easier for the seller to collect on this. Save all packing materials (of course).

 

The key is: Keep ALL materials--package, item, etc. Take a lot of pics and share them through eBay messages. Don't ever communicate with the seller outside of eBay messaging.

 

You are getting the correct advice. Get your money back using the ebay guarantee immediately. The seller has to deal with insurance, not you. As far as all the photos go, that will help the seller which I agree is a good thing to do, but a few is fine. Ebay doesn't really care about photos, they stopped using them for proof years ago. The advice about only using their messaging system is good for all questions and transactions, no matter what. Their bots are super paranoid about that.

 

Well, finally did get my money back, er, all but $1.73 of it. I had to go through paypal because I had already opened a return on eBay and it was closed because the seller had refunded me shipping as that was not covered under the USPS claim amount. Ebay refused to reopen the return so I had to just use paypal instead which took a lot longer. Whole time the paypal case was open the seller repeatedly messaged me on ebay threatening legal trouble with the USPS for opening the paypal case. I just repeatedly told them that eBay has told me to go through paypal so respond there if they have anything to say. Of course they didn’t continue to threaten me there… In the end the Postmaster at my local PO told me to just send it back and “let them deal with it” so I did just that. Leaving the negative eBay feedback this morning after Paypal sent me the refund was very satisfying. I’ve been dealing with health issues so having someone constantly message me threatening things was not fun to also have to deal with! Lesson learned though, don’t close any cases until you get your money back in full for things like this!

 

Sorry you went through that. Seller deserves the red doughnut. I was very skeptical reading your OP, when they flipped the insurance process on you.

 

I can't believe you closed the case until you had every penny back. Shysters prey on that kind of thing.

Anyway, glad that you got most of your money back.

 

Yeah, definitely a lesson learned. I actually expected eBay to reopen the case but understand why they didn’t. Learned the hard way not to leave positive feedback until you are 100% sure everything is as described including playing the entire record this way too.

 

And of course the seller is still harassing me a week after the record got delivered to them. Calling me a liar for leaving negative feedback exactly describing what happened. Is there a way to report someone to eBay for this kind of thing? I would just block them but that doesn’t seem to be an option and I’m tired of getting notifications that they’ve sent me messages as I really do not care what they have to say at this point.

 

You can report a seller: Report an issue with a seller | eBay

Scroll down. If that doesn't work, I would just call eBay.

 

Thank you. Reported them as they messaged me yet again after my last post…

 

They didn't even deserve to sell/destroy a Big Star album - crappy packer too.