This should be the right forum to post this in, I suppose it fits better then the collector section.
Intro
Around my birthday I wanted to buy an inexpensive Matty Collector Ghostbusters II Egon/Ray “museum/court room” set. Some of you may have seen my thread in the Wanted forum. Coincidentally the same day when I was browsing eBay (some retail sites were way more then I wanted to spend) I saw about a 2 day sale on a set the seller had bought from Big Lots!.
Purchase
Price with shipping seemed reasonable for an item this size and the shipping time could have been longer then I liked. Any day from April 17 to the end of April. Past experience with “buy it now” or winning auctions through eBay have shown with fast payments and cleared payments items ship sooner. Even if I didn’t have to pay for this item within a reasonable amount of time, I prefer to “check out” after buying on eBay, like any site I would buy from. I completed this payment and waited. Almost immediately like past purchases I received the standard emails from eBay and Pay Pal.
Here’s where part of the problem began.
Waiting
When I bought the set it was a Friday, a week later it was going to be Easter weekend and I was still in the estimated shipping weeks. I was being understanding. After I saw the money clear from my bank before Easter and the holiday passed, their still wasn’t any communication from the seller. Not personal or automated on his part through eBay and/or Pay Pal.
I thought about contacting the seller either this past Monday or Tuesday. Based on eBay’s kinda default options I chose to wait a little longer.
Package Received
Within a day or less, (thankfully I was home at the time) my regular mailman rang my bell and I saw a box sitting on our bench. He handed me the mail, pleasantries, and I looked at the box. It threw me for a moment because most sellers either use plain brown boxes or USPS priority flat rate. I kid you not, it was a fan box. Again normally even if someone uses a box like this, it’s wrapped in brown paper. It was big enough (not comfortably, semantics) to hold the Matty Collector white mailer and was taped securely.
Opening
I cut the tape on the box where one would open this box if they had just bought a new fan. Inside the box I see the white mailer and remove it from this fan box. I knew the set wasn’t SMIB and was barely MIB. I open the white cardboard top and remove the 12" Ghostbusters II Egon/Ray set.
Item Wasn’t As Described
I was happy to have the item, (still am) but saw a crack on the top of the plastic above “Ray” I saw pictures of the set before I bought it, nevertheless their it was. I have a feeling it stressed and cracked somewhere along the travel route (from CA to Jersey) once the seller shipped it.
Contacting The Seller
Same afternoon I contacted the seller through eBay, told him how I was going to write about the cleared payment, yet no communication, etc. I also told him I received the item. In less then 24 hours he wrote me back. He apologized about not updating/providing tracking. Told me of unexpected things that had been happening. He mentioned one, for privacy I won’t publicly post it. I appreciated him responding, (nice or not as a human being) understood, and wrote him back.
As far as the damage he was a bit non shallot about it. Blamed poor service and high rates. I don’t know if it could have been avoided after these items had been passed around from Matty, carriers, Big Lots, and whomever else moved these shipments around. Could a better box have helped, probably. I know other sets I saw on eBay had damaged plastic. I had avoided those for at least that reason.
What To Do Next?
And…this is where I’m seeking advice. I knew he wasn’t accepting returns which is ok. Despite of whatever bad is going on his life, he didn’t make any mention of trying to make it right. I’m not directly blaming the seller, want to give him the benefit of the doubt, feel like I should get some kind of discount. I’m not saying I’m entitled, as a seller myself at times I’d want to do something to try to make it right.
Again, maybe the nice guy thing, should I contact eBay? I know buyers are suppose to be protected. What would they do? I’m not looking to start anything with the seller. I see other people are leaving him positive feedback, which may or may not show he’s been making money from other buyers this month.
I think we’d all agree we should be satisfied by our purchase and experience in buying something. I’m not 100%. I guess I needed to vent as much as confirm what I probably need to do. If you read all this, thanks.