Card damaged in shipping, would you give a refund?

Here's the facts, just wanted to get a few opinions on this before I react:
Purchased two opened 2008-09 USA Baseball sets for approximately $125/each. Seller ships them individually in large bubble mailers and places the high-value cards (Strasburgs and Harper) in toploaders (no team bag and not even taped at the top) that he then slides under the outer sleeve that surrounds the set, then places the set in the mailer.
When I get the sets the cards have slid out from under the sleeve and some of the cards have slid out of the toploaders. One of the Strasburg rookies was damaged, with a corner of the card literally torn in two.
Do you think this warrants a partial refund for the damaged card?
Although I did not purchase insurance, my argument is that if the cards were packaged properly, then the card would not have gotten damaged. Your guys' input is appreciated!

you are absolutely entitled to a refund. It is a shame the cards were damaged but it was clearly the fault of the seller

Sorry to hear about that.

You are 100% entitled to a refund. If the seller doesn't want to, file a report and PayPal will. The seller is responsible for the safe delivery of any/all items to the buyer, and insurance really is his problem even though buyers are usually the ones who pay for it if it is purchased.

Have you contacted the seller yet?

My initial response (seller's replies in bold):
Just got back from the shore and the other set was in the mailbox. The set was intact, but the cards you slid under the sleeve had slipped out and the top-right corner of the toploader, and the Strasburg card inside, was literally torn. I paid a lot for this set and am unhappy with how the cards were packaged. As a result, the most valuable card was damaged. I would like a partial refund for this card please. PLMK.
Sincerely,
Allen Silvey

Sent: Mon, Jun 7, 2010 8:49 am
Subject: Re: docsilvey has sent a question about :shipping for item #110535137107, that ended on May-25-10 16:43:53 PDT - 2008 USA Box Bball Set Bryce Harper/Stephen Strasburg

I'll refund you like $15.00 if you want. The Harper card alone books for about $50.00

Sent: Tue, Jun 8, 2010 2:29 pm
Subject: Re: docsilvey has sent a question about :shipping for item #110535137107, that ended on May-25-10 16:43:53 PDT - 2008 USA Box Bball Set Bryce Harper/Stephen Strasburg

I've sold over 30 of these Strasburg cards since spring training and the absolute lowest I sold one for was $48. I'll accept a $45 refund even though these cards are selling for $60 now and if he has a good outing tonight, they'll probably approach $100.

Sent: Wed, Jun 9, 2010 5:29 pm
Subject: Re: docsilvey has sent a question about :shipping for item #110535137107, that ended on May-25-10 16:43:53 PDT - 2008 USA Box Bball Set Bryce Harper/Stephen Strasburg
are you crazy. Why is this my fault that the cards got damaged in the mail

So this is where I'm at now...

The seller is required to get the cards to you in the same condition as promised. While paypal/ebay will certainly side with you, if no condition was promised and no pictures were shown you technically got what you paid for.

Partial refunds are for chumps, though. I don't think I'd ever issue one. If you're not happy, pay the fee, and return them / file a claim.

It's his fault because he packaged them like a moron. It's the seller's job to get the cards to the buyer safely. Common sense says that stuff gets thrown around in the mail and should be packaged accordingly. He did not do so and the cards got damaged, so he should be giving a big refund. That's just the way it works.

Insurance is 100% the responsibility of the seller, and I believe Ebay no longer allows sellers to "offer insurance". Paypal will side with you 100% of the time if you file an "item not as described" claim. Now, you may be required to send ALL of the stuff back as I highly doubt Paypal will deal with partial refunds.

So...if you can't work out a deal with the seller, you need to decide if it's worth it to send everything back in order to get a refund.

Regardless, you are entitled to something as it is the sellers responbility to get the cards to you in proper condition.

Sly said:

Insurance is 100% the responsibility of the seller, and I believe Ebay no longer allows sellers to "offer insurance". Paypal will side with you 100% of the time if you file an "item not as described" claim. Now, you may be required to send ALL of the stuff back as I highly doubt Paypal will deal with partial refunds.

So...if you can't work out a deal with the seller, you need to decide if it's worth it to send everything back in order to get a refund.

Regardless, you are entitled to something as it is the sellers responbility to get the cards to you in proper condition.

Click to expand...

That's true. Ebay's rule now is that if you as a seller want to be paid for insurance that it must be included in your shipping price.

100% the seller's fault. I pad and protect everything the same, whether it's a $1 card or a $100 card. It's not directly his fault that the USPS damaged the cards, but he shipped them in a way that made it easier for it to happen.

OP should get a full refund upon return of the product.

With that said, my wife bought something on ebay a few months ago and had an issue with the product being damaged. The seller said "no returns" which was fine except he packed the item like a damn moron and it broke. She contacted paypal and they said to send the item back and then Paypal would issue the refund. She went online a few hours later and Paypal had already dumped the money into the account without the item being sent out yet. This was the first problem I've seen with ebay/paypal personally so I wasn't sure how it worked but I was surprised to see the money already before the item was sent out. Is this the norm?

And yes, the item was sent out two days later.

Sellers fault...
Return all of it for a full refund and pay for delivery confirmation to protect yourself,
If it was $5 it would be a different story, but $250.00 worth of stuff should have been packed much better...

Put in for the paypal claim and go from there.

Forget the refund, just file an "Item Not As Described." Clearly the seller isn't going to work enough with you to continue the hassle dealing with him.

Sellers need to understand that team bags are incredibly cheap. Use them, not tape.

Hopefully this seller considers this Lesson #1 and doesn't need #2.

Re: team bags. A pack of 100 costs $1 at my shop - absolutely no excuse for people who frequently sell cards not to utilize them.

I am willing to bet that the rest of the cards weren't even in penny sleeves. For these sets and cards penny sleeves for the entire set including commons, team bags for the key cards, and shipping in USPS Priority flat rate box(es) should be the standard. Getting sets and lots of cards with no softy sleeveez is one of my major eBay pet peeves.

Get a refund any way possible from this dope and pound the feedback and DSRs.

brumbach said:

I am willing to bet that the rest of the cards weren't even in penny sleeves. For these sets and cards penny sleeves for the entire set including commons, team bags for the key cards, and shipping in USPS Priority flat rate box(es) should be the standard. Getting sets and lots of cards with no softy sleeveez is one of my major eBay pet peeves.

Get a refund any way possible from this dope and pound the feedback and DSRs.

Click to expand...

I don't like when every card is sleeved, as long as they are in the box (200 ct, 500 ct etc) and cannot move when you shake the box, and then double boxed is fine for me.

200lbhockeyplayer said:

Forget the refund, just file an "Item Not As Described." Clearly the seller isn't going to work enough with you to continue the hassle dealing with him.

Sellers need to understand that team bags are incredibly cheap. Use them, not tape.

Hopefully this seller considers this Lesson #1 and doesn't need #2.

Click to expand...

By far the worst packaging I've ever received was a bundle of 5 base refractors of a player that were put into soft sleeves and then tightly taped together on all four sides. It took me about twenty minutes to get them apart without damaging them.

I think ebay should create another DSR category: "How stupidly did the seller package the item"

This particular one and the OP's issue would probably qualify for 6 out of 5 stars in this category.