Another Ebay question: Damaged in shipment

[dhermann1]

I'm hoping some of you more experienced Ebayites will be able to tell me what to do next about this. I recently won on Ebay a very nice "blanket chest". It's a nice 2 drawer mahogany dresser, the size of a regular chest, and it had a big slab of black marble as a top. Just gorgeous. The seller packed the heck out of it. The top was packed separately from the body of the dresser. Unfortunately the seller did't quite realize the damage a little bit of sustained flexing force could do. It arrived broken in three pieces. (The apparent ragged edge is just overlapping packing material.)
I immediately emailed the seller and told him (her?) and he (she?) said send pics. Here is the pic:

I asked if it was insured and what I should do to make a claim. I (not surprisingly) have not heard anything back from the seller.
What do I do next? I know where to get a replacement slab, that's not the problem. I paid a fair amount of dough for this piece, I'd like to get it replaced without being out of pocket.

 

[scotrace]

Ugh - heart breaker!

Is the shipping label marked "insured?" It should be if insurance was purchased. Then you would take the whole business to the shipper's offices and make your claim for reimbursement.

 

[Foofoogal]

If it was insured the seller has to go to the post office or wherever they shipped and get some papers to fill out to then send to you.
Then you have to take papers and original packaging (why noone should ever throw any packaging away till done, done) to your local post office and get refund from them. Insured it is out of the sellers hands. They should work with you. I cannot imagine anyone would ship a large thing like that without insurance at all.

 

[scotrace]

Last month I sold a porcelain figure of a horse on Ebay, and even carefully packed in bubble wrap it arrived broken. I insured it, and all the buyer had to do was take the item and packaging to their local Post Office to get the claim paid. I didn't have to fill out any forms on my end.

Made me sick that the item broke. It was a gift to me in the early 80's and I was reluctant to let it go in the first place - then it sold for WAY less than it should have.

 

[MB5]

For something that heavy, I would imagine UPS or FedEx would be used rather than USPS. In that case it should have some insurance included in the shipping.

We need some more info:

What shipping method was used?
Did you pay for insurance?
Did you pay via PayPal?

 

[dhermann1]

It was shipped Greyhound Express, and I got rid of the packaging. Stooopid me. It really needed some sort of rigid wood reinforcement. The breakage was almost inevitable the way they packed it. Being Ebayers, they're probably like only semi pro at packing.

 

[MB5]

As it sounds as it was improperly packed, Greyhound is not liable even if you still had packaging. Your only remaining recourse is if you paid by paypal. You could file a claim stating the item arrived damaged due to improper packaging.

One option to consider is if the marble can be repaired. How thick is the marble and is the top of the dresser solid or an open frame covered by the marble?

If you choose to look for a replacement top, you may want to ask about scrap pieces of marble. Also check building salvage places for a marble counter top you could have cut down (or that miraculously fits).