Buying LEGO on eBay

samiam391 · August 2013

Wow, a real shame. I'm so sorry to hear that. Having received an SDCC minifigure shipped in nothing but an envelope with almost no padding this past week, I completely understand. I didn't have a gash through the set, but I did have the packaging around the figure completely mutilated.

While this wasn't the seller's fault in the beginning (I assume pics of the set before shipment looked mint), it is now. They can't control what Fedex does in transit, but they can have a say in what happens after it is delivered, especially if it is gashed like you have stated.

You've already tried contacting the seller, and they have been non-responsive. Personally, I would have only given them 4 days to respond, but that just goes to show how impatient I am :o)

Go ahead and open a "not as described" claim on eBay, requesting a full refund. It sounds like you don't want the set considering you paid for mint and received something far from it. Don't waste anymore time waiting on the seller's response, and call eBay. Explain the situation, and the fact that the seller didn't respond to your requests (and that you gave them 2 weeks to do so). Then request that they go ahead and escalate the case. Given the circumstances, they should understand and do so for you no problem. Provide pictures of the packaging (both of the box it was shipped in, and of the item you received) as proof of the damage.

I hope it all works out for you and I'm sorry it all happened in the first place.

ColoradoBricks · August 2013

I sold last year the castle set #7946, was NIB, but box was water damaged on arrival (read soaked all the way). As the seller, I ordered a box, instructions and stickers off bricklink with direct shipping to the buyer.
Buyer was happy with the resolution and I claimed the cost against the insurance (they paid what I spent for that bricklink order).

Worst case scenario, I would order myself what is damaged from BL, and file a claim for the cost of that order. If the seller is not moving and helping you for the claim with Fedex, I would not hesitate to open a eBay claim to make him react.

roxio · August 2013

Just open dispute in ebay. You'll likely get a refund but will have to ship to back. If seller makes you pay for return shipping then reflect this in feedback...

hoyatables · August 2013

Thanks Colorado and Sam - I wanted to make sure I wasn't being too harsh in going after the seller, but if I were one of my clients, I would have told them that is exactly what to do. The seller can then make himself whole by filing a claim with FedEx, and FedEx will (rightfully) have to pay for its mistake.

Colorado, you won't believe it, but my set was #7946 as well!!!! I do have to consider whether I could "live with" the set as is. I bought it because it was a great deal compared to the going rate for sealed sets, but the price was comparable to most open sets -- meaning it is still a reasonable deal for a set with sealed bags. But it is just not "giftable" and that is what I really wanted. Sigh.

Colorado, I like your idea of hunting around for another box. That is really all I need. Once I get things moving on that front and get the claim in process, hopefully I can get made whole without too much cost to all other parties involved.

aduk · October 2013

Hi all,
Would appreciate some advice from this forum.
Bought a lot of different Lego sets a few weeks and in my view the seller ripped me off. The package was a complete mess when it arrived -just a pile of loose boxes held together with small amount of tape, gaping holes and Lego all loose in side. most of it seems to have got lost in transit or not present in the first place, very few If the minifigs are missing or totally unrelated to the sets sold . The item was sold as havIng no missing peices which clearly isn't the case. I have raised a case indicating item is not as described and want to return for refund but haven't had a response in over a week now from the seller and no progress to resolve. I am thinking of raising to customer services for a decision but not sure if there is a downside to this. I took pictures of the item when it arrived and feel I have a good case. any thoughts from anyone.
cheers

JamesJT · October 2013

Post a link to the listing and let us have a look.

aduk · October 2013

thanks for the comment but not sure I can post the listing because I am currently in dispute with this individual and would rather not implicate the seller specifically. perhaps being overly nervous.
my question is really about how helpful are ebay customer services likely to be when my case hinges on poor packing and mismatch to the description which clearly stated 'no missing peices'. for example the lot contained a passenger plane missing engines, tail fin, wheels, minifigures, exit doors and internal fixings when it arrived.

Aleydita · October 2013

I haven't sold on eBay for a while so I don't know what their complaints procedures are like these days. They used to be absolutely terrible.

If you exhaust their procedures without success there are a couple of options available to you, but it really depends on how you paid. If you paid by PayPal and signed for the package then you'll probably be out of luck unless, perhaps, the buyer is registered with eBay as a Business Seller and you're willing to take them to the Small Claims Court.

You could also speak to your Credit Card company if you paid with a Credit Card. They may agree to reverse the payment, however if you paid via PayPal I wouldn't recommend this. PayPal like to think that normal consumer protection laws don't apply to financial transactions made through them and will try and retrieve the money from you and/or block you using your account.

drdavewatford · October 2013

Start out by contacting the seller, politely explaining the issue and requesting a refund. If no joy, can't you just raise a dispute with eBay to get your money refunded ? My understanding is that they almost invariably side with the buyer in such cases, particularly if you're in a position to send them pics, clearly explain what went on etc.

aduk · October 2013

hi thanks for the advice. I have contacted the buyer several times and explained very politely the issue but to no avail after about a month of one sided discussion. a dispute is now open with ebay and my next step is to refer to customer services but this does seem to be the last act and theIr decision is final. I believe I have a strong case but just wanted to get advice if anyone else had experience from similar cases -it sounds reassuring that they tend to favour buyer.

purple_haze · October 2013

Ive brought things of ebay a couple of times when the listing states complete when there not and contacting the seller is a waste of time. Both times ive raised a complaint though ebay and both times ive had a refund.

joel4motion · October 2013

You are the buyer so unless by some miracle, someone in the eBay office is having a really off day, then you will get a refund.

eBay is so geared up towards being in favour of buyers that I rarely sell on there anymore.

I am not suggesting that you have done this but imagine the seller sent a perfectly packaged set to you. You open, tear and destroy said package in turn removing what you wish to keep. You then take pictures, report the buyer and open a case. I'd bet that 99/100 you'd get your money back. Wether the seller gets charged, a courier is blamed or eBay swallows the loss, it is all detrimental to the system and causes fees/courier rated to rise.

Rant over...

Escalate the case, reply as soon as you can to all correspondence and you will get a refund.

Xefan · October 2013

If you paid via Paypal then file a dispute ASAP, because if you don't and your dispute time limit runs out then it becomes much harder to get your money back.

I don't know why Paypal has such a strict time limit, it's counter-productive because it encourages people to file a claim before they've exhausted simply waiting for a missing package or via discussion with the seller but there you go. If you want the best chance then Paypal before dispute resolution timer runs out is your best bet.

Matthew · October 2013

^ Actually, I don't think you can go directly to PayPal now for ebay items? The last time I had an issue, I attempted to escalate through PayPal, but their website directed me to the Ebay Resolution Centre. It has the same effect anyway, 99% of the time Ebay/PP side with the buyer.

Xefan · October 2013

Possibly has changed yeah, it's been some years since I had to file a dispute. I guess eBay have stopped trying to maintain the illusion of separation between the two companies now as I've noticed I get pestered to link my PayPal account to my eBay account each time I purchase now as well.

jockosjungle · October 2013

It depends on what was sold, and how it was described. You seem reluctant to show us the listing for some reason, meaning maybe there is a little more to the story than you are letting on.

What precisely were you buying?

But ebay read all the correspondence in the dispute and then you get 2000 words to state your case if you are the one who sends it to be resolved by ebay.

But i'd check the ebay rules, precisely how was it described, was it second hand? They have specific guidelines on how things should be, for example the fact the box is a little manky might not be enough.

The downside is that the decision is final, but I don't really see what you have to lose, if the seller ignores all correspondence (especially in the resolution centre) then you'll probably be fine. You're not getting your money back any other way.

aduk · October 2013

Thanks to all who have commented and for the advice.

I know am coming across as naive - I have used ebay on and off for about ten years and never referred anything to customer services in that time - admittedly I have not bought that much until recently and now mainly Lego.

@jockosjungle I have nothing to hide but because the dispute is live I have tried to keep the specific item out of the thread. It was a lot of Lego items described as complete- no more, no less. When they arrived they were so badly packaged that some of the pieces were missing. I firmly believe the seller has not taken due care in sending it, which I appreciate you are only taking my word for it but it is difficult to give both sides of the story here and I am now getting the runaround from the seller claiming it was damaged in the post. I might be naive but there is simply no way this was damaged in the post - it is just not possible based on the way the package was put together - consisting of loose cardboard boxes held together with small amounts of tape and gaping holes.The lego was loose inside the 'box'
@joel4motion - I am sure that scenario happens, your rant is justified and appreciate now that ebay seems firmly on the buyers side.

The way forward seems clear and there is no other way I am getting my money back otherwise.

Mods - Please close the thread.

msanders · October 2013

Keep taking the case through eBay. You will get your money back. The seller is responsible for claiming against the courier company if it was damaged in the post. The seller should refund you and then they make their own claim to get compensation from the courier. Good luck!

augen · October 2013

I have been buying Lego from eBay for about 8 years and I was screwed over last year for the first time. I learnt the hard way that you should use eBay's resolution system rather than trying to sort it out yourself. By all means contact them directly initially, but if you don't resolve it to your satisfaction within 48 hours, report it to eBay as you won't have a leg to stand on if you don't report it within 2 weeks. I ended up having to submit a case to the small claims court, having already wasted a lot of time discussing it with the Post Office and the police.

jockosjungle · October 2013

If they claim damage in the post, then not an issue. You'll get your money back. As part of your final remarks on the dispute or a message to the seller suggest that this should be his course of action.

Yes always raise a dispute formally pretty fast, brother in law bought a boiler that went missing, £500, the guy was being dead good about it going missing, just dragging it out until he couldn't make a claim and then he heard nothing more.

Gavin83 · October 2013

If eBay/paypal can't deal with it for any reason people should be taking it to court. As long as you've got a case then this is the best solution.

TheLoneTensor · November 2013

A couple weeks old, but haven't seen it here yet. No longer can you use feedback to help gauge what kinds of items a buyer or seller has been dealing with. You used to be able to peruse someone's feedback and look at the item listings that were involved in each feedback line item if they were < 90 days old. Basically this takes away a very useful tool that helped users (buyers mostly) understand what kind of person they are dealing with, what kinds of trades have built up their feedback, etc.

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m10/i17/s01

Basta · November 2013

Yeah I noticed that a few days ago while looking at a suspect seller. Account was only 10 days old but already had a feedback of 9 and was selling multiples off a few expensive Lego sets very cheap.

I tried to see the items that the feedback was for but couldn't. I could at least see details of the accounts that left the feedback and there was a lot of cheap ($0.5 - $3) items being sold.

Just another way for eBay to help out the scammers.

coolpix · November 2013

I found that feature to be really helpful, it sucks that they are going away with it. The past 5 years they have being doing everything they can to kill eBay as it once was, and it looks like they are succeeding. Last time I sold anything there was in 2009.

roxio · November 2013

Not a great move by eBay, but I think you will still be able to see recent sales of a seller via their completed listings.

cheshirecat · November 2013

Is this across the board? - if I view someone's feedback on ebay.co.uk its still the same - item names, prices (and for recent items) the view item button. The same it true if i view someones on ebay.com.

paul_merton · November 2013

I expect it's only been rolled out to a subset of users (or classes of browser maybe?). I still get completely different views of eBay depending on whether I'm looking at it from work or home. One is more modern looking and provides some additional functionality, although some of the useful features have gone. It's kind of nice having both :)

TheOneVeyronian · November 2013

A somewhat weird observation, at least for my eBay UK account anyway regarding being able to see purchased and sold items: I am able to view item descriptions for selling feedbacks on anyone's feedback profile including my own (unless they're private listings of course). What I can't see now is any item descriptions for buying feedbacks at all (not even my own!?)

What I can foresee with my particular observation now is people who buy cheap, sell expensive on the same account, and most buyers wouldn't be able to pick up facts like this anymore as the item descriptions from the sellers feedback history as a buyer would not show up. This would obviously be an advantage to some sellers who would probably not like to disclose the price they bought the items they're reselling to the bidders and buyers.

My two cents anyway on the whole matter.

cheshirecat · November 2013

^Yes, on closer inspection that's the same with me. Seems kind of stupid/redundant.

dr_teng · November 2013

Seems a really bizarre change that won't benefit anyone except scam sellers. I don't even understand the logic of this one.

Renny · November 2013

It is an odd change but maybe enough people complained that they felt having their purchase history public was some sort of invasion of privacy. I am in agreement with others that it helps ”profile” a possible scammer.

Buying LEGO on eBay

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