Vinyl warped in shipping - is it worthless now?

robert

Same old suit since 1962
Hey all...
I recently bought the T-Rex style "Certain People" 7" promo off eBay. The record was listed as mint / mint, and I paid a pretty penny for it. Well, it arrived today and the seller obviously did not adequately protect the record. The outer packaging was bent and I knew I was in trouble before I opened it. Sure enough, the record has a nice bend in the outer 1/3. The record was packed in a thin cardboard mailer and 2 plys of cardboard...very flexible. There were no markings about "please do not bend" or "fragile"

So is it worthless now? Would you ask for $ back? Is there any way to fix the problem?
 
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Hey all...
I recently bought the T-Rex style "Certain People" 7" promo off eBay. The record was listed as mint / mint, and I paid a pretty penny for it. Well, it arrived today and the seller obviously did not adequately protect the record. The outer packaging was bent and I knew I was in trouble before I opened it. Sure enough, the record has a nice bend in the outer 1/3. The record was packed in a thin cardboard mailer and 2 plys of cardboard...very flexible. There were no markings about "please do not bend" or "fragile"

So is it worthless now? Would you ask for $ back? Is there any way to fix the problem?

i would DEMAND my money back , there are ways to "repair" warped vinyl but they can also ruin the item just as easily , be nice but firm and get your monies returned .
 
Something similar happened to me (not warped, but sleeves ripped and bent) because the bundle had been inadequately packaged. I brought it up with the seller, who swore that it did not leave his house in that condition. The bundle did have to go through customs, but there was no evidence that customs opened it and did a shitty job of repackaging it. I asked for a refund ($15), but was refused because the seller insisted that he'd done his best and, besides, I hadn't asked for, or been offered, shipping insurance. I'm not the not-so-proud owner of a 12" single that is now worth a fraction of what I paid. Such is life. I won't buy from him again, even though he's well known and respected in the community.
 
Hey all...
I recently bought the T-Rex style "Certain People" 7" promo off eBay. The record was listed as mint / mint, and I paid a pretty penny for it. Well, it arrived today and the seller obviously did not adequately protect the record. The outer packaging was bent and I knew I was in trouble before I opened it. Sure enough, the record has a nice bend in the outer 1/3. The record was packed in a thin cardboard mailer and 2 plys of cardboard...very flexible. There were no markings about "please do not bend" or "fragile"

So is it worthless now? Would you ask for $ back? Is there any way to fix the problem?

Sounds like one of those dinky British mailers; I hate them. So thin. The cardboard is as thick as the type found on a gift box. I don't think they even sell the type we use over there. Marking the package with fragile or whatever doesn't make a bit of difference, they're flying down conveyor belts, into carts, and nobody cares.

You can try getting the guy to refund. I would suggest something like "the record arrived in shoddy packaging, so my mint/mint record now has an unrepairable bend in it. I will be mailing it back to you and I expect a full refund. That way we don't have to involve eBay, Paypal, negative feedback, etc." Don't give him a chance to say no by asking a yes/no question, and the paypal/ebay/feedback thing might scare him a bit. Paypal/eBay won't do a thing for you.

Am I gonna see you in SF or LA?
 
Paypal/eBay won't do a thing for you.

Oh trust me if you paid thru paypal and complain there are a couple of different ways of getting your money back

1. if the seller cannot provide verifiable tracking info , the buyer is automatically awarded a refund after a certain set amount of time .

2. If you paid thru paypal with a credit card you can reverse the charges by complaining directly to your credit card company and they will "chargeback" the transaction , the cc company will negate the transaction and paypal will involuntarily take the funds from the sellers account .


but be warned , NEVER open a dispute that has a "not as received" claim status ,( they never resolve those).
you want to begin the process by checking the "did not receive" claim box , that will initiate the tracking info verification process and if the seller was to damn cheap to get tracking (55 cents) then you are well on your way to getting your money back .

ive been f***ed both ways ( as seller & buyer ) by paypal so i know quite a bit about the ins and outs of paypal claims,

if you need any other info just lemme know
 
The buyer seems right in this case, but what about insurance? Was it offered? Was it declined? That last response, telling a person to check "did not recieve" might be a really bad idea, because I always get delivery confirmation as a seller. You're telling the person to commit fraud. I have to say, as an ebay seller, that person that commits fraud against me, and I have proof of it, is f***ed. Crimes, (it's a crime) which involve the postal service are serious. If someone did this to me I would file claims with paypal, and ebay, and if I'd sent to a confirmed address and could prove it, you wouldn't get your money back. I would also file a claim with the post office, and I'm not sure what would happen but you'd be possibly investigated for mail fraud.

The chargeback method might be worth checking into, but you don't have an umlimited number of these, depending on your credit card plan.

At this point the buyer is asking if they should ask for money back. If I'm the seller, they have a chance to get money back, if they are polite and and it's within my time period. If they write and demand, and threaten, their only hope will be a chargeback. I've been screwed over by buyers and I don't do it anymore. If they are writing about a problem that occurred after my time period to ask for a refund has passed, I'll say I'm sorry, but if I don't put limits on these things then no sale is ever final.

Threatening someone with bad feedback if they don't do what you want is against ebay rules. Paypal will fight more for the buyer, but they are going to read the listing. If insurance was offered and wasn't purchased it is not a "slam dunk".


Here's my advice, and this is what would work if you bought this from me. Write and say something like, "Hello, I was disappointed when I recieved my record as it had been damaged in the mail. It doesn't seem to have been packaged very well. I"m sorry, but do you have another copy of this record so we could exchange?" Showing a picture will help, so they don't think you are a scammer. Read their return policy, and again, it's very important about insurance. If they offered it and you didn't accept, that still doesn't mean that they can ship carelessly, but also, many sellers say that they can not be responsible once the item leaves their hands. Asking for an exchange shows good faith. If he says, sorry, I don't have another copy, then say, okay, I will accept a refund.

If this guy sells a lot of records, he doesn't want a recent feedback sayin g that the record was not packaged well and he would not give a refund. BUT don't threaten bad feedback. It's against ebay rules, and be sure that he is aware of the threat without it being mentioned.

If it was me, and you were nice, and you have good feedback yourself, I would want you as a customer, and I'd give you a refund. If you threatened me, you would never get anything, unless you can get your credit card company involved. What do I have to lose? The most you can do is get your money back, and if you're rude and threatening you're going to have to work for it.

I think I'm going to stop accepting credit card payments, actually, because a lot of buyers abuse that chargeback idea. Many sellers won't take paypal because someone has scammed them as is recommended above. Don't commit fraud over a record. Try it the nice way, and act quickly.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I did the honest thing and told the seller about the problem, so the ball's in his court right now. I'll let you know how it goes. Sucks, I've been after this one record for a long time and finally gave up on getting it at a good price...so I paid more than I wanted to and this happens! I think I'll go back to collecting CDs.

Beau, unfortunatley can't make the West Coast this time around. Would be fun but the new job won't allow it. Just FL this time around.
 
Hi Robert,

If the e-bay seller refuses to sort this problem out in a way that you are both happy with, then provding us with his e-bay username would be useful for possible future e-bay purchases.

I hope you get it sorted.
 
I purchased a "You're The One For Me, Fatty" 10 inch in retro sleeve recently via ebay and the record arrived broken in half (although it was safely packaged with cardboard stiffeners etc.). The seller left it to me to sort the problem with Royal Mail, which I tried but it didn't take me very far. Very disappointed.

It looks good on the shelf, though :(.
 
I purchased a "You're The One For Me, Fatty" 10 inch in retro sleeve recently via ebay and the record arrived broken in half (although it was safely packaged with cardboard stiffeners etc.). The seller left it to me to sort the problem with Royal Mail, which I tried but it didn't take me very far. Very disappointed.

It looks good on the shelf, though :(.

Sounds like the Record might be broken BEFORE shipping and then blamed to the Royal Mail...:mad:

Try the "Käuferschutz" from paypal to get your money back, if you think the seller tried to trick you...
 
So is it worthless now? Would you ask for $ back? Is there any way to fix the problem?

Yes, it is worthless.

There are ways to "fix" warped vinyl, but you are never going to be able to 100% fix it. The methods of flattening warped vinyl are unable to repair the damage done the the actual grooves.
 
eBay advice. Records should be sent boxed no matter what as there is a "crush" space for the record when they throw things on them. People usually scream at me first for shipping prices but they always get their item in promised condition. In your case I would ask for a refund. I purchased something that I wanted to resell down the road. It was a vintage Star Wars figure. The guy threw it in an envelope and it was crushed. The bubble holding the figure was smashed. I went to dispute over it with ebay and paypal and was awarded my money back less shipping which was fair.

However for those that would complain about heat warpings. If the record comes warped because the postal carrier left it in the sun or the temperature in the truck was too high being on the open road. You have nothing to be upset at except for the fact that you yourself did not get insurance. Thats on you and the post office. Once it leaves the sellers hands it is not their responsibility in this case.
 
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