Need Advice on eBay Issue

JohnLocke88

So, I picked up a pair of RTA-12's about a month ago. I got them for a reasonable price, and I knew when I bought them that one of the MW6500s would need to be replaced (frozen solid).

I'd been hunting down a replacement, when I found somone on eBay selling them.

Well, long story short, got the drivers on Friday, and they were completely buggered. The way the guy packaged them (he screwed both drivers into a board cut out the size (W x H ) of the box), every time the box would have been jarred, the magnets would have been equally "impacted." There was no insulation/ support packing around the drivers/magnets themselves.

So, I'm looking for advice on how to "remedy" the situation. The seller (who does have excellent feedback) has suggested we try a UPS claim.

Any advice / suggestions will be welcomed.

nooshinjohn

I am truly sorry to see that mess. It looks to me like a poor packing job and UPS will simply say it was the shipper's fault. I wish you well in working towards a solution, but I think your best recourse is to threaten bad feedback and hope the seller steps up.

bluecomet

I agree. UPS will not take the blame for that mess. The seller should take a return and credit your paypal account or go to paypal under resolutions and it will be an open case. At that point the seller will not be able to sell anything else on ebay and should come to terms with you in some way. I have been there and done that. It is a pain all the way around. Good luck.

JohnLocke88

So I've been emailing with the seller and he is claiming that this morning (after I asked for a refund) that "his wife is writing me a check... but he hasn't talked to her since he wrote the email and this morning."

Is this sounding like BS to any of you?

Payment was sent on the 9th of Feb for reference.

bluecomet

I would open a dispute with paypal just to be on the safe side. You can always drop the dispute if the seller come thru.

JohnLocke88

Yah, I'll give the guy till noon tomorrow, then open the dispute.

NotaSuv

Can always close the dispute, but from looking at that packing job I would get one started

JohnLocke88

Well, dispute filed. We'll see what happens. I hate eBay; I'm buying from CP only now me thinks. (that or local pickup only on the bay.)

refinedsound

Believe it or not I received a pair of 3-way vintage Yamaha NS690's shipped with frozen up woofers. Apparent shipping impact had jarred both of them. Now the strange part, I removed them from the cabinets and starting tapping them on the rugged frame work on a piece of masonite on top of concrete. Eventually I must have re-centered the magnets and both have been playing wonderfully for years now!

Maybe just maybe you will get lucky?? I hope!

Karl

dl090465

EBAY and UPS are the worst !!!

mhmacw

i cant help but wonder if you got the item insured for shipping? if so your set if not bend over. ALWAYS insure ebay purchases with shipping insurance. even if the product was bad from the seller you are covered.

dekuda

dl090465 wrote: »

EBAY and UPS are the worst !!!

There are those of us who sell on Ebay and are honest sellers. You will get the good and the bad on Ebay and the only thing you have to go by is their feedback.Craigslist seems to be worse. It sucks when this happens. The seller should have refunded you through paypal instead of a check. Because of my long relationship with UPS I will not personally use them anymore.I find more stuff gets damaged by them and they make it very difficult to get paid from a claim. I only use Fedex or sometimes USPS. Wish you the best of luck with this.

Toolfan66

FedEx is the best way to go IMHO, and like dekuda said there are those of us that sell on ebay that are honest people. I for one work to keep my 100% feedback on ebay as I do here..

inspiredsports

I know this is an old thread and I guess I have a slightly different take on the situation, but wanted to offer this . . .

I buy and sell lots of Thorens turntables on eBay, about a dozen a year. Most are valued in the $350-$450 range. I have also bought and sold MW6509/MW6510 drivers, both here within CP and on eBay.

On the buy side, I have had several turntables arrive damaged, typically due to poor packaging. This is no fault of USPS, UPS or FedEx. It's the fault of the seller who did not understand how to properly package the item. In each case, I was able to get a complete settlement, either from the seller or eBay and because of this I have never left bad feedback for a seller.

On the sell side, I have only had one case where damage occurred. I shipped UPS insured and a stylus was damaged. Not only did UPS quickly settle, but they reimbursed me the exact amount the recipient paid for a brand new similar stylus based upon a photocopy of the $87 receipt for the replacement. I felt that was exceptional service.

As far as vintage Polk mid-woofers, they can be problematic, even when carefully packaged. The glue may or may not be dried out depending upon a multitude of variables like how many drops of glue applied the day of manufacture or the relative humidity in the home where the speakers "lived" for 20 years. I've literally dropped a vintage driver that DID NOT magnet shift, and I've just looked cross-eyed at one that did.

If your seller has 100% feedback, err on the side of trusting him to make it right. If not, I trust eBay will issue you a 100% refund.

As far as shippers, I will offer that for my business, we ship about 10,000 wristwatches per year using the much maligned US Postal Service about 99.9% of the time.

In 5 years I have had 1 lost, 1 stolen and 2 damaged watches out of nearly 48,000 shipments. We carefully package and use more expensive Delivery Confirmed Priority Mail versus First Class or Parcel Post, but those are some stellar result for a shipper that is the butt of so many jokes and illustrations of poor service and failure.

dl090465

i always have terrible luck with the BIG BROWN TRUCK....

HB27

Losing a MW sucks. Shipping a 25 year old POLK MW takes some special packing and even that might not help.
The seller wasn't familiar with Polk MW glue issues for sure. No matter where the fault may lay it's still the sellers responsibility. Even IF he made an honest effort to protect them in his thinking.
I sold Ricardo a couple of MW6500s a couple of months back. I packed them well. One of them froze up in shipping.
It's the only time I've had them damaged when "I SHIPPED" them. I should have JB welded the mag structure. I learned my lesson quick. I won't ship a Polk MW without JB weld applied first.
Ricardo was great about it all. I refunded his money, Fedex paid me back. I almost feel guilty about getting paid back because of the MW glue issues with Polk.
Most vintage speakers are safely shipped using the plywood method. Polk MWs are NOT one of them.

NotaSuv

Have been buying,selling and shipping for years...if packed CORRECTLY..99% of the time it will arrive alive....Have shipped over 400 items using USPS,UPS and FedEx and never had one arrive damaged or dead...now what I have received from others is a whole nuther thread..

John...........was there a final outcome here............did the seller make good?