Dead on Arrival....

[Piledriver]

First Ebay listing...a Black powder ramrod with wooden shaft...
First Ebay sale...not great, but plenty good for a test run....

Shipped...Tracked....Arrived....Broken in two pieces.
Apologized; Refunded in full; made claim on USPS....

Awaiting further results...oh, brother.

The learning curve is shaped kinda funny here.

 

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[DirtyHowi]

you can get shipping tubes at most office supply stores. I get them from work, as we sell long metal items for firesticks.

 

[Piledriver]

Yep, I thought of that a little too late.
I'm smarter now.

 

[NHBandit]

Long triangular Priority Mail boxes from the post office are free. They work very well and are as strong as tubes. When you ship things whether it's UPS, FedEx or USPS assume that the package will be thrown into a cage full of gorillas and then drop kicked across the room into the delivery truck. If you pack your stuff expecting that you will be pretty close to the truth.. Alot of little East Podunk rural post offices don't stock these boxes for some reason but you can order them in 10 packs direct from the website & they are free with free delivery to your house.. https://store.usps.com/store/browse...&productId=P_O_1098M&categoryId=priority-mail If you're plan is to become the next Ebay millionaire you need to know about all the free packing stuff you can get from the PO. They have Priority Mail packing tape too but not on the website. You need to suck up to someone at the post office & ask for it..

 

[diggummup]

I've been doing this for more than a decade so don't feel too bad. I just refunded a guy $99.99 for a wooden Johnnie Walker display that I sold. It arrived broken also. Double boxed, wrapped in bubble wrap and packed in peanuts. Meanwhile, I can ship a piece of delicate crystal to Denmark and it makes it there fine with no damages. Go figure. I can't even file a USPS claim for another week.

 

[Piledriver]

Nice to know other people have trouble too.
I'm trying to become more aware of sources of packing materials.
Thanks for the heads up on tape.

 

[DirtyHowi]

another trick, do not and i mean DO NOT mark it as fragile, or they bring out the really angry gorrilla. however, with the postal service you can get "additional" insurance for a slight increase in postage (nominal really) just ask for the next increment ( i think they give you like 50-100 bucks free) get the next increment of insurance.

that will get the most fragile candy glass wherever, since they cant prove it wasnt worth that amount they just pay out the full insurance amount. and it avoids the gorillas.

 

[dumpsterdiver]

another trick, do not and i mean DO NOT mark it as fragile, or they bring out the really angry gorrilla. however, with the postal service you can get "additional" insurance for a slight increase in postage (nominal really) just ask for the next increment ( i think they give you like 50-100 bucks free) get the next increment of insurance.

that will get the most fragile candy glass wherever, since they cant prove it wasnt worth that amount they just pay out the full insurance amount. and it avoids the gorillas.

I write fragile or put fragile sticker most everything that is fragile. I've had very little break. I think I've had two broken items and I have to take part of the blame for one. The other one is still a mystery to me. But I think it depends on who sees the fragile.

 

[diggummup]

Personally I think the buyers broke the last two packages of mine that had damages. Look at the last one here. I mean how does this guy's legs break like this while wrapped in bubble wrap and double boxed with peanuts? Rough handling while unpacking him, that's how. His feet were a little loose from the base and I mentioned that in my listing. I was worried that he would come detached from the base because they are only attached with dowels. Imagine my dismay when I found out his legs were broken instead.

 

[mugsisme]

Two days ago while waiting in line in the post office, I watched the woman behind the counter (there are windows on that wall) emptying the bin where people drop off their packages. Literally, she was tossing them from across the room into the bins. I snorted, and the woman next to me saw what I was laughing at and smiled. Do NOT expect them to care. They don't.
(She was an ebay seller as well. My phone made that ring when you get a message on the Ebay app. A minute later her phone did it. A few minutes later mine did it again.)

 

[dumpsterdiver]

I just had to cancel an auction for a similar situation. Seemed pretty breakable so I was hoping he lived nearby so I click the buyers feedback left for others. About 10 positives then a negative feedback item broken, About 20 feedbacks and then a negative feedback poor packaging item shattered. Pattern repeats. Once you go back over a year; more not received packages than remotely believable. Still lots of positives so I wrote one of the sellers who had 800+ positives and this person's one negative left for her. Explained they had a bid on one of my items and i was suspicious. Get two paragraph reply.

She didn't ask for pictures just asked him to file a claim. When the insurance claim paid they left her a negative because he didn't get his postage cost back. Basically this guy gets a free lamp and all his money. This is a condensed version of a two paragraph ordeal.

I suspect he buys cheap stuff and when its time for a more expensive purchase he claims it broke. Even if she had asked for pictures maybe the lamp would have suddenly broken. Its really sad that eBay allows people to get away with this practice.

Personally I think the buyers broke the last two packages of mine that had damages. Look at the last one here. I mean how does this guy's legs break like this while wrapped in bubble wrap and double boxed with peanuts? Rough handling while unpacking him, that's how. His feet were a little loose from the base and I mentioned that in my listing. I was worried that he would come detached from the base because they are only attached with dowels. Imagine my dismay when I found out his legs were broken instead.