Item arrived broken, seller refuses to refund - what's the procedure?

[openthecurtains]

I bought a lava lamp and it arrived smashed and leaking through the packaging. It wasn't adequately packaged - no protection for the lamp inside the box so it was rattling around loose and no "fragile" markings on the outside for example. The postman asked me to open it in front of him as he obviously could see the parcel was dripping and after we'd both looked at and I took some photos, I bagged it for him and he said it would be returned to sender as it was sent tracked. I didn't sign for it. I informed the seller and asked for a refund, they have refused saying it's not their fault.

I'm sure that I am entitled to a refund. Can anyone help me understand how I file the refund request? I can't find "damaged in post" on ebay - am I meant to list it as "item not as described". I've never claimed on ebay before and I'm finding it confusing. The seller is clear that they don't intend to refund so what;s my next step? I want to be sure I do the claim in the right way. Thanks.

Oh and the seller says I should claim from the Royal Mail which is clearly nonsense as she's their customer, not me!

It's the sellers job to claim from Royal Mail. They have a contract with them, not you.

Don't waste anymore time communicating with the seller.

Open a not as described case with eBay and upload your photos. If the seller still won't refund then after 7 days you can escalate the case (ask eBay to step in and help) and eBay will award you a refund.

You may be asked to return it, but you will be provided with a pre paid postage label.

Once the case has been found in your favour (and only then), leave appropriate feedback, but keep it factual and non emotional.

Sorry just re Read your post there and noticed you said you didn't accept the parcel.

Don't open an item not as described case.

open a not recieved case with eBay, and when the seller provides the original tracking number it will show as undelivered, so you will get your money back.

Thanks, it's quite confusing that there isn't a "damaged in transit" option as I imagine it happens quite often. It seems weird to open a not received case when delivery was attempted - is that definitely right? The postman phoned his supervisor who told him to take it back to the sorting office.

Should I send a message to the seller to say I am seeking a refund through ebay? Or just ignore them entirely now? The item was sent tracked so I assume they will be able to see online that it has been sent back to the sorting office? I can't imagine how the post office will return it to them as it's leaking and contains lots of broken glass.

I've bought loads of stuff over the years and never claimed.

How the PO returns it to them isn't your problem. The item was never delivered, so you just claim via Ebay as not delivered. I'm not sure why you even bothered telling the seller that delivery was attempted. They could try and claim you refused to accept the delivery. Your postie was trying to help you!

If you paid with PayPal then you might be able to claim your money back that way - I'm not 100% but it's worth looking into.

Because I'm honest,Queen? The situation is that a broken item arrived, dripping, on my doorstep. Maybe I've been lucky but I've not generally had ebay problems so I'm not clued up on how this side works and it didn't occur to me to make up a story but just to stick to the facts. So I told the seller what had happened and asked for a refund. Anyway, I would have expected that the postie's paperwork would say that I'd refused it so surely lying could have backfired if it didn't match the tracking info? Oh well, live and learn.

He asked me to open it in front of him so I doubt he put it down as no-one in to accept delivery as I'd opened it. He is a very helpful postie and I gave him bags to package it back up and protect the rest of his post.

Honest is saying that the item wasn't delivered because you didn't sign for it!

If you say "item damaged in post" the seller could end up asking you to return damaged item. You don't have the item to do that.

I don't see anywhere on ebay that actually gives "damaged in post" as a reason. Anyway, it's tracked so the seller can't prove I've signed for it as I haven't.

Messaging the seller and letting them know what had happened seemed a reasonable thing to do. I'll know next time that I should be more economical with the truth :)

So, given that I didn't sign for it and the Royal Mail still has the parcel, the best plan is that I open a "item not delivered" case and don't upload photos then?

The "estimated delivery" period isn't up for another couple of days. Can I do "item not received" before the period is up or is it best to just wait another couple of days, then open the case?

The first thing to do is to look at the tracking information. Either it will be attached to the transaction or your can request it from the seller. You need to check it to see that there is no "delivered" notification to decide what would be the best kind of case to open.

Assuming there's no "delivered" notification then as 19lottie82 says the right thing to do is to open a "not received" case in ebay and not a "not as described" case.

Can I do "item not received" before the period is up or is it best to just wait another couple of days, then open the case? - you wait until the period is up.

Although it seems strange to open a "not received" case you need to keep in mind you're dealing with ebay and the way to win a case is to tick the right ebay boxes rather than to act logically.

Ok, essentially you shouldn't have refused the parcel. You should have accepted it and then opened a not as described case.

As I advised, best thing to do now is to open a "not recieved case". Don't describe how you didn't accept the parcel. Just state you don't have it, and leave it at that.

If it wasn't sent tracked you will get a refund. If it was the tracking will show it wasn't delivered and you will get a refund.

Thank you. I will do that.

Don't upload any photos - just file not received and escalate to get your refund. And make sure you do neg and leave low starts too. seller is pretty woeful claiming it is not their problem