shipping responsibility question

Yes, barring some unusual language, the sellers owes to deliver you what you bought, in described condition, for the amount stated in the auction.

Damn generous of him.

Pay the seller to insure a package next time, I suppose. This situation is exactly what that's for. The guy is going out of his way to offer you a free replacement for something that isn't his problem.

Dave, the caster wheel did not just decide to burrow a hole in the package and fall out. It fell out because it was improperly packed. I think that it is hard to see why the risk from poor packaging should be on the buyer.

Now, if, let's say, insurance was offered to buyer, buyer declined, and package was lost, I can see how the buyer would have no recourse. In this case, though, the seller failed to do the right job and it wa sthe cause of lost caster.

Suck it up, pay for the shipping, and kiss the seller on the lips.

Ned Simmons

Yes and no. The packaging was his problem. If it would have been packaged "better" this may not have happened. The casters were just loosely tossed in the box. As they are quite heavy(~6#), just rolling around in a box it's not unforseen to have a broken box.

JW

Agreed. And not the case. Insurance was not offered or mentioned. If it had been offered and I declined, then I would totally agree it was my fault and have to deal w/ any such consequences.

JW

No, even if insurance was declined, the seller still has to adequately pack. I am, in fact, not great at packing, but when stuff happens, I suck it up and provide refunds.

Pay attention next time. You can add the insurance. He has to put it on, but if he doesn't and you have the same thing happen, you will have recourse to get it all back from PayPal.

You were at fault for not putting insurance on it. If he will send another and you pay the shipping, he has offered to meet you half way on a situation where you screwed up. Why wouldn't you put insurance in the first place if he was giving you free shipping?

Steve

I keep hearing you say it's his fault, it's his fault, it's his fault. When you paid, there was ample time and opportunity for you to click and add insurance.

Suck it up and pay the shipping on another free caster.

Steve

Well, he's paying for the replacement caster, which presumably is significantly more expensive than the shipping for same. And we all know what the various shipping companies can do to parts. Hell, I know one guy who got a whole _engine_ delivered to him, that had fallen out of a box somewhere.

Without more information it's hard to say. A box shouldn't be "beat up" in transit, if it was that indicates handling more than packaging. But regardless, if it was me, I'd pay for shipping & thank the seller for his generousity in this situation, given what I know.

Well, if they were rattling around with nothing else in there, yeah, that's not well packed. Maybe a "neutral" feedback is in order, like: Items not packed well, one lost. Seller replaced at his cost. or something like that.

I heard of that guy too...

I think that you have a point -- we need to look at the condition of the box. If it looks like it was abused by the shipping company, then the seller is not at fault. But if it looks like the box simply tore because it was too weak and the casters were not cushioned, then I would say we should blame the seller.

I personally do not see that as generosity, I think that it is just doing the right thing.

The shipper screwed up by not packaging it well. The PO screwed up by (maybe) rough handling and (certainly) losing the item. You (maybe) screwed up by not getting insurance (not sure if you could have added it without a fuss)

Somebody > I know a lot of you have dealt w/ Ebay and such so just posing this > question:

Where did I say anything about free shipping? This buy it now was his starting bid plus a sum that I assume would guarantee him a profit and cover the shipping expense. It was never free, just included.

I said no such thing. I stated the situation and asked opinions.

It's my understanding that anything shipped via UPS is automatically insured for up to $100. Apparently USPS does not. I dont' know about Fedex.

I didnt' consider insurance beyond that as I felt that opportunity for damage to the item in question was pretty low. I hadn't considered the option of it getting lost from the package.

Another? None of the previous were free.

In any case, I'll guess I will do so. As another poster mentioned I have little leverage to do otherwise. Being short a caster and having to find a matching one will be significantly more trouble than just paying for one to get shipped twice.

Just annoying.

JW

Let me guess - it was delivered by a brown truck??? Those guys can destroy ANYTHING - no matter HOW well it's packaged. I've had stuff backed over by the truck, dropped off the forklift, and had the forklift dropped on the package.

All happened going through ONE particular depot, but apparently it is not a rare experience.

I'm willing to bet the seller has a bunch of these casters, and can provide a free replacement with no money out of pocket. But the shipping would cost him, and that's not in his "good guy" range.

Since he included the shipping in his buy-it-now price, it must be a relatively small part of the total. I think I would just pay it--after all, you are only separated by half the shipping. How much would it be?

It is the responsibility of the seller to get the merchandise to the buyer in the condition and quantity promised in the auction. It is not up to the buyer to purchase insurance, It is the obligation of the seller to purchase it to protect himself. The insurance is really for the seller. He is the one who will submit the claim and collect in the event of a problem. I once bought a motorcycle driveshaft rear-end that was nearly new and taken off a trike conversion. New, the thing would have been over $1500. I bought it for $125. When it arrived, it was cosmetically damaged due to poor packaging and I notified the seller. He had insured it for full (new) value and told me to let UPS pick it up and return it. Somehow it got lost in the UPS system and he never received it. He collected $1500. If I had paid for the insurance, I'm sure I wouldn't have received anything just as I didn't in this case either.

I'd agree that the seller owe's you the caster. If the shipping was not included then it was your fault but it shouldn't be your problem that the shipper cheaped out and didn't get insurance because I'm sure you would have paid the little extra to insure it if you were paying for the shipping.