Sealed vinyl arrived in Australia warped and unplayable - best way of issuing refund?

[jjambadger27]

I sold a sealed 12" vinyl record sent through the Global Shipping hub which arrived in Australia 10 days after being posted. Unfortunately, there is a bad warp which means that for the first few minutes of each side, there is skipping - in essence, the record is unplayable (as seen in the video the buyer sent). 

I packed the record very well in a sturdy mailer box with a thick stiffener either side. It's the first time I've had this issue as a seller - guess I'll never know if the cause is heat damage or if the item left the factory like this, but the main thing is that the buyer has an item which is of no use to them. There's no need for them to return it, so should I just put through a full refund or get them to initiate a refund case themselves?

[ile136yz]

Ask your Buyer to open an eBay case for 'Item damaged' & state it was sent with GSP. This will get them a refund & you get to keep the money (see GSP Guidelines for damage during GSP shipping).

[jjambadger27]

Would the buyer need to return the item to eBay though? 

[*vyolla*]

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@jjambadger27 wrote:

Would the buyer need to return the item to eBay though? 

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No.

[jjambadger27]

It's an odd situation as the buyer says that there's no damage at all to the packaging (as I said, I packed the item very well). Hard to tell without opening a sealed item but there wasn't a visible warp when looking at it in its sleeve, but I guess it is conceivable that there could have been heat damage in transit. 

[jjambadger27]

Out of interest, if the buyer reported this as "item not as described", would they have to return it before a refund is issued?

[*vyolla*]

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@jjambadger27 wrote:

Out of interest, if the buyer reported this as "item not as described", would they have to return it before a refund is issued?

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Yes, and if you wanted it back you'd need to find a way to get a payment to them to cover the return trackable postage cost.

[4_bathrooms]

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@jjambadger27 wrote:

Out of interest, if the buyer reported this as "item not as described", would they have to return it before a refund is issued?

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It's the reason the buyer picks for the item not being as described that is important.

Under GSP if the buyer selects "Arrived damaged" as the reason for the item not being as described the seller is not held liable. The buyer is refunded by eBay and is told they don't need to return anything.

If the buyer selects any other reason for the item not being as described the seller is deemed to have been at fault and will need to arrange return shipping or choose to refund without arranging return first.

[technthread]

There are different ways to fix a warped record if the buyer wanted to try. They could try a DIY job on it or take it to a record shop they may have the machine to do it. 

[jjambadger27]

Thanks for people's replies. Would it be best for me to try & phone Customer Service (hopefully catching the Irish team in the morning) and see if they'd agree or just tell the buyer to raise a "arrived damaged" case as mentioned? The item did seem fine and flat when I was packing it, even if I couldn't check that 100% owing to it being sealed. 

[vinylscot]

I think you know that the warp was almost certainly there when you sent the record. (if a record was bent out of shape enough during shipping that it was warped, there would be some signs on the packaging).

I certainly wouldn't contact customer services, and would just advise the buyer to raise a refund request and see what reason he chooses himself. If he chooses "item damaged", you've won, and don't need to fund the refund yourself. If he chooses "not as described", which is almost certainly more accurate, just deal with it and move on. These things happen.