I bought a roll of copper on ebay (buy it now)to make a countertop. It finally arrived today (see prior post about shipping). The copper is 18" wide and 10' long (but coiled) It arrived creased and Im not surprised. It was single boxed, no packing material at all. The box was made of 2 boxes (cobbed together) and only 12 1/2" x 18" so it barely fit. He didnt even tape the coil so it wouldnt unravel. I couldnt believe it. He charged me $24.00 for shipping, got my address wrong which delayed shipping and didnt put a return address on it,( suspicious) so FEDEX couldnt contact him(took 2 weeks to get to VT from FL) Also, for what its worth, this guy sells the same stuff under 2 different names (suspicious) and has some neg feedback. I didnt get insurance, bought through Paypal. He didnt make any representations about how he would package the item.
What do I do? It is creased so bad I cant use it. Does Paypal cover bad packing, or am I stuck with this? The copper is fine, except the moron shoved it in a homemade box barely big enough to fit it with no packing material. It was literally busting at the seams. I know my first step is to contact him directly, but want to know my options first.
Thanks for any advice
John

John -I dont know what to say about that guy but I'd like to suggest you call around to some roofing supply places. They have them in copper in sheets--for gutters and flashing. You wouldnt have to pay shipping and I believe it would be a heavier gauge. Just a thought. Jim

I've only gotten burned badly on eBay once. It happened early on when I first started buying. It taught me a valuable lesson which has been helpful whenever I am considering buying anything on eBay. What I learned is that the hardest conflicts to solve via eBay or PayPal are the ones where you are shipped an item that arrives damaged due to poor packing or is not as photographed and described. Since you actually received the item it becomes a dispute between you and the Seller and eBay and PayPal for the most part stay hands off. You can spend hours and hours trying to get them to step in and resolve it and in the end figure out that you just wasted a lot of time an energy.

In my case had the guy not been on the east coast and me on the west coast, I would have gone and smacked him in the head. In the end I just sucked it up and wrote if off to a bad and expensive experience.

Your much better off, especially if you use PayPal, if they just flat out don't ship you the item, then if you actually get something in bad condition.

If your not out too much I think your better off chalking this one up to experience than trying to chase your tail with eBay or PayPal. If the guy lives close enough then go smack him in the head, once for my deal and once for yours!

JimT, I checked roofing places here, as well as roofing supply places, Home Despot, etc, His price was a lot cheaper with shipping included.
Poor man...I looked at ebay and was wondering...its not as advertised. The pic and description is "shiny new roll" Well, its shiney, but not new condition, and the pic he has shows it in nice (uncrimped) condition. Do I have a case here?
Thanks again guys
John

IF ya had bought it in town, at least ya would have gotten Un-Damaged, UN-USABLE new sheeting.
Ebay is like Vegas, sellers win, buyers get lucky when item arrives Un-Damaged [IF it Arrives].

IF all sellers packaged items like THEY would like to receive, there would be NO need for insurance. MOST damage is caused because of POOR PACKAGING.

Styrofoam is NOT a good filler for heavy items.
I got Lucky because this item is Cast Iron. Would have done more damage to other packages IF it had escaped the box!
db