Packaging, Shipping, Refunds and Replacements - Share your Experiences!

[Balakin]

I thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where everybody can share their experiences about the various online shops and marketplace sellers.
So, for example, if somebody is not sure whether a marketplace seller's packaging would be adequate or not, just check this thread and maybe somebody has some info about it.

Please differentiate international and domestic shipping.

Here are mine (always international):

Bookdepository: I've never ordered from Amazon but based on what I've seen, Bookdepository has better packaging in 70-80% of the cases (amazon owns BD). Sometimes they put bigger tpb-s in bubblewrap envelopes instead of cardboard boxes, but they are pretty good with refunds and replacements and I've never had to send back anything, I could always keep the damaged items.
Just this week I got a replacement copy of a Showcase Presents book, because the original order was badly damaged in the crappy bubblewrap envelope. The replacement copy arrived in an even thinner bubblewrap envelope and it looked the same. I sent them some photos and they gave me a full refund and I kept both damaged books.
Today 2 Essentials arrived from them and both were in cardboard packaging, in mint condition. So it is a bit random.

Wordery: Similar to bookdepository, but their shipping is very slow (which is strange because they ship from the UK IIRC). I complained about a late book once and they immediately sent a replacement without question.

tfaw.com: Best packaging I've seen so far, never had to ask for refund or replacement but I have a friend who got a damaged figure and the immediately sent a new one. Another friend ordered a nick & dent hc 2-3 month ago and it arrived only in a nylon bag. He emailed them and they said sometimes they ship nick and dent books with this kind of packaging.

amazon.co.uk marketplace sellers:
Speedyhen: I think they don't ship to Hungary anymore through amazon but when they did they were the fastest and the cheapest. The packaging was very secure, never had any problems (always ordered omnibuses). Once I ordered 3 regular hc-s from them through ebay and they all came in cardboard envelopes. 2 of them had some minor dings but nothing to complain about.
I've heard that their packaging sucks a bit in case of domestic orders (UK).

bookoutlet2USA: the book was cheap, shipping was fast and it was in a cardboard envelope (which is OK for an Essential but not ideal.)
UK BOOKS DIRECT: same as the previous but the packaging was a bit better.
World of Books Ltd: same as the first
Books2anywhereUS the packaging was a bit weak but the book wasn't damaged (it was a hc, listed as and arrived in "very good" condition)

books_any A lot of people complain about their slow shipping but the one time I ordered from them the book arrived in 2 weeks (shipped from US) and it was in almost perfect condition (Sandman omnibus vol1, placed in a box with an airbag).

Bilbio.com marketplace:
The Book Place: I've asked them after I placed the order to check some info for me about the book (page count, content) and they've sent photos about the dustjacket so I can check it myself. They were very nice and responded quickly. The book (a hardcover) was listed as "good" but it was rather a "very good" despite the fact that it came in a bubblewrap envelope. Shipping took 2 weeks, which is good in case of US orders.

Bookshop4U Also from the US and it took 2 weeks. It came in a thin bublewrap envelope but it didn't look any worse than the listed condition (and it was dirt cheap).

[B]Abebooks:[/B]
Paperbackshop-US: Shipping always took 2 weeks (from the US obviously) and the books always came in a bubblewrap envelope with a piece of cardboard attached. Very minimal damage despite the week looking packaging (I ordered 3 big books from them and for the price, a microscopic little ding is nothing to complain about IMHO).

Sierra Nevada Books or Thrift books League of extraordinary gentlemen Black Dossier came without the 3D glasses (used book) and they immediately gave me a full refund and I kept the book. Costumer service was quick and nice.
The packaging was only a nylon bag but the book didn't look worse than the listed "good" condition. Shipping was slow but that was expected.

That's it for now, please feel free to share your experiences!

[victorxd1999]

I usually order from Cheap-comics.com, which ships almost immediately, and always has great customer service and packaging, and from Amazon (.com and various marketplace sellers from .co.uk and .de, usually Books_Any). I Luckily never had damaged products (yet) so I can't comment much on the Amazon customer services

[canadianaidan64]

Amazon - :

Fear Agent LE. Came damaged, ordered replacement. Replacement came damaged.

Absolute Long Halloween. Arrived with dent in slipcase and book. Ordered replacement which was fine.

Colossal Conan: arrived with literally no packaging at all, not even the customary brown paper. Miraculously arrived in perfect condition. I guess Crom favours me.

The Book Depository:

Once sold me a damaged floor model. Replaced it without issue. Good packaging for multiple books, sends single books in crappy brown envelopes.

*Have since recieved multiple damaged books from them
Chapters/Indigo

Best place to order from in Canada. They use lots of brown paper to cushion orders. I've also seen air bags and books shrink wrapped to cardboard.

Barnes and noble
Took a month to receive books, box was crushed books were damaged. Replaced without a problem (but replacement took a month to arrive) worth ordering from Canada when their B2G1 sale is on.

instocktrades
Really expensive shipping but bomb proof packaging. Box arrived with literally an entire garbage bag full of packing peanuts. Box also had thickest sturdiest cardboard I've seen yet.

[Balakin]

Amazon:

The Book Depository:

Metabarons Genesis Castaca. Arrived in a black envelope with one dented corner. Also had a ridged imprint from what looked like a box cutter making me think they sold it it to me like that. Also arrived out of shrink wrap. Wondering if I can still ask for replacement even though it arrived 2 weeks ago and I've already left feedback.

Worth a shot. IIRC you have 40 days with every order to complain.

If the book is not severely damaged they won't necessarily send a replacement, maybe just a coupon or a partial refund.

[John Keyt]

I have ordered from my comic shop . Grading is very fair and prices and shipping decent packaging is super . Also have ordered from mile high package great and shipping reasonable but product was not what I expected . Also have ordered from Doug's Comic world but prices little high and grading so so . My favorite place to go would be my comic shop . Nice web site. Also have ordered on e-bay but its been hit and miss so cancelled my account when shipping and export cost went way up .

[Black Iron Tarkus]

Don't buy from Aphrohead Books! Seriously.

I received a damaged copy of Witzend last week, and am still trying to sort out a return/replacement. I emailed them with photos the day it arrived, and got a copied & pasted email offering me a 50% refund or replacement. When I asked when the replacement would arrive (no stock!), I didn't get a reply. Chased it up a couple of days later; still no reply.

Now I've started a claim through Play.com, and have received the same copied & pasted email as before, but offering a 20% discount! Needless to say, I'm annoyed. Did a quick Google and found the email address of the company's MD, so I've emailed him. Let's see what happens!

[momaw]

I have ordered from my comic shop . Grading is very fair and prices and shipping decent packaging is super . Also have ordered from mile high package great and shipping reasonable but product was not what I expected . Also have ordered from Doug's Comic world but prices little high and grading so so . My favorite place to go would be my comic shop . Nice web site. Also have ordered on e-bay but its been hit and miss so cancelled my account when shipping and export cost went way up .

I've also had good experience with mycomicshop internationally. I've only bought from their ebay store but the packaging and international shipping costs were very good.

[John Keyt]

I have ordered from my comic shop . Grading is very fair and prices and shipping decent packaging is super . Also have ordered from mile high package great and shipping reasonable but product was not what I expected . Also have ordered from Doug's Comic world but prices little high and grading so so . My favorite place to go would be my comic shop . Nice web site. Also have ordered on e-bay but its been hit and miss so cancelled my account when shipping and export cost went way up .

Just received a order from Min Town comics product was great shipping cost a little pricey but packaged very well . They grade product very well . I ordered a vg just to see and it was decent . Will buy again .

[momaw]

tfaw.com: Best packaging I've seen so far, never had to ask for refund or replacement but I have a friend who got a damaged figure and the immediately sent a new one. Another friend ordered a nick & dent hc 2-3 month ago and it arrived only in a nylon bag. He emailed them and they said sometimes they ship nick and dent books with this kind of packaging.

I second TFAW as great sellers and packagers. They have reasonable international shipping, package fantastically and their free insurance protects you even against price drops for up to 30 days after purchase.

[grahamgg]

A couple of days ago there was discussion related to disputed/fraudulent eBay transactions. Well, I've got a new one today. Wait'll you read this...

I received an email from PayPal's resolution center this morning stating that an eBay buyer had disputed a transaction. So I promptly logged into my account to see what was going on. A buyer claimed he (a) never received the item, or (b) that it was a non-authorized use of his account to buy the items. Therefore, as the seller I need to provide transaction details and a tracking # to PayPal to resolve the problem. Usually this is no big deal. I've had a few disputed transactions before and was able to give the buyer the tracking # and they found the item. Great! So I start going through my folder with my shipping receipts and can't find anything mailed to this guy's address.

Well, after a few mins of searching I realize the disputed transaction is from DECEMBER 4, 2013 ... ! Over SIXTEEN MONTHS ago! Sheesh! No wonder I couldn't find the tracking # in my folder. Usually I keep tracking #s for 8-12 months then clean out my desk and pitch them. Can you believe that? Sixteen months! Give me a break?

So I actually called PayPal's resolution center and basically said, "hey this looks like some kind of scam because the statute of limitations to dispute an eBay claim is 45 days and 180 days on PayPal. The PayPal guy on the phone was sympathetic and put me on hold while he made some calls. Eventually he verified it was a legit claim from the buyer's bank who disputed it with PayPal. Now I'm on the hook to find a nearly-one-and-a-half-year-old post office or Fed Ex receipt. I don't get it. The customer service guy basically said if I couldn't find the tracking #, they'd probably try to work something out and give me a partial credit to my account or something. It's ridiculous.

What an a-hole. And you know what? The transaction was for some Defenders MMWs I sold for $60. Sixty freaking bucks.

This kind of $#!t is why I often get to the point where I despise selling things online. Most of the time things are fine, but every once in a while, you come up against some a-hole and a weird situation like this where, inevitably, no matter what you do, it's your fault as the seller.

[Balakin]

A couple of days ago there was discussion related to disputed/fraudulent eBay transactions. Well, I've got a new one today. Wait'll you read this...

I received an email from PayPal's resolution center this morning stating that an eBay buyer had disputed a transaction. So I promptly logged into my account to see what was going one. A buyer claimed he (a) never received the item, or (b) that it was a non-authorized use of his account to buy the items. Therefore, as the seller I need to provide transaction details and a tracking # to PayPal to resolve the problem. Usually this is no big deal. I've had a few disputed transactions before and was able to give the buyer the tracking # and they found the item. Great! So I start going through my folder with my shipping receipts and can't find anything mailed to this guy's address.

Well, after a few mins of searching I realize the disputed transaction is from DECEMBER 4, 2013 ... ! Over SIXTEEN MONTHS ago! Sheesh! No wonder I couldn't find the tracking # in my folder. Usually I keep tracking #s for 8-12 months then clean out my desk and pitch them. Can you believe that? Sixteen months! Give me a break?

So I actually called PayPal's resolution center and basically said, "hey this looks like some kind of scam because the statute of limitations to dispute an eBay claim is 45 days and 180 days on PayPal. The PayPal guy on the phone was sympathetic and put me on hold while he made some calls. Eventually he verified it was a legit claim from the buyer's bank who disputed it with PayPal. Now I'm on the hook to find a nearly-one-and-a-half-year-old post office or Fed Ex receipt. I don't get it. The customer service guy basically said if I couldn't find the tracking #, they'd probably try to work something out and give me a partial credit to my account or something. It's ridiculous.

What an a-hole. And you know what? The transaction was for some Defenders MMWs I sold for $60. Sixty freaking bucks.

This kind of $#!t is why I often get to the point where I despise selling things online. Most of the time things are fine, but every once in a while, you come up against some a-hole and a weird situation like this where, inevitably, no matter what you do, it's your fault as the seller.

how the hell is he right if the statute of limitations to dispute an eBay claim is 45 days and 180 days on PayPal ? He is waaaaay out of time, sorry, goodbye! That should be the end of it.

[Dorktron]

how the hell is he right if the statute of limitations to dispute an eBay claim is 45 days and 180 days on PayPal ? He is waaaaay out of time, sorry, goodbye! That should be the end of it.

This exact thing happens to me on amazon a few years back. Guess what? He won and I lost my funds from the sale. He claimed the same crap; didn't get the package, fraudulent charges to account, etc. His claim came in just over a year after the sale, so I didn't have any tracking information and told amazon to stuff it. I haven't sold anything from amazon since.

[Squall Leonhart]

A couple of days ago there was discussion related to disputed/fraudulent eBay transactions. Well, I've got a new one today. Wait'll you read this...

I received an email from PayPal's resolution center this morning stating that an eBay buyer had disputed a transaction. So I promptly logged into my account to see what was going on. A buyer claimed he (a) never received the item, or (b) that it was a non-authorized use of his account to buy the items. Therefore, as the seller I need to provide transaction details and a tracking # to PayPal to resolve the problem. Usually this is no big deal. I've had a few disputed transactions before and was able to give the buyer the tracking # and they found the item. Great! So I start going through my folder with my shipping receipts and can't find anything mailed to this guy's address.

Well, after a few mins of searching I realize the disputed transaction is from DECEMBER 4, 2013 ... ! Over SIXTEEN MONTHS ago! Sheesh! No wonder I couldn't find the tracking # in my folder. Usually I keep tracking #s for 8-12 months then clean out my desk and pitch them. Can you believe that? Sixteen months! Give me a break?

So I actually called PayPal's resolution center and basically said, "hey this looks like some kind of scam because the statute of limitations to dispute an eBay claim is 45 days and 180 days on PayPal. The PayPal guy on the phone was sympathetic and put me on hold while he made some calls. Eventually he verified it was a legit claim from the buyer's bank who disputed it with PayPal. Now I'm on the hook to find a nearly-one-and-a-half-year-old post office or Fed Ex receipt. I don't get it. The customer service guy basically said if I couldn't find the tracking #, they'd probably try to work something out and give me a partial credit to my account or something. It's ridiculous.

What an a-hole. And you know what? The transaction was for some Defenders MMWs I sold for $60. Sixty freaking bucks.

This kind of $#!t is why I often get to the point where I despise selling things online. Most of the time things are fine, but every once in a while, you come up against some a-hole and a weird situation like this where, inevitably, no matter what you do, it's your fault as the seller.

I feel for you man, he is way out of time!

If it makes you feel any better, I'll never be selling on ebay again if I can get around it. I sent the buyer a NASTY message after he pulled some buyer's remorse crap on me too after he won a dispute. Left me negative feedback and lied. Phew, I had a moment of weakness and got angry lol

[kodave]

A couple of days ago there was discussion related to disputed/fraudulent eBay transactions. Well, I've got a new one today. Wait'll you read this...

I received an email from PayPal's resolution center this morning stating that an eBay buyer had disputed a transaction. So I promptly logged into my account to see what was going on. A buyer claimed he (a) never received the item, or (b) that it was a non-authorized use of his account to buy the items. Therefore, as the seller I need to provide transaction details and a tracking # to PayPal to resolve the problem. Usually this is no big deal. I've had a few disputed transactions before and was able to give the buyer the tracking # and they found the item. Great! So I start going through my folder with my shipping receipts and can't find anything mailed to this guy's address.

Well, after a few mins of searching I realize the disputed transaction is from DECEMBER 4, 2013 ... ! Over SIXTEEN MONTHS ago! Sheesh! No wonder I couldn't find the tracking # in my folder. Usually I keep tracking #s for 8-12 months then clean out my desk and pitch them. Can you believe that? Sixteen months! Give me a break?

So I actually called PayPal's resolution center and basically said, "hey this looks like some kind of scam because the statute of limitations to dispute an eBay claim is 45 days and 180 days on PayPal. The PayPal guy on the phone was sympathetic and put me on hold while he made some calls. Eventually he verified it was a legit claim from the buyer's bank who disputed it with PayPal. Now I'm on the hook to find a nearly-one-and-a-half-year-old post office or Fed Ex receipt. I don't get it. The customer service guy basically said if I couldn't find the tracking #, they'd probably try to work something out and give me a partial credit to my account or something. It's ridiculous.

What an a-hole. And you know what? The transaction was for some Defenders MMWs I sold for $60. Sixty freaking bucks.

This kind of $#!t is why I often get to the point where I despise selling things online. Most of the time things are fine, but every once in a while, you come up against some a-hole and a weird situation like this where, inevitably, no matter what you do, it's your fault as the seller.

This is why I buy and print eBay postage online. Tracking numbers are automatically uploaded to eBay and I also retain a record in my emails. No need to keep track of physical receipts.

[TomSlick]

Oh hot damn, so glad I saw this before ordering.

On IST the Inifnity solicit says "AVENGERS (2012) #12-23"

I believe it's New Avengers Vol. 2 that's a complete double dip and no reason to own (unless you have OCD) if you already have the Infinity OHC

So I actually called PayPal's resolution center and basically said, "hey this looks like some kind of scam because the statute of limitations to dispute an eBay claim is 45 days and 180 days on PayPal. The PayPal guy on the phone was sympathetic and put me on hold while he made some calls. Eventually he verified it was a legit claim from the buyer's bank who disputed it with PayPal. Now I'm on the hook to find a nearly-one-and-a-half-year-old post office or Fed Ex receipt. I don't get it. The customer service guy basically said if I couldn't find the tracking #, they'd probably try to work something out and give me a partial credit to my account or something. It's ridiculous.

As a seller on Ebay, I can't express my hatred enough for that company and paypal. It's this kind of constant BS that would prevent me from pissing on them if they caught on fire.

I had some scum bag pull crap like this once. As I realized what was happening, I pulled everything from the paypal account and disconnected it from my bank account and credit cards. I wasn't going to surrender a penny to them. I'd burn my account and Ebay rep to the ground if need be.

Those SOBs at paypal called constantly trying to get their $120. F*** them. I provided everything and irrefutable proof that the guy was a scam artist and they just don't care.

Ebay and Paypal hate sellers. Absolutely despise them. This is not up for debate. If you sell on Ebay, just know that they hate you.

The good thing is that ebay and paypal have some of the dumbest SOBs on the planet working for them, so just set up another paypal account and connect it to your ebay one and you're back in business. You think they'd figure that out, but they're too busy hating and screwing over the sellers to get it.