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

[TomSlick]

The Hawkeye OHC vol 2 has a different spine color and font size for the title!? Goddammit Marvel!

What a bunch of dicks, Marvel is.

And good luck with your little disclaimer. You can say whatever the hell you want in an eBay listing. It doesn't mean anyone has to abide by it. You can say "BUYER MUST PAY THE SECOND THE AUCTION ENDS" but the buyer doesn't have to. The buyer can take as long as eBay gives them to pay before the seller can file the unpaid item claim. You can say "NO BIDDERS WITH LESS THAN 5 FEEDBACK" but that also doesn't matter. If the account is eligible to place a bid, they can place that bid with their 0 feedback and you have to honor the auction if they win. You can say "BUYER MUST DO 10 HANDSTANDS BEFORE I WILL SHIP THE ITEM" and you'll instead be committed to the local asylum. The only thing buyers and sellers have to abide by are the polices set in place by eBay (or Amazon). When your defense to a future claim is "MY DISCLAIMER SAID I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MANUFACTURER DEFECTS" the employee on the other end is going to probably sigh in annoyance as they award the money from your PayPal account back into the buyer's account, because those words hold no weight when it comes to an official dispute. All you can hope is that buyers are mislead by your words and anyone who would want to do a return due to manufacturer defect decides not to purchase from you in the first place.

I'll take it a step further. Ebay HATES sellers. Absolutely freakin' HATES them. Despises them. Ebay cannot stand you if you sell things.

You can take a perfect item. You can video tape you HAND DELIVERING that item to the customer. You can show Ebay a video and them signing a notarized statement that they received it.

And then the next day, they can file with Ebay and Paypal, and those scum bag companies - despite what video tape evidence you show them - will side with the thieving buyers.

That's my rant for the day.

[Danny77]

Thanks so much for all the comments on how to handle the issue with the Amazon sale. The customer put in the return request at 3am Pacific time, and then put in the A-Z claim at 5 am the next day. The emails Amazon sends me are all delayed by a few hours. I've responded to the buyer and asked if he wants to return, or if he wants a discount on the price paid, as he mentions a concern about the price paid. I pack sold books to be bomb proof. I reuse IST shipping materials and use a generous amount of bubble wrap. I sold the book for $106.00, six dollars above cover price. The book I sold was in perfect condition, and i'm 100% confident there was no damage during shipping, the buyer even states the box was in good condition upon arrival. As far as the comparison of selling a Marvel Omnibus with a toaster or a vacuum, often when you buy that stuff there will be a sticker attached to the product or a note in the box advising to contact the manufacturer for return requests, and to not take it back to the store. I guess at this point best case scenario this guy returns the actual book i sold him and then i'll keep that copy for myself and then sell the DM variant cover i'd kept for myself. I accidentally ordered two copies of the Infinity Gauntlet omnibus on the Amazon app a few months ago, so maybe i'll just need to take the plastic off the copy i want to sell and relist it after i page through it. Below is the buyer comments on his return request.


The box showed no damage, but the spine of the book had a large sent at the bottom which went through almost 3/4s of the book. The bottom pages around the spine are badly dented/damaged on over 300 pages.It is a major eyesore for the price I paid. The book was sealed like new, BUT it has been damaged somewhere along the way. The seller may not have been aware of the damage as it is VERY noticible upon opening it.

[Rich]

Thanks so much for all the comments on how to handle the issue with the Amazon sale. The customer put in the return request at 3am Pacific time, and then put in the A-Z claim at 5 am the next day. The emails Amazon sends me are all delayed by a few hours. I've responded to the buyer and asked if he wants to return, or if he wants a discount on the price paid, as he mentions a concern about the price paid. I pack sold books to be bomb proof. I reuse IST shipping materials and use a generous amount of bubble wrap. I sold the book for $106.00, six dollars above cover price. The book I sold was in perfect condition, and i'm 100% confident there was no damage during shipping, the buyer even states the box was in good condition upon arrival. As far as the comparison of selling a Marvel Omnibus with a toaster or a vacuum, often when you buy that stuff there will be a sticker attached to the product or a note in the box advising to contact the manufacturer for return requests, and to not take it back to the store. I guess at this point best case scenario this guy returns the actual book i sold him and then i'll keep that copy for myself and then sell the DM variant cover i'd kept for myself. I accidentally ordered two copies of the Infinity Gauntlet omnibus on the Amazon app a few months ago, so maybe i'll just need to take the plastic off the copy i want to sell and relist it after i page through it. Below is the buyer comments on his return request.


The box showed no damage, but the spine of the book had a large sent at the bottom which went through almost 3/4s of the book. The bottom pages around the spine are badly dented/damaged on over 300 pages.It is a major eyesore for the price I paid. The book was sealed like new, BUT it has been damaged somewhere along the way. The seller may not have been aware of the damage as it is VERY noticible upon opening it.

The only way round this type of thing in the future (in the UK at least) is if you select used not new but mention it's still sealed and sold as seen (not making claims about inside condition). This is by no means full proof though.

[Brewman]

So I unfortunately get to figure out how good IST is for returns. I got TWD hc 1,2 & 3 in my last order and 2 & 3 had cuts through the cellophane and into the covers from what I can only assume to be a box knife from when they opened their shipment. I emailed customer service and haven't heard back yet I am guessing due to the holidays, but bummed about the situation given their stellar reputation.

[awayne83]

So I unfortunately get to figure out how good IST is for returns. I got TWD hc 1,2 & 3 in my last order and 2 & 3 had cuts through the cellophane and into the covers from what I can only assume to be a box knife from when they opened their shipment. I emailed customer service and haven't heard back yet I am guessing due to the holidays, but bummed about the situation given their stellar reputation.

Unfortunate, but i can almost guarantee a hassle free return experience at least.

[banky]

Unfortunate, but i can almost guarantee a hassle free return experience at least.

ditto. They've been very easy to deal with regarding replacements/returns in my experience. If the item is inexpensive, they usually offer free replacements without requiring you to return the defective book. This beats amazon's policy afaik.

[Dayle88]

What a bunch of dicks, Marvel is.




I'll take it a step further. Ebay HATES sellers. Absolutely freakin' HATES them. Despises them. Ebay cannot stand you if you sell things.

You can take a perfect item. You can video tape you HAND DELIVERING that item to the customer. You can show Ebay a video and them signing a notarized statement that they received it.

And then the next day, they can file with Ebay and Paypal, and those scum bag companies - despite what video tape evidence you show them - will side with the thieving buyers.

That's my rant for the day.

I'd say you put your point across in a polite and understated manner. I've heard and seen first hand some ridiculous stories that aren't far away from your example.

[ShooCat]

On a slightly different note I just received a shipment from IST. One of the MARVEL hardcovers was not factory sealed. (BATTLE OF THE ATOM). The book is in otherwise great condition and I would be removing the shrink-wrap anyway, but I did pay for a brand new book which includes factory shrink wrap.

I believe X-MEN Battle of the Atom was manufactured factory sealed, but I could be wrong.

I remember my brand new copy of 'Battle of the Atom' didn't come factory sealed, either. I guess for some reason they were all like that.

[Captain Craig]

I had some gift cards and reward points so I gambled on placing a book order with Amazon.
The G.I. Joe Complete Collection vol.8
After the discounted Amazon price and my $30 in cards/points it made the book $10 roughly. Too good a price not to gamble.
Well....I lost, the first round anyway.

GIJoe vol 8 pic 1.jpg GIJoe vol 8 pic 2.jpg GIJoe vol 8 pic 3.jpg

I've filed for a replacement copy and sent it away already.

The hardcover $50 MSRP book came in nothing but a padded envelope with no other attempt at protecting the interior contents. Dented corners, small splitting and warping along the front bottom. Ridiculous!
It came from the Amazon Fulfillment Center in El Paso TX. The irony that a company that got it's start as solely a book business could be so bad about shipping certain types of them.
There must not be a Quality Control Department. No Oversight Division at all.

[Noob_Nathan]

My first ever order arrived from IST last week. 4 weeks totally to arrive from US to my home on the west coast of Australia. First time ever i've received anything boxed up in a santa sack. The box inside was undamaged and from the photos below was sealed incredibly well. My order was TWD Compendium 2 and saga tpb 3-4 all items were sealed and in perfect condition. I'll continue to buy from IST but i've decided just on HC items that i want in perfect condition. TPB's il buy from amazon, 4 week wait and the price of shipping isnt worth it for tpb's where the condition of the books for me isn't that big of a deal compared to a nice collector's OHC.

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[Balakin]

many of us praised cheap-comics before and not without a reason it seems. Placed my first ever order on Thursday night and it arrived just now. Wow! Packaging is sturdy, everything is in mint condition and I'm still amazed by the shipping speed.

[krylox]

many of us praised cheap-comics before and not without a reason it seems. Placed my first ever order on Thursday night and it arrived just now. Wow! Packaging is sturdy, everything is in mint condition and I'm still amazed by the shipping speed.

i'm curious, what did you get from them?

[Dick Grayson]

I had some gift cards and reward points so I gambled on placing a book order with Amazon.
The G.I. Joe Complete Collection vol.8
After the discounted Amazon price and my $30 in cards/points it made the book $10 roughly. Too good a price not to gamble.
Well....I lost, the first round anyway.

GIJoe vol 8 pic 1.jpg GIJoe vol 8 pic 2.jpg GIJoe vol 8 pic 3.jpg

I've filed for a replacement copy and sent it away already.

The hardcover $50 MSRP book came in nothing but a padded envelope with no other attempt at protecting the interior contents. Dented corners, small splitting and warping along the front bottom. Ridiculous!
It came from the Amazon Fulfillment Center in El Paso TX. The irony that a company that got it's start as solely a book business could be so bad about shipping certain types of them.
There must not be a Quality Control Department. No Oversight Division at all.

I have to return 80% or more of the books I order from amazon (unless they're from a third party.) Every time I do, I call their help line rather than just do it through the site, in the vain hope that maybe, one day, my voice will be heard. Their customer support line is actually great, very friendly. Eventually they kicked it up to another department, who sent a threatening letter to me saying I return a lot of items and they might cancel my account as that is "unusual." I had to explain my plight and send them numerous links of people complaining about Amazon's poor packaging, noting that they must be well aware and it's ridiculous that they would try to blame their customers on their own shortcomings.

I have an Amazon credit card that I pay off every month and use the points to buy stuff from amazon, so that is the only way I can stick it to them that I know of. IST gets my actual cash. Amazon has just gotten so big that they can get away with not caring about small ticket items like books.

[Balakin]

i'm curious, what did you get from them?

gonna post a pic later but: Tom Strong dlx v1, Spirit archives v2, GA Sandman archives, Parker: Slayground hc, Jack Staff v4 tpb and Alex Toth Zorro oversized tpb.
And got a Dark Tower Gunslinger hc which I donno what to do with since I don't want to start collecting the whole series.
I will probably place another order soon, depending on how much the dentist will cost :S

[Brewman]

I finished reading my Goon LE last night and when I got to the last signature in the book it had cracked out and you can see the cloth backing. My question is: Has any one dealt with a return to IST on a book outside their 48 hour window? I purchased the book Dec. 8 so I have only had in my possession approximately 3 weeks. I am going to contact them about it, but figured I would see if anyone on here has had a similar circumstance and how it worked out.