Sold a saw on ebay last week.

[Stihl Ohioan]

I had a mac610 I sold on ebay last week. It had a new bar and chain in it and ran good . Im 100% sure everything was in the box when I shipped it out . Today I get a message from ebay and the buyer saying the bar was not in the box . I know it was though what do you do about that ? Ebay seems to side with the buyer in most cases . I dont want to get into a arguement saying the buyer is telling a bs story. What should I do just refund the buyer the cost of a new bar?

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

How did you pack bar and then put in box? Bars in boxes are known to come right out the sides.

 

[Guido Salvage]

Unless you double lined the box, covered both ends of the bar and secured it inside the box there is a strong possibility it punched through the side of the box.

 

[MGoBlue]

If I knew it was in there, I wouldn't do anything. If it was insured have him start a claim. Any chance you took pictures of the contents?

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

I cover both ends of bar with cardboard folded over then duct taped. Then duct tape bar down inside the box in several places.

If you just threw the bar unprotected in the box loosely I would feel responsible myself for packing negligent.

 

[procarbine2k1]

I bet it came out in shipping. I had it happen once, and paid the seller for a replacement. Crap happens, sometimes (more often than not) those boxes take a real ride to their destination. Anymore, I just assume whatever its is I am sending out will be dropped out of an airplane to buyer, so I started packing them that way.

 

[mesupra]

I had the exact same situation happen. Only my buyer contacted me about a week after the package arrived, I offered to send him a new bar but he stated he really did not like the saw after using it and that he wanted to return it. Ebay made me take the saw back and pay for return shipping as well because the item was not as described (missing the bar). What I got in return was a very used, abused, dirty burnt up saw back, guy was a real d*ck. Ebay sucks, plan and simple, I avoid it at all costs.

 

[computeruser]

After a couple recent sales that didn't go as they should have, I'm done selling on eBay. There just isn't enough margin in it for the occasional seller. One Buyer Satisfaction claim and you've lost half a year's worth of profit, or maybe more.

As for OP: buy him a new bar of flip him some coin to cover it, and count it as a learning experience.

 

[Duke Thieroff]

I've had bars go out of boxes on me as well. It's really up to the shipper to package well.

It's also the shippers responsibility to file the claim, not the receiver. Therefore as a seller you have to pay out of pocket to satisfy the buyer and hope the claim comes through.

eBay is a tough place to work directly with customers. Oftentimes they are on the defensive right off the bat.

I pretty much avoid dealing on eBay as well, I would much rather build real relationships with customers as well as resolve problems in an amicable manner. I'm a firm believer that I don't need a mediator to do the right thing!


Get the guy square, if the bar wasn't new I have some decent used 20" Mac bars and possibly a chain I could drop ship for you. I wont beat you up on it either.

 

[1Alpha1]

See if you can work something out and replace the bar whether you feel it was in the box or not. When it comes to E-Bay, it's the path of least resistance. I'm assuming that you don't want the saw back anyways.

I rarely sell on E-Bay, mostly cause it's so damn expensive to do so. When I do sell, I go the extra distance to make sure all goes well. That includes very specific communication with the buyer. I communicate every bit of the transaction. So much so, that I describe how the item sold will be sent, as well as a full description of the shipping box and how it's constructed and how I packed it. By doing this, it pretty much puts the buyer on notice that I know what I'm doing and exactly what he or she can expect. The more info. I provide to the buyer, the less he or she can dispute anything.

Some may think of all this as over-kill, but it generally avoids what you are experiencing. One more thing. Don't delete your e-mail communications with the buyer until you are positive all is said and done.

 

[GoRving]

I've had that happen twice. Once, I know that I was taken. They didn't dig down in the box far enough, and threw the box away(I don't think). The other, I don't know. People will sometimes try to get another bar out of you.

 

[Modifiedmark]

I don't see the OP coming back yet with his explanation on how he packed the saw and more importantly the bar so in the mean time I wouldn't doubt the sellers story yet.

I have received several saws with the bars missing, and you could see a nice slit in the box where the bar escaped out of it. One was a nice original to the saw roller nose bar.

Chances are if you just throw a bar in a box, it wont make it to where its going and its the shippers fault, no if ands or butts about it. It takes some time to properly package anything to be shipped and I don't care what carrier you use either.

What I have resorted to when shipping a bar with a saw is to lay it flat on the bottom of the box and use a Phillips head screwdriver to punch holes through the box and use zip ties to actually secure the bar to the inside of the box.

 

[NH_Wood]

My worst so far was a Stihl 021 flywheel shipped to a customer and he contacted me and said I actually packed a coffee mug - he sent a photo of my box with a mug inside - I have no idea what happened, but refunded the buyer - it was only about $10. It's always a crap shoot on eBay, but I've had much more good luck that bad. Cheers!

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

The idea of tie straps is a good one too. I did that in the past years for 42" bowsaw shipping. Then use packing tape over the tie straps sticking through.

 

[tlandrum]

it happens to the best of us

 

[Wood Doctor]

Bars do come out damaged boxes. I believe it happened to me when I bought a saw in December. The box was in such sad shape that it's lucky that anything got delivered, bar or no bar. Easiest market solution is to offer about a $40 refund. A new Mac 610 bar would run about $60 discounted.

Perhaps the solution for sellers trying to ship saws is to pack the contents and wrap the bar in its own cardboard box that you can make from flat corrugated stock. Then pack the saw and the boxed bar in yet another box.

 

[struggle]

Never a bad idea to put a name and address under tape on the bar itself and the saw so should it become unboxed maybe it still will be identified and sent on. Sometimes USPS will try to get stuff there if they can identify where it should go

 

[BDM53ENT]

Never a bad idea to put a name and address under tape on the bar itself and the saw so should it become unboxed maybe it still will be identified and sent on. Sometimes USPS will try to get stuff there if they can identify where it should go

Exactly and I do it frequently. You can box something up the best you can but depending on the handlers it could be in pieces by the time it arrives. All though I had a ship from, ship to sticker on it, twice the product that was busted out of the box came back to me as the shipper. Its a crap shoot no matter what you do these days unless you hand deliver it.

 

[1Alpha1]

I like the idea of taping your name / address on the bar in case it gets out. But come on, how hard is it to ship a chainsaw and bar?

I've done it a couple of times, but obviously, not nearly as much as some of you. One would think, the more you do it, the easier it would be. But, it sure doesn't sound that way. Is it indifference, too big of a hurry, too costly to do it right.......or something else?

Maybe I take shipping items more serious than some. I've received items that I really had to wonder what the hell the sender was thinking when they packed it up. Just a piss-poor job of doing it all the way around. Luckily, it's only been a handful of times in the past 20 yrs. or so.

When I have to ship something, I don't want any problems, issues or concerns of any kind coming back to bite me on the butt. I want it to be over and done with. I'll go to whatever means necessary to insure that. If it means buying a brand-new box vs. using a old one that is all beat up , flimsy, and nasty looking, so be it. I take pride in everything I do, and that is a direct reflection of my character and personality.

I just wish more people believed in the same thing.

 

[Stihl Ohioan]

This is the first time I ever sold a saw on ebay so I vary well may have not packaged it right I will make sure it is good snug in the box next time I will just offer a refund or send out another bar at his option thanks for the info