Knock on wood but I've managed to escape mostly unscathed from this summer's Lego sales I've been doing on eBay (although I'm putting the really expensive stuff on Bricklink). Only one customer returned their stuff in the same condition I got it. He bitched that the box was damaged more than expected when the the description and photos clearly showed the damage. Whatever, I just relisted it and sold it to someone else.
I just got finished with a really unpleasant selling experience with my UCS Tantive IV on eBay that has really left a bad taste in my mouth. I had a guy that was sending me a lot of emails even before I made the sale to him, and it continued afterwards as well. Just wanted all kinds of details about the shipping, etc. super high maintenance.
Wouldn’t you know there was an issue…FedEx damaged the box in transit, refused to deliver it, and then shipped it back to me. The LEGO box was totally trashed and long story short I ended up having to refund the guy $500 because of all the damage and then turn around and reship it via UPS out of my own pocket. What a nightmare.
The ironic postscript to this story is that I saw the package was delivered Monday but didn’t hear anything from him so I finally emailed him Wednesday night to make sure everything was alright and he was like oh I’ve been busy and haven’t even bother to open it. (!!) anyway he finally left me positive feedback last night so at least that part is done.
I filed a claim with FedEx for the shipping charge plus the amount I had to refund the buyer as a result of their negligence but I am not expecting to get all that money back. Apparently they cap their claims at $100 unless you spring for extra insurance which tbh I don’t even recall seeing an option for when checking out on eBay.
Always buy insurance for expensive items - lesson learned. Seems obvious but this has only ever happened to me once before in twenty plus years of selling stuff on eBay. @#$&* FedEx man.