Okay, bear with me, as this is going to be a lengthy initial post, but I'll try to make with the brevity when possible.
Last week, a seller on Ebay was running a series of auctions for the same poster (he had multiples of the same poster), each one ending over the course of a day. I won one of the posters in the afternoon. That evening, I tried to win another for a buddy of mine, but was outbid. I try to pay as quickly as possible when I make a purchase, so I went ahead and paid for the one poster I won. A little later that night, I was sent a second chance offer on the second poster. Cool, right? I hit the purchase button and sent a message to the seller that I would take it, but to please adjust the shipping before I paid, since I had purchased the other auction and I assumed he would combine shipping on the two.
No answer from the seller that night. I check again in the morning for an updated invoice. No go. I send another message with a link to the first auction I won, explained I would of course like both posters shipped together and to please adjust the shipping charge from the second auction. Still nothing. Finally, later that afternoon, I get an Ebay automated message saying my first poster had shipped. Great.
So I sent a third message to the seller saying that I guessed my posters WOULDN'T be shipped together. I get back this exact response: "yes thats correct". Double great.
So I suck it up and pay for the second poster with the full shipping charge. The posters arrived a few days later in two separate tubes (one on Friday and one on Monday). First thing is that these were shipped first-class mail and the postage sticker on each read $3.09. I was charged $10 each for shipping.
Second thing, these were shoddy tubes. Easily squeezable by hand. One had a fairly sizable dent in the side.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l235/crazerace/b25e20ab.jpgSufficed to say, that poster suffered a large bang right through the middle. Also both poster tubes were only packed with a single magazine page on one end of the tube as protection, causing both posters to receive edge damage/wear from sliding back and forth into the unprotected end cap.
The seller's auctions says he doesn't take returns. Bullshit, I say to myself. I'm not accepting this. I send the seller a message Tuesday morning detailing what happened and that I would like to return both posters. No answer. I send another message Wednesday:
"I did not receive an answer to my message I sent yesterday regarding a return I would like to make. I have copied the message I sent yesterday below. If I do not hear anything by tomorrow morning, I will be returning the posters to the return address along with delivery confirmation."
Still no answer. So, if you've made it this far, thank you, and on to my question: Should I go ahead and send back the posters with delivery (and signature, to cover my bases) confirmation, even though the seller has not responded? Once I've sent them back and there is proof of that, if I have to open an Ebay claim, shouldn't it be found in my favor? Should I warn the seller one last time that I am sending the posters back and fully prepared to open a claim?
Thanks for any suggestions.
