Thread: About to get shafted?

Originally Posted by Magpie

If it were a simple straight line crack, I would have no problem chalking it up to temperature change variations or internal stresses. But the 3 way fracture? That is something I believe would only be caused by internal radial pressures or, undue twisting motions.
Have ANY of you ever seen a scale crack in multiple pieces without being dropped or hit or twisted?
This question being directed at the guys who have rescaled a lot of razors.

Yeah, to be honest, not really. Bakelite or ivory can sometimes crack or shatter from stress release some time after being pinned, but the modern scales on your razor should not be so brittle that that would happen.

It is important to try to look at it from all sides still. I've been on both sides of what happened here. Once I had a guy claim the inside of a razor case was infectious and dusty/dirty as I had not described it. I asked him to provide a report of the infectious material and photos, never got a response. I also got an ivory razor that was wrapped in a paper (!) envelope and sent from England. Of course the end of the scale was snapped right off. That one ended in a partial refund. There are some crappy buyers out there, and some good buyers that bad stuff happens to, sometimes inexplicably. The trouble is telling who's who.

+1 I'm with you Magpie. If you do provide a refund make sure you notify eBay of the suspicious circumstances. Not only to geet the listing and settlement fees credited but to make sure this jerk doesn;t leave you neutral or negative feedback after going through the hassle of refunding him.

I was able to prove an autographeed memorbilla piece was a fake through a high resolution photograph. Never got a refund but the seller unregistered from eBay and skipped town. One less crook to deal with. My point is eBay will listen they are just slow on the uptake.

Just thinking out loud here ....... if a razor is damaged because of inadequate packaging it will generally have a crack/cracks in the center, the area least supported, or at or near a third pin if one is present. The area around the wedge and pivot are relatively well supported for transport.

Looking at the photo of the cracks at the pivot brings to mind an inexperienced user stropping the razor holding it just behind the pivot, not at the tang. So that is one possibility.

It occurred to me, from my own experience, that you can telephone ebay. Find the 'contact us' tab, I think it is at the bottom of the page when you're signed in. A pop up will ask for an item # and you will get a number to call and have an hour or whatever it is to call them.

Give them a buzz and a heads up on what is happening. When you get the razor back you can better assess the damage and decide whether the buyer is trying to hornswagle you. Ebay will have been warned and it may give you more traction in getting things resolved in your favor.

Looks like a real nice razor. I'd rescale her upon her return home. There's been some nice work done by some members here who have transfered the inlays. GLW the whole issue.

I think your best option is to call ebay and talk to them. Your pictures clearly show that the razor is not broken. The buyer is trying to send you back something different than what you sent him, either the same razor with broken scales, or different razor altogether.
That is not covered under your return policy. They have to return the item in the same condition as they have received it.
Since the packaging does not show any damage, when ebay looks at it they will have to decide whether you sent something different from your photos, or the buyer is trying to send something different from what they received.
There is a distinct crack on the back scale at the edge pin, also the blade may be different. If you could get more pictures of the whole razor from the buyer that may be helpful to tell if he's even trying to send back the same razor or is playing switcharoo.

You have a good ebay history, if your buyer doesn't, or they have tried scams in the past ebay will probably decide in your favor. But, anything we can tell you here is pure speculation.
You should talk to ebay, explain what is happening, that you suspect dishonesty on the buyer's end, and see what would they say. There isn't much else you can do unfortunately, and I view dealing with dishonest people as cost of doing business if you want access to such a wide pool of potential buyers.

You can file an insurance claim with the post office; you'll find that to be even more frustrating than this whole deal has already been. I'd give you about a 3% chance of getting any payout from them on it.

I think you're going about it the right way. Good luck!

I got paid once by usps on insurance claim. But they had simply lost the item. I had bought the postage online and had to fill out the online form, then mail them proof of the cost of the item, about 2 or 3 months later I got a check.

But with damages involved they would want to see the package and if it doesn't show any sign of damage they won't really have any reason to approve the claim. But if the buyer claims that damages occurred during transit when they haven't, they are committing a crime involving the postal system and you should report the case to the USPS postal inspector. I hear that they take these things pretty seriously.

I couldn't even get paid on a stone they clearly lost. I mailed to Brazil, tracking showed it getting to Witchita (IIRC) and never leaving. Local postmaster says call Witchita. Witchita says deal with local... Eventually I get told that because it's International they can't be responsible for what happens when it leaves the country. Apparently Kansas is not in the USA.

That's just one of many denied claims with USPS's insurance racket.

/rant
Sorry for the hijack.

Racket for sure with USPS,sent an $800.00 watch to germany,USPS express mail,insured with tracking,was $65.00.
package got stalled in New york customs for a week, than disapeared.
Never made it to germany.made a claim, they paid the 65 back on the spot,denied the $800 as jewelry has to be sent registerd mail.
hard lesson learned,the postal cluck said all would be well when I shipped it.
I took this claim to the post master general in wash DC,I had to eat 800 bux.

Yeah, I had something going priority to israel and the last scan in us was at the distribution point somewhere in the middle of USA where it's considered leaving the country. USPS said beyond that point they can't offer anything. It did show up eventually at the destination but that was two or three months later.
The one I got paid on was within US, in fact it was even staying in NY state, just going over to Brooklyn - fairly big box too, not something that gets displaced or stuck in the middle of a big sorting machine.
Then a couple of times I got back the torn label from the package only - they said whatever was attached to that label was lost and I filled out a form about the content in case they find it. They never did, and I didn't bother to file a claim since it was not insured.