[Sil3nce]

It may not be the fault of the seller, but it is the sellers responsibility to get the product, as described, safely into the hands of the buyer, whatever that takes.  Insurance is also always an option, and if it was packed well, and insured appropriately the seller should be able to recoup damages - though indeed it may be a royal PITA.  Still, it IS the sellers responsibility - that's part of selling online/by mail.  If I sold something and it arrived damaged, I'd put in a claim right away and work with the buyer to get it resolved and the buyer reimbursed.  If it was expensive or left the buyer empty handed I would reimburse them immediately and work on getting my insurance paid.  I pack for Judgment Day, so if I packed it, and it got damaged, there is no way the shipper would be able to point at my packing.  I think this is a very common mistake - to underpack or not take into consideration what a typical package goes through to get from one place to another.  Regardless, it is the sellers responsibility. This is the way it is prescribed on Audiogon an on eBay, as well as the way any e-tailer worth their salt and staying in business, conduct themselves.  It is as it should be.  The seller is ultimately responsible for delivering on their promise - their end of the deal - to deliver the item as described to the buyer at an agreed upon price.  I don't care how prominent they are or how many positive feedbacks they have, if your seller is turning his/her back on this and being entirely unresponsive, given just your side of the story, I think your negative feedback is just and deserved.  We haven't heard the seller's story though, so I'm just responding to what you've presented here.  I'm surprised at so many seemingly taking sides with the seller in this case.  I doubt they would be doing so if they were on the receiving end of the transaction. 

Excellent. 120% agree.

Negative feedback might not even be enough. I for one am curious as to why the seller conveniently broke off communications, suspicious as it is. If he was honest and attentive, there should be absolutely no reason why he's letting this slide.

 

[Il Mostro]

That really sucks that he is leaving you hanging.  What puzzles me is the actual damage -- it just doesn't seem too plausible that very isolated damage could occur from rough handling in transit with no other visible damage elsewhere on the headphone.  I noticed he had a couple of other less than satisfied buyers in his feedback FWIW.  Hope your claim with DHL works out.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Yeah, at this point though I'm not hoping for much.  I wrote to DHL several days back and have heard nothing, that and the seller would probably the communication point with DHL, which makes it worse.
 
I did leave the negative feedback but to the untrained eye they just see his 20+ rating on the forum and wouldn't know otherwise about the few negative comments he has without the 87% average.

 

[Sil3nce]

I wish you the best of luck my friend.
Did you contact the mods/admins yet?

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Not yet, I don't know if that's something that is commonly done?

 

[LizardKing1]

I've seen a few videos of how American delivery company workers treat the packages. You can pack it nicely all you want, if a guy literally kicks a package it won't matter much. I don't see how this is the seller's fault. So if the delivery guy decided to throw it in the back of the van, set it on fire or something like that it's his responsibility? I would probably reimburse something like this, but out of courtesy, not because I think it's my fault someone else broke something that didn't belong to them because they were bored on their job.

 

[Sil3nce]

I've seen a few videos of how American delivery company workers treat the packages. You can pack it nicely all you want, if a guy literally kicks a package it won't matter much. I don't see how this is the seller's fault. So if the delivery guy decided to throw it in the back of the van, set it on fire or something like that it's his responsibility? I would probably reimburse something like this, but out of courtesy, not because I think it's my fault someone else broke something that didn't belong to them because they were bored on their job.

You haven't seen how usps workers in real life have you?
Have some shame. There are bad people anywhere in any profession. Just because they're "American", does that mean all usps workers or this particular one is considered barbaric? This is a classic example of fatalistic thinking.
No one said it was the seller's fault. It is his responsibility nonetheless. Did he provide insurance/tracking for an international order?
Is there are a reason he won't respond on here or to the buyer?
I for one will not be purchasing cans from him.

 

[Il Mostro]

 
Quote:

I've seen a few videos of how American delivery company workers treat the packages. You can pack it nicely all you want, if a guy literally kicks a package it won't matter much. I don't see how this is the seller's fault. So if the delivery guy decided to throw it in the back of the van, set it on fire or something like that it's his responsibility? I would probably reimburse something like this, but out of courtesy, not because I think it's my fault someone else broke something that didn't belong to them because they were bored on their job.

 
You have got to be kidding.  Could you possibly be more off target and more incoherent?

 

[Sil3nce]

We get a lot of of hate as it is, but stereotyping our postal workers is too much.
Those are usually the most hard-working members of society who still do their best despite their tedious hours and low wages.

 

[Syrk]

Many people outside of America love to stereotype Americans as being "barbaric" in some way or another.
 
That aside, I just had an issue where something happened to a pair of headphones I recently sold. The buyer wasn't happy to say the least, but I made sure to make things right and I ended up giving him a $52 partial refund because he knew a place that would get it fixed locally.

 

[Sil3nce]

Many people outside of America love to stereotype Americans as being "barbaric" in some way or another.

That aside, I just had an issue where something happened to a pair of headphones I recently sold. The buyer wasn't happy to say the least, but I made sure to make things right and I ended up giving him a $52 partial refund because he knew a place that would get it fixed locally.

And here we have a classic example of someone that does the right thing.
Not all of us are without qualms you know?
We just enjoy our food, women, and cars like the rest of you.

 

[LizardKing1]

Uhm let's take a step back ok? I didn't mean Americans are genetically pre-disposed to be more incompetent with deliveries. Bald eagles and whatever. I specified American because I haven't had much bad experiences with others. Hong Kong postage never failed me, neither did UK Royal Mail. And then there's tons of this:

Again, I don't think it's exclusive to Americans to be like this, I'm sure my country's mail is not much better. But my experience hasn't been very positive. And I never even came close to saying "all USPS workers suck at their job", I just implied I have little trust in shipping companies which happen to be American.
By the way "incoherent" usually means unintelligible, as in a sentence not being discernible. I think my english is pretty good, so I'll move along.
I think not replying isn't a very good attitude, but that's all I think you have against him. Nothing we've seen so far remotely indicated the headphones were badly packed, and I have no trouble believing this was due to bad handling by the company. Now in that instance, how is it the seller's responsibility to assure the package arrives well? Is he supposed to ride along with it? It's virtually impossible to assure someone else doesn't destroy a package unless you're phisically there.
The seller has no obligation to provide tracking or insurance. You can specify you want it, and they should provide it in that case, but it's not like an added bonus. And even with insurance, I don't think it's right to pay more for the privelege of not destroying whatever's inside. It's a shipping company, if they can't ship properly they fail at the most basic definition of their job.

 

[jax]

 
Quote:

Uhm let's take a step back ok? I didn't mean Americans are genetically pre-disposed to be more incompetent with deliveries. Bald eagles and whatever. I specified American because I haven't had much bad experiences with others. Hong Kong postage never failed me, neither did UK Royal Mail. And then there's tons of this:

Again, I don't think it's exclusive to Americans to be like this, I'm sure my country's mail is not much better. But my experience hasn't been very positive. And I never even came close to saying "all USPS workers suck at their job", I just implied I have little trust in shipping companies which happen to be American.
By the way "incoherent" usually means unintelligible, as in a sentence not being discernible. I think my english is pretty good, so I'll move along.
I think not replying isn't a very good attitude, but that's all I think you have against him. Nothing we've seen so far remotely indicated the headphones were badly packed, and I have no trouble believing this was due to bad handling by the company. Now in that instance, how is it the seller's responsibility to assure the package arrives well? Is he supposed to ride along with it? It's virtually impossible to assure someone else doesn't destroy a package unless you're phisically there.
The seller has no obligation to provide tracking or insurance. You can specify you want it, and they should provide it in that case, but it's not like an added bonus. And even with insurance, I don't think it's right to pay more for the privelege of not destroying whatever's inside. It's a shipping company, if they can't ship properly they fail at the most basic definition of their job.

 
So you order a color 55" LCD from Amazon and it arrives in four pieces because the Fedex guy was having a bad day and tossed it from his moving vehicle while wannabe YouTube directors filmed him from concealed locations.  When you call to report that the TV doesn't work so well in four pieces Amazon tells you it's the shippers fault and you're on your own.  Is that OK by you?  Cause it sure isn't Amazon's fault that it arrived busted. 
 
Here's eBay's policy...verbatim:
 
 
Quote:

Keep in mind that you are responsible for your item until it arrives safely in the buyer's hands. Do not imply in any way that once the item is shipped you are not responsible for timely delivery or condition on arrival.

 
Audiogon's Policy, Verbatim:
 
Shipping policy
[size=smaller]Shipping a Sold Item:
The buyer and seller will determine which party is responsible for paying the shipping charges. Regardless of this determination all items shipped will be F.O.B.* destination. In other words it will ALWAYS be the responsibility of the seller to guarantee that items shipped will be as described and fully functional upon arrival. The seller will further be responsible to insure each package for at least the amount the buyer has paid for the item. [/size]
 
 
Anything there not clear to you?

 

[Sil3nce]

Uhm let's take a step back ok? I didn't mean Americans are genetically pre-disposed to be more incompetent with deliveries. Bald eagles and whatever. I specified American because I haven't had much bad experiences with others. Hong Kong postage never failed me, neither did UK Royal Mail. And then there's tons of this:







Again, I don't think it's exclusive to Americans to be like this, I'm sure my country's mail is not much better. But my experience hasn't been very positive. And I never even came close to saying "all USPS workers suck at their job", I just implied I have little trust in shipping companies which happen to be American.
By the way "incoherent" usually means unintelligible, as in a sentence not being discernible. I think my english is pretty good, so I'll move along.
I think not replying isn't a very good attitude, but that's all I think you have against him. Nothing we've seen so far remotely indicated the headphones were badly packed, and I have no trouble believing this was due to bad handling by the company. Now in that instance, how is it the seller's responsibility to assure the package arrives well? Is he supposed to ride along with it? It's virtually impossible to assure someone else doesn't destroy a package unless you're phisically there.
The seller has no obligation to provide tracking or insurance. You can specify you want it, and they should provide it in that case, but it's not like an added bonus. And even with insurance, I don't think it's right to pay more for the privelege of not destroying whatever's inside. It's a shipping company, if they can't ship properly they fail at the most basic definition of their job.

Are you sure you're not associated to/with vegeta?
You made quite a few broad gleaming generalized statements. And this train of logic: Saw video > Represents true subject matter [mailmen gone wild in their natural habitat of ye ole' u.s of a] > Must post in-sensitively on a predominately American forum = Big no-no.
Yes, I'm sure the usps has it's train of problems. But do you think the run of the mill worker will risk his job by purposely mishandling packages?

Obviously you offended quite a few with your useless post. Useless because it has nothing beneficial to the OP.
By the way did you conveniently ignore my queries earlier? Please familiarize yourself with the rules of the classifieds. Hint: It's in bold letters.
You're not helping your case.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Thanks all.  While I agree it's not exactly the sellers fault that damage occurred in transit I re-iterate that it was shortly thereafter he cut off communication with me when I asked for help.  At no point was I trying to point fingers or anything defamatory.  As a longtime head-fi'er and Internet seller of sorts I don't think that this was a reasonable outcome as a buyer.
 
In the past I have had outstanding and horrible dealings on the forum, I have even been scammed more than once!  I guess the savings of buying used in the long run still comes at a price.  I do hope this helps shed some light for those buying/selling and generally acceptable conduct should things go awry.
 
As an update to the situation I ended up re-selling the headphones to another member with minimal loss on my end.  I just re-ordered the damn headphones new so I hopefully won't have any issues this time!
 
 
PS I am sorry in some ways to vent here, didn't mean to get into debate!