I think there was a lot of good discussion here. The only advice I would give to anyone who sells on Ebay is if something goes wrong and their is an escalation, way more often than not Ebay will side with the buyer so do your best to cover all your bases even if it means longer descriptions and more photos or whatever it may be. If one sells a lot on Ebay it is only a matter of time before you have a buyer who nitpicks like crazy or is just a vindictive person. No reason to give them any ammunition.
And just for the record. The customer and I had a very friendly exchange following his initial msg. The customer was simply expressing his thoughts on these ‘variants’. We discussed the topic at hand, and shared our views with each other.
I wish sellers could leave negatives… most of the bad apples are the buyers, not sellers. The feedback on eBay is flawed for the most part. It’s the reason I don’t judge the actual feedback rating left, I judge the buyers or sellers by their actual comments made in the feedbacks (when they’re negatives or neutrals), cause you can get a real sense of who’s probably right or wrong.
Additional printings when the cover art has changed are considered variant printings… You are not wrong. But I didn’t visit the listing myself, best put the actual printing number there as well to avoid newbie confusion on listings. 
This is what I’m dealing with this morning. Bagged and boarded books thrown in a box and taped. Books had nothing to stop them from shifting in every direction. Impact creases everywhere here’s a pic of the packaging. Seller says he’s never had any issues and it’s the post offices fault.
That’s when you reply with… “Well, I’m returning them and you can deal with the post office!”
Well, technically, it is the Sellers responsibility to deal with them … assuming they had purchased insurance they have to be the one filing a claim … (which will be denied based on lack of good packing) …
Chances are, like many, the Seller cheated and sent the box Media Mail in order to save a few bucks … comics don’t qualify for that rate …
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One of the reasons I dislike eBay is the small faction of Buyers that will attempt to extort a Seller … and they seem to do it with impunity … back in the '90’s, Sellers could leave a Negative against a Buyer …
You can purchase insurance for media mail. Just like you can for first class. So that’s not the issue. And PO doesn’t handle packages any more gently if it’s media mail, first class or priority. I’ve gotten priority mail packages with holes through the box, others left soaking in the rain or right in front of my garage so I can back out over them.
Not disputing the right way to send them, but just saying how you package it is what really matters. And relying on the PO to have gentle hands or placing the blame on them when you could have reasonably done a better job is a recipe for a problem that will fall entirely on you (the seller).
And tell them there’s a first time for everything.
I really detest when I get that response. It shows no class or accountability. Why do I care If this is the first time??
It’s in the system longer and I think that’s what leads to damage.
So anyway almost all the books had blunted and bent corners & impact creases. Took 25 pics showing damage and seller responded verbatim. “Your joking right?? Little Nick’s like that!! They were probably like that. I will tell you what as soon as you return them I will issue a full refund. Childish.” I’ve actually bought from this seller before and the packaging was fine. How can anyone shipping anything think that loose objects with plenty of room to shift is a fine way to ship?
Honestly that what bugged me the most. Not taking responsibility for a horrible packing job. Acting like it’s someone else’s fault. Am I wrong? That’s a bad packaging job, right? Is that packaging how you’d want to receive or send comics?
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You should put the seller’s name out so no one else can get screwed by them.
That’s true but I’d say in this case with the poor packaging and the seller dragging USPS into it saying they’ve never been a problem, well, that I feel would be their own doing so they can happily take it up with USPS.
I think the point here is, the seller did a piss poor package job and it shouldn’t even involve USPS. This is just the seller deflecting the damage to USPS when honestly, you can’t blame them for any damage.
Those were the good ol days… 
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Yup, that’s just customer service 101… The only focus one should have is on the current customer and situation.
Here’s how you play it off if it truly is the first time cause one’s been lucky with poor packaging…
“Oh man, I’ve done many packages through many sales with the same package type job as this and this is a first for me. Let me start off by saying I’m sorry. Now, what can I do to fix this for you? We can work out a partial refund, full return or whatever else you feel is fair.”
Customer service is not hard. Stubborn sellers who think they can do no wrong don’t truly know how killing the situation with empathy and kindness will go very far in making the person feel better that you are going to take care of the situation.
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Not necessarily. I ship almost all of my packages media mail and I’ve never had a book damaged. Yes, it takes longer, it’s likely thrown around more but ultimately the protection of the product is in the packagers hands.
I think that the negative feedback left should be sufficient. I’m always honest in feedback. If books showed up fine but we’re packaged horribly, that’s in the feedback. If the shipping was slow, it’s in the feedback. If the seller was an ass it’s in the feedback. Sometimes as Neutral and if warranted Negative feedback. I’m not afraid to leave negative. That’s the package that takes a week or two before being mailed and is damaged due to bad packaging. Along with an obnoxious seller is a recipe for negative in my book.
I used to ship comics under $50 media mail…never had a problem when I packaged them well.
And when I’ve looked at the corse through tracking that my book take media mail versus first class they all seem to go the same basic route. I’m not sure why it takes longer sometimes other than maybe they are grouped with other media while class gets in the truck first…
I stopped media mail as I thought it would effect my sales as people may have been avoiding my listings because of that misconception (I charge $1 more)…but instead my sales dropped by about 50-75% since switching over to strictly first class.
So not sure it was worth it…buyers seem to like that $1!
It amazes me how some people act with “customer service.” This guy had an opportunity to change someones day for the better and instead pissed on it. He already got your money so what does he care right? This could have been a story like @jcLu had a few months back where a seller made it right, both parties went away happy in the end, cue sunset and cut. But nope he had to be a douche. I too would like to know who the seller was so I dont have to deal with the same headaches were I to buy something from him.
People seem to forget that others will tell 100 people about a bad experience before they tell 1 about a good one.