Looping the Hen

Buyer Beware!

I very rarely consider leaving negative feedback on Ebay, however this is one case where it was a very close thing. To be honest, the tendency for folks to leave negative feedback in return (even though I paid for my item immediately and did everything a buyer should) is the only reason I won't. However, below is the letter I sent to Neverland Comics, where I bought a D&D Miniature Starter Set:

Ma'am/Sir,

I recently decided to try out D&D Minis. Whenever I am thinking about getting into a new hobby, I typically do a bit of research, as I am one of those that goes 'all out'. I purchased on Ebay a case of Giants of Legends and one of Aberrations, as well as Underdark Cases from another website. I also purchased from Neverland Comics an Aberrations Starter Set. I liked the fact that you had a good price with no huge 'shipping markup' like many Ebayers use.

However, when I received my product I was appalled. Dungeons and Dragons Mini's are a 'collectible', and part of a collectible is the packaging of the product. When I received my purchase and saw that the packaging was used as the shipping container, and that the box not only had labels all over it but was also damaged, I was fairly upset. (I tried to imagine reselling it: 'D&D Mini Starter pack; box is damaged with labels over the entire front image, please bid!) Also, with the way that the item was packaged and taped, there was no way I could tell whether the package had been opened prior to it being shipped to me. (I am not implying it was, but I am unable to determine one way or another). I have read stories of unscrupulous folks opening boxes and resealing them and selling only the ones with a cheap rare.

I guess what I find most disturbing is that with the $3.85 Priority Mail Neverland Comics used to ship the item, you can use, for free, one of USPS's Priority Mail boxes. As a large company with thousands of feedback and probably 10's of thousands of transactions, I am not sure why you would not take advantage of free shipping materials from the United States Postal Service. Even if using a container bumped it up to a 2lb package, I would have preferred to cough up the additional $1.05 for shipping than to receive the item as I did.

I am not going to leave negative feedback, as I know that typically leads to retaliatory negative feedback; however, in good conscience, I can't leave positive feedback either. As a company where most of your transactions are larger than mine, I don't know if this letter will do any good. However, I hope in the future you will package other folks' collectibles more professionally than mine, and realize that it is not only the contents of a box that make something 'collectible'. If I hadn't actually planned on opening and playing with the figures and instead wanted to collect the item, I would have been even more upset and most likely returned the item.

For full disclosure, I will be posting this letter on my weblog, www.loopingthehen.com, and will be glad to post, in full, any response you may send back.

Thank you for your time!
Tobias Truman

Just FYI, to make matters worse, I received the Giants of Legend Case prior to this shipment by 2 days, even though I ordered it 4 days after this one.