Lost/Damaged How to get full money back for damaged doll when it's not fully insured?

Did the buyer ask you to mark down the package? If so, then get back the $55 and only refund them that as it would be their fault for asking for a lower mark.

If not..I'm afraid you're pretty much stuck with that $55.

 

If you yourself marked down that package without telling the buyer, then you are responsible for paying the buyer back in full (the 55$ plus the 245$ refund to cover the difference)
If they requested you to mark it down, then they get the 55$ and that's the end of that.

 

Yeah. . . unfortunately as far as I know, under-marking a package to get out of customs fees constitutes fraud (you'll be fined if caught), so I don't think there's much you can do about it now. Like o01101011 said above, if the buyer asked you to mark it down, it's their loss. If you did it on your own, you're probably going to have to eat the cost and refund the buyer yourself.

But lucky me doesn't live someplace where dolls are charged customs fees, so perhaps someone else in Canada or someone over in Europe could tell you more.

 

That's pretty much how it goes--I will mark down packages at buyers' requests, but I warn buyers that if something happens during shipment and damage occurs, the insurance will not cover more than the package is valued at. For some methods of shipping in Canada, Canada Post will cover a certain amount of insurance automatically, but that is in conjunction with the marked value of the item. If it's declared as $55, then for all intensive purposes, Canada Post recognizes the item as being valued at $55.

 

This is the gamble we take when we mark packages down on customs forms. Sometimes we get lucky and the item arrives fine, sometimes we don't and everyone else has already mentioned the etiquette on such situations. If you did it off your own back, it's on you, if you did it on request, it's on them.

You're outta luck on getting the money back from any official source tho and I wouldn't be shouting too loudly about wanting more for an undervalued item when you put in the claim for the $55 what with it being technically illegal and all. Call it a learning curve and just think of all the ones you shipped undervalued before that got through fine

 

I wonder what happened to that box to crush a dolls head??

 

Honestly, any buyer who asks you to mark down the value of a doll (especially a head valued at $300 - must have been a rare one) is letting themselves in for trouble. Refunding her over the $55 she told you to mark it at was very kind of you; if she makes trouble about it, she really doesn't have a leg to stand on. It's unfortunate, but hopefully lesson learned for both of you.

And like you said, if the poor head was literally crushed, something extremely heavy must have been dropped on top of it, or else it was run over by a careless worker or something. No amount of packaging could really prevent that from happening.

ETA: did she send you pictures of the damage? Not that it matters, but I'm curious as to what exactly happened to crush it, like ArouraAnn said. . .

 

Pictures of the damage as well as pictures of how the item was shipped I think are necessary for an insurance claim/postal investigation.

 

Something like this isnt going to ruin your reputation especially because you worked to resolve the problem. No one really has control over what the shipping company does but I wouldnt have given her over 55 personally. Doesnt the post take weeks to work out a refund anyways? Thats a long time to be out of your own money You seem very nice, Please dont let her take advantage of that or anything

 

That's terrible because the buyer is in the wrong for asking you to mark down the package knowing that the insurance can only cover what the item was declared as. I feel bad for your situation! As you said, no amount of packing material could keep a head from being entirely crushed.

And yes, you can only get back the amount it was declared for.

 

You are so sweet! You refunded half the cost of the head even though the buyer said at their own request mark it down to $55(I'm always hesitant to mark it down...just because you don't want a huge customs charge doesn't prevent unforseen circumstances) It's also sad she blamed you for such an incident...I could understand if there was a chip or a crack maybe then blame you but if the head was crushed some thing happened somewhere while shipping that no one and nothing could prevent. You are a dear and obviously a wonderful seller and this one little thing...well I'd be very upset if they left negative feedback.

 

I realise it won't make a hideous situation any better, but I'd tell her not to throw the bits away. There's a WORLD of incredibly talented modders in the customisation sections here who LOVE a challenge like that!

 

If you want to actually claim the insurance, usually the post office confiscates the damaged item.

 

... even with insurance here they never give you back more than 100€ ... never ... no matter if it's the crown jewels or your grandmother into the box & insured for full ... no matter if the package is insured for 1000€ and you had paid 430€ for customs and VAT ... the postage service never refunds prices over 100€ you sent it with your responsibility no matter if it's insured or not ... plus they say to you that it's against the rules of service to sent things valued over 1000€ (all those are terms of postal service, sometimes included also in tos of postal services sites)... I don't know how it works there but it might be the same as the postal services are more or less all the same ...
I don't think insurance protects anything more than 100€ anyway ... what can protects you a huge fragile word on the package and sent it as registered and good luck ... statistically (besides the local postal service here) a courier I usually use & ems were the most careful with my packages ...

 

I was going to add something like Agnes-agatha's comment above, I have had to claim in the UK once, and got now where near what the item was valued, and declared, at sadly. What a horrible situation, I really feel for you and the buyer, frankly. You have done more than you were obliged to do, out of kindness, and hopefully the buyer is just acting in the heat of the moment and will calm down.

I hope this all sorts itself out amicably