He killed my dog!
No, seriously, what I learned was this:
1. Upon receiving the box, I saw it was only taped with single, thin pieces of brown tape, which was obviously insufficient for keeping the contents inside the box. Inside, one of the kits which contained loose parts had in fact started spilling out into the bottom of the box, and one part was indeed lost. By blind luck, it was a mere spare track link, but could obviously have been something less expendable. The box itself was made of flimsy, thin cardboard which bruised easily. And sure enough, the national, Danish postal service had put its own logo tape on top of that, in order to keep the flimsy box together. When I informed the seller of this, his response was that "we always pack responsibly, and cannot help it if the postal service treats the packages poorly". Conclusion: The seller does not take responsibility for packing items responsibly.
2. One of the kits I ordered had already been half assembled. Upon informing the seller about this, suggesting a 50 % refund on that kit, he first agreed. Fine, I thought. I placed a subsequent order with him, thinking he might be trustworthy after all. I then proceeded to inform him of the irresponsible packing, cf. no. 1 in the above, and got the aforementioned response. On top of this, this time the shipping had increased in cost, even though the last shipment was twice the size and weight, and had been ordered 10 days ago. Conclusion: Seller overcharges on shipping in order to reduce loss of selling damaged goods.
3. I go to check the seller's feedback rating, which I did not do before placing the first order, noting only he had 99,9 % or something like that and about 28000 points. What I then saw was a pattern of other customers who also did not receive their goods, or the goods were not as described. Conclusion: The seller ignores the eBay feedback system, because the rating system currently allows him to. And: Always check negative feedback, especially for patterns before buying. Duh!
4. Seller asked eBay to remove my negative feedback text, in which I had fewer characters than on Twitter to explain the above. eBay, who did not contact me, e.g. to ask for documentation, removed the feedback, and that of another unsatisfied customer, who also noted that the item he or she received was not as described. Conclusion: A dishonest seller exploits eBay automation and/or incompetence and/or financial bias.
Overall conclusion, for me: This is one kind of vendor who should not be allowed to sell through the internet, bceause he is irresponsible and dishonest. Avoid!
