damaged goods (thank you, eBay!)

I was desperate to order more of my favorite curry, Javin brand, which comes in a glass jar. I saw a bottle being sold on eBay for less than $10, which seemed reasonable, although I balked at the nearly $7 shipping price. Last week, I bit the bullet and ordered the curry.

It arrived today, but as you see in the following photo, it was a bit of a mess:

I'm not pleased with the packaging. As Charles can attest, I tend to package my eBay items so that they can withstand almost any sort of damage. While the bottle had plenty of bubble wrap protecting its sides, there was almost nothing protecting the top and bottom, hence the damage to the plastic cap.

I've been contemplating whether to give the eBay seller a neutral to poor rating because of this damage. A less-than-optimal rating might have the positive effect of alerting the seller to the need to package his/her goods more conscientiously for shipping. On the other hand, a less-than-optimal rating might result in a spate of bitter denials, with no apologies (the seller has no return policy, which is also obnoxious), and perhaps even a counter-accusation that I had done something wrong. (I didn't. All I did was open the package and see curry powder all over the place.)

EBay puts up a set of warning flags every step of the way if you decide to give a seller a not-so-positive rating, probably because it's tacitly understood that any damage to a seller's reputation will be long-lasting. I had, in fact, gone three-quarters of the way through the process when I received a final "Are you sure you wish to give this seller a neutral rating?" flag. At that moment I hesitated, then clicked "cancel." I'm still pissed off, though: poor packaging and no return policy are a bad combination. I may very well go back and zing the seller, anyway. This damage was completely unnecessary.


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