Well, after filing with VISA I filed a claim with eBay and have received no response from them. Not at all shocked.

Now I'm scared *roll eyes*
"It's really too far gone now that you've started a case and I only have limited options to provide that eBay allows me to. I'll give you the best I can offer through eBay's case but as I warned eBay and PayPal has customers return under their own cost. I acknowledge the pictures, it shows a lot of exterior damage and tearing to the box and whatever remnants of a label or writing on the outside could be any number of things. We do not manufacturer these here, nor do we need many at a time so there could still be label remnants of the shipment to us.

Keeping photographs from us for the majority of the week to be used later as something to bargain with only complicated this further. Best solution I can provide is to address the eBay case immediately and get you the most amicable solution out of the few choices available to me."

I didn't even tell him about VISA, he'll get that call today.

Luckily Ive never had any issues when buying through Ebay. What did the machine shop say about the crank condition?

He told me not to bother since I bought new, and received a used crank in this condition.

Here is what he told ebay after the case was opened

"Customer claimed damage, waived shipping insurance by choice. Condition of box and packaging placed on us without any follow up information, customer held photographic evidence as a bargaining chip until after case was started and prevented a quick solution."

Now ebayeBay wants me to pay return shipping from my pocket for his deception. Calling them today to present what I have, at least visa still has my back.

Just called them and they told me in the event that a seller is at fault return shipping is on them. Perfect.

This dude is a wriggling snake
"What you think happened remains to be only supposition. UPS does not deny claims before they're filed, as an arbitrator they must accept them and investigate to determine an end result. Thinking that I process, package and ship every order and that I know what happened to your package is an oversimplified justification. We cannot overcome the idea that we chose your purchase in particular to somehow neglect intentionally.

Saying you don't have to show me anything and expecting the business to ship out additional parts so you can maybe return the original piece if you get around makes it clear that this was intended to be made difficult. "

As much as I agree with you that the seller screwed up by shipping you an obviously used crank that was not packaged well, he did try in his first responses to try to resolve the issue. I've never had a merchant ship out a replacement without first receiving the damaged/defective unit back first. Most have sent me a return shipping label through the mail though so I didn't have to pay for the shipping but I have had a couple time where I shipped on my dime and they reimbursed me after.

As for the chargeback, the merchant will receive a chargeback notice by letter. The letter is mailed the same day that the merchants account is debited. He has 10 days from the date of the debit to respond to the chargeback letter. Failure to
respond within that time period may forfeit his chargeback rights and you will automatically win the chargeback.

He lied in his first email, I'm not new to the world. The crank is my only bargaining piece, once I give it up I'm SOL. I have had dozens of companies ship me the proper parts with a return label for the old one. He is obviously a deceptive person and keeps clinging to filing a UPS claim, they shouldn't cover this, he should. I have NEVER had to pay to return an Item the seller fucked up with. I asked for both before I took actions, return tag and new parts.

He is a slimy seller and its been apparent from the get go.

Recieved this about my claim

Dear Guy Bowers,
We completed our research on your dispute. At this time, we have determined that the
transaction(s) processed incorrectly or was unauthorized. A summary of the transaction(s) is listed below
or on the attached page.
Your account was credited $
We have also credited your account for any appropriate interest, overdraft charges,service fees or
other miscellaneous charges related to the transaction(s). If you feel any fees related to the disputed
transaction(s) have not been refunded, please call us at the number listed at the top of this letter.

This is kind of why I don't mind spending a little more with large, established/reputable online suppliers of X or a local supplier I have a more personal relationship with. The small price premium is well worth never having to deal with things like this IMO.

You've sort of done it here, but review the vendor somewhere public (yelp?, yp.com, etc.), so others can see your experience to help make their determination.