wow this thread is too funny!! Everyone’s being all “gun-hoe” and bashing the crap out of the seller, with only mere speculations and assumptions (except for the OP and the seller of course). I’m not vouching for either party, but some of the people in this thread are going a little too far such as the member above me^^^ (fyi if you read the thread, you would know that the seller did have insurance, so you can keep the negativity to yourself).
I give kudos for the OP to wait that long, but unfortunately the condition of the item was not to your expectations; that I understand. But on the bright side, you didn’t get entirely scammed as the seller did finally come through and did send them out eventually so that’s a plus. He even admitted that he was wrong for having it shipped so late and giving you the run-about which is a big rarity nowadays. However, judging how the corner piece broke, I really think it most likely broke during shipping; usually that part is the easiest part to break in general (Note that I’m speculating as well lol). I’m not defending the seller by any means, but just providing my own experience from the past as, I had the same exact situation occur to me before with that corner piece. And if what the seller says is true, you can file a claim with UPS, so you have another opportunity to get your money back and then buy a better set; that’s what I did. You live, you learn and move on, no reason to continue to bash the seller since the transaction is done, and the only thing that can come out of it is more negativity, which this forum isn’t about.
Another thing to note for future business on the buyer’s behalf is to ask for more detailed pictures, it doesn’t hurt to see more pictures of the items you’re buying to give you assurance and the satisfaction that the product is as described, and most likely seller will have no problem to send them to you unless he/she is lazy, or have something to hide, then it’s questionable and you should proceed with caution. Never go by what the seller lists the condition as, as a buyer, you always have to be careful when dealing online as people are faceless and usually tend to live hundreds of miles away so the chance of perception is extremely high as opposed to in person transaction; another thing to also take note that the state of condition of an item is a subjective standpoint, so what one thing may be considered “mint” to one person, may be a “good” condition to another. That’s why you again should request for more pictures of the item your buying for reassurance. Also in regards to shipping, especially something very delicate and fragile like the one-pieces, you should always take the initiative to indicate to the seller to package them properly; many sellers (that I conducted with in the past) don’t care how they package the items, their mentality is just to get a box and put it in and call it a day. Hence you should be advised in future transactions to prevent stuff from breaking during shipping, perhaps by offering to pay alittle more for supplies to package the parts properly (popcorns, cushions, and etc.) as these things are not free and from a seller’s point of view, if they provided these items all the time, the would be loosing profit. So buyers need to take the initiative to insure that their products are going to arrive safely as you aren’t buying from a company who would gladly replace a product if damaged, but from a private seller who’s selling a ~20 years old discontinued headlight from Japan, who can’t readily replace a damaged part.
SO what I’m trying to say at the end of the day, the blame is not solely on the seller, but also on the buyer to assume what everything the seller advertised as true and not taking the initiative to ensure the packaging of their items. As a consumer for online transactions buying second-hand parts, you must always be cautious when proceeding regardless, due to the high possibility of deception.
You can welcome my advice/criticism or simply ignore it or flame me; I don’t care what you do with it. I’m only trying to help the community out to prevent this from happening again. If can’t see the helpfulness of this post, then don’t come crying back when “you get something not as described” or “my item broke during shipping” because i will gladly copy and paste this post into your thread.
Goodluck OP!