[Talos]

On the 29th of September I won an auction for a set of 5 flagbearers on eBay. I paid for the set immediately and requested the optional insurance to be added, at a $3.30 extra charge.

I received the parcel on the 9th of October, and found only 3 of the 5 FBs had been sent, the empty space in the box was filled up with cardboard tube cut into two sections. Insurance was NOT paid for on the parcel.

Contacted the seller, greencrusader1, who was belligerent from his first reply which came a day and a half after I contacted him. He accused me of deceit and insisted that he sent the set of 5.

6 wasted days of email and dispute resolution through PayPal, and I've escalated the dispute to a claim for the value of the two missing FBs and part of the postage and the insurance charge, which he never paid when he sent the parcel.

He now attests that insurance is included in Priority Mail International so paying extra is not necessary, but still offered it. I checked the online mail payment system and insurance is available for $3.30.

He has blamed everyone but himself for the packing error, but backed off on blaming Australia Post when I said I would forward his allegations of mail fraud to them.

The box was sealed and no sign of tampering was evident.

I have a witness to the fact that the set was incomplete on arrival.

He sent me a photo proving that he has plenty of FBs to sell. If anybody is having a hard time finding them, it is probably because this guy has cleared out every store in his area. He has dozens of them piled up!

Very definitely a seller to avoid at all costs. I will update this post when the PayPal claim is finalised.