Contact the seller and see what he/she says. Otherwise, contact shipping company. You should be able to get your money back either way.

How did you pay?

and did you get the insurance? If I was buying glassware or anything worth over $50, I'd get the insurance.

I don't know what ebay's rules are on this, but I would immediately contact the seller and say that it was his/her obligation to pack the item with due care and get it delivered to you in good condition. After all, you paid for an intact fish tank, and didn't get one. S/he'll argue that you should've insured it (and as a practical matter that's true), but nonetheless, through no fault of your own, you didn't get what you paid for.

Unless you want to track down the seller and sue them, it mostly comes down to how accommodating they are and how much they want to avoid negative feedback. You should also check ebay's policies to see if they can help you - I think they have a mediation service or something. But in the end they probably can't force the seller to do anything - they don't normally get involved in legal disputes.

The lesson: always insure packages. I require it even when I'm the seller, and say so on all of my listings.

Good luck.

I think that unless you paid for insurance, there isn't much you can do, That's the one thing I hate about eBay - they do very little to help with problem transactions.

Even if the item was insured, it's payable to the seller (shipper) - not the buyer.

After all, you bought the item - it's up to the seller to get it to you in one piece. Regardless of any disclaimers they make to the contrary. Regardless of whether or not *you* paid for insurance that protects *them*.

Don't let seller's off the hook for shipping problems. It's part of the 'cost' of selling. I've been doing transactions over the internet for many years. There are clear and established rules for who's responsible for what. The seller is obligated to deliver the item or a refund. Immediately.

As an experienced seller, I wouldn't take the risk of shipping an aquarium or anything else that stands a good chance of breaking. I could lose the item as well as the shipping costs, AND have to reimburse the buyer.

This isn't true. I shipped an item using fedex ground a while back, and I packed it EXTREMELY well. We're talking 3 bags of peanuts, 2 boxes of the big bubble wrap, tons of newspaper, cardboard, styrofoam, etc. Fedex ground f*cked it up, they must have dropped it or crushed it with something extremely heavy, and they're not giving the buyer anything, even though I PAID for the damn insurance. According to them, it was improperly packed, because their claims investigators 'claim' it was shipped in a box, with the only inner protection being 'a plastic bag'. How the hell they equate all those layers of foam, peanuts, cardboard, and bubble wrap as a plastic bag, I do not know. He is currently taking them to court .

In short: AVOID FEDEX GROUND. Their insurance means NOTHING.

- Rob

What did I say that "isn't true"? I said that (a) it's the seller's responsibility to pack the item with due care, and (b) it's a good idea to insure all packages, to protect the seller as well as the buyer. Nothing you said contradicts that. Indeed, if you hadn't purchased insurance, the buyer might be suing you instead of FedEx.

If you're saying that insurance is no guarantee that a dispute will be avoided, I would agree. Sometimes insurers deny responsibility. But it's better to have it than not.

Update: Trying to resolve with the seller currently. The item was insured through UPS and I'm going to try for a refund and let the seller deal with UPS for her money instead of me...I don't have faith that the item was packed well enough to make it past whatever audit process UPS has, soon to be her problem and not mine if all goes as planned.

Pain in the ass for everyone involved, but shouldn't be a total loss.