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An Ebay item I sold was damaged during USPS shipping...what's the best thing to do?

I just got an email from the buyer of my Dell laptop battery. Apparently the battery was broke around the edges. Well, the battery was brand new and was not broke when I sent it. I had it wrapped in bubble wrap and then inside of a priority mail envelope. I am not really sure how USPS managed to damage it. I am thinking that the cold temps in the region (way below zero at night) could have contributed to the damage? Anyway, I offered the item with free priority shipping. I did not insure it. What should I do if the buyer files a claim with paypal? I know paypal typically sides with the buyer and I could be out a battery and the money. Should I just offer a partial refund if they decide to file a dispute? Will I lose the dispute if we don't resolve it before paypal has to?

Public Comments

1. The buyer is supposed to pay for insurance. If they don't have it, they could still prove that you sold him a broken piece of hardware, but probably not if you have a high rating.
2. Not much you can do since you didn't insure it. Learn from this mistake and insure EVERYTHING you ship. It is cheap. You offered to replace with fast shipping, not much else they could ask for. Document it if they file a dispute.
3. Since you did not purchase insurance, you have no claim for damages from USPS. Ask the buyer to ship the battery back to you at their expense, and with delivery confirmation. Once you receive it issue a full refund, and if you want to reimburse the return postage. PayPal only only requires you to reimburse only the auction price + original shipping. You could wait until the buyer files an SNAD claim with paypal but they will instruct the buyer to return the item to you then they will force you to refund.
4. My best practice is to tell them to ship it back to me for a full refund. Next time, advertise the item as free insured shipping, priority mail, and add the additional fee in your starting bid or buy it now price. Right now if you have a BIN price on things, its only 35 cents with free shipping and 30 days for the listing. Its a pretty good deal. The alternative is offer to refund a portion of the purchase price if the battery's functional. FYI -- do not use those stupid envelopes for breakables like plastics. Get a free Priority box instead. They make them in all sorts of sizes including tubes. Its likely the post office threw something heavy on it and it cracked. Most plastics inside a wrapped package will not crack unless its way into subzero territory. The exception is bakelite which will crack. Modern (1990s on) plastics are typically very resilient as they are made of polycarbonates.
5. well offer a refund or exchange of the product, but dont just send another one. get the other one back first, as there are some people who do that type of stuff where they claim it was broken and they want another one even though the original is working fine.