[Leonidas76]

REFUND SECURED. Went though PayPal and used damaged box + EB. Worked like a charm

Congrats. How do you do damaged box + EB for one item? I thought initially you were trying to claim the lens itself was damaged?

decided to change the approach after research and advice from @mothered. They may ask for return of faulty item after using damaged item.

What i did was i took the item out, beat up the box that it came in, took it back outside and took photos and videos. Then i uploaded on paypal and said this is how the item was left outside, high value item, no signature blah blah. Paypal stepped in and took care of the rest

I have never read someone do this before, but what an amazing approach. It does (presumably) move liability from the warehouse in China to the courrier, but I am guessing that If you don;t have a bad reputation with the courrier that should be no problem.