I had ordered a Hummingbird when they were 50% off and sent it back because someone had already opened it. They sent a sealed one, but it was blue anyway!
I ordered four online at 75% off and two of the four came already opened. Quite the disappointment when they arrived and the boxes had no tab and the ornaments were not in black bags.
The two that were sealed ended up being one of each so I did get a gold out of the four.
I've been thinking about how you got ornaments that had already been opened. My guess is that the order was filled at a store and not at a Hallmark warehouse, and the store personnel didn't know or care if they had already been opened. Especially on Elliott's order since it came in two boxes - they probably came from different places. I don't think Hallmark would have accepted a return on these if they had been ordered initially on Hallmark.com.
I could be wrong, but I could see how that could happen.