Looks to me like it was an air layer that was just removed and placed inside a one gallon pot.
Two years ago, I bought an expensive fig from eBay. The person wrapped the entire tree in a plastic bag and placed it inside a shipping box. My tree looked exactly like the one you got. Two days later, it died. I don't know if your tree was wrapped in a plastic bag or not. But in my case, I contacted the seller and told him what he did wrong. He apologied and sent me 2 rare cuttings of another tree but I still wasn't happy with the whole transaction. I will not say who that person is, it's just not right to do that.
The moral of my point is this: I you are going to ship a tree with leaves, never place that tree inside plastic! Just wrap the base (the pot) in plastic and tape it good. THEN secure the pot inside the box to keep it from moving. It really is that simple.
If I were you, I'd contact the seller and try to get a replacement if you can. But don't recommend bashing the person and I'm not saying you are. Just try to work things out between the 2 of you.
good luck!