Ebay - Item not working?

[SOnotLayuh]

Hey DISers, I hope this is in the right thread! I hear you all on the budget board are the ebay experts

I bought an InStyler on ebay a few months ago and it is AMAZING. It works perfectly, and I got it for only half of the price they sell for on TV. I convinced my DMIL that she should get one too, and found a seller with a high positive record who had only had one neutral in the past 6 months for slow shipping.

Well, she got her InStyler in the mail, turned it on... it worked for about three minutes, and then it didn't work anymore. I contacted the seller to ask about either a refund or an exchange, and this is what they contacted me back with:

---

You are the first customer that has had this issue. I had one other cusotmer try to return the same product which wasn't bought from us. We know which ones are ours and which aren't because there are distinctive markings that only we know about. We have just ammeded auction yesterday to accept returns. See auction. Item will be throughly inspected upon reciept of item. Each item is tested approximately 10x before shipment to be sure it works so I'm not sure how you recieved one that's not working. I test them myself. I suggest you take this issue up with manufacturer as it's less costly for you. If you'd like to return, by all means return to address on the box. You have to pay return shipping and shipping back. This will cost about $5 one way and $5 the other way. A 3 yr warranty is $10. Choice is yours. Do not forget to put your contact details in the box. We'll be glad to help you out. Thank you.

---

What do you think I should do? It hardly seems fair that we are punished to pay more shipping than we already have in order to get the item we paid for in the first place. Doesn't ebay protect things like this? I'm not sure we could go through the manufacturer, since we didn't buy it from them. I'm also a bit worried about the "we mark the items only where we can see it", as it may come back to haunt me.

What should I do?!

 

[Justsyd2]

File a claim with Paypal (if that's who you paid through) that the item was received not working -- Paypal should get the buyer to refund your money, but you'll still have to pay shipping to return the item.

 

[smokeyblue]

This is called coercion. I say e-mail them back, tell them you insist that they accept return of the malfunctioning product at their cost with full return. Make no threats, just state the remedy you seek. If they deny your request then go to eBay.

 

[scrapquitler]

I do think that you should have a working item. I don't know what an In-Styler is, but in the scheme of things it doesn't matter what the item is. PayPal should have some protection for you, since the item was advertised as working and doesn't. Start by contacting PayPal.

On the other hand, had you bought an item from Amazon.com and found that it didn't work properly, you would have to pay return shipping to mail it back to them (and virtually every other online retailer). So I don't think that paying the shipping to return it is unreasonable.

Many brick and mortar retailers will tell you (and it is often printed right on the receipt or in the instructions manual of a product) that if the product doesn't function properly it should be returned to the manufacturer. So I don't think think that the manufacturer will give you a problem replacing it if you don't get anywhere with the ebay seller and paypal.

 

[Kies99]

I do think that you should have a working item. I don't know what an In-Styler is, but in the scheme of things it doesn't matter what the item is. PayPal should have some protection for you, since the item was advertised as working and doesn't. Start by contacting PayPal.

On the other hand, had you bought an item from Amazon.com and found that it didn't work properly, you would have to pay return shipping to mail it back to them (and virtually every other online retailer). So I don't think that paying the shipping to return it is unreasonable.

I agree. Go immediately to Paypal and file a claim.

As for Amazon and other online retailers, most will pay for return shipping if there is a problem. I just returned something for an exchange at Amazon and it cost me nothing.

 

[msmayor]

Except that ebay is not like a regular on-line retailer, so the fact that other well-established businesses pay return shipping means nothing.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Thanks for all of the responses! I've contacted the seller again and if she is resistent to help I will contact ebay.

 

[nunzia]

File a claim with Paypal (if that's who you paid through) that the item was received not working -- Paypal should get the buyer to refund your money, but you'll still have to pay shipping to return the item.

Yep..they cannot really do this kind of thing. Ebay sides with buyer (I'm a seller and know I just have to bite it sometimes) You can be reponsible for return shipping, but Ebay now covers original shipping in refund.