Hello, I'm writing to see if anyone else in the electronics category is dealing with this problem as I'm about to lose my mind. For backstory - I primarily sell laptops on here which I repair myself up to a standard that at least meets the following, every sale: -Boots to BIOS -Any major hardware issue identified & resolved (be it battery, motherboard, etc.) -Thermal grease replaced & deep cleaning if required -Fresh install of Windows on an SSD with driver updates -In great cosmetic shape, or at least the maximum I can ensure with a little alcohol & microfiber cloth Basically, these are fully functional laptops ready for immediate (and on some models, INTENSE) usage by the buyer. I practically consider them refurbished although I am not an eBay certified refurbisher, nor do I know how to get there. This year I have had an uptick in returns on these laptops which almost did not happen at all in previous years. Complaints involve the item arriving smashed, motherboard issues (from the buyer doing things with the BIOS that it was not designed to do), or just whining about tiny surface defects as if they did not buy a several year old machine. I don't have a million dollar camera so obviously some minor scratches and the like will not show up, which is why I tend to write in the condition description something like, "Item shows expected wear & tear for its age." I have taken about as much accountability on my part for these returns I deem possible. Everything from using a ridiculous amount of bubble wrap after the ones that arrived smashed, to testing the CPU core temperatures after the Windows install, to including a photo of the battery life & condition in the listing. I resell for a living and can't handle the frustration anymore of these "mystery" issues that pop up that were 100% not there when it left my supervision. It's almost like the buyers are trying to scam me into an item not described case or something. Only, I have long since updated to a 30 day return policy, and now once I tell some of the buyers that I can refund them AFTER they ship the original item back to me, I never hear from some of them again. Funny! The instant they message me about these weird problems, also, is conveniently within my 30-day return period every single time. Not all of them respond to me to the very end of the process, but some of these cases have turned into full blown returns and I seem to get the computer back in much worse shape. Any ideas if the scammers are on the rise? I don't know how else I can better ensure the computer will be what these people want. My most recent case was someone trying to setup legacy boot order for their M.2 solid state drive, on a Dell from 2019. What the marbles do you want legacy boot for in 2024? And why would you not buy a much older laptop to make that work since it has largely been phased out by manufacturer's beginning last decade? Blows my mind.
