Bought DOA item from seller in China, return shipping cost is the same as item

[reneferwill]

Hi all,

Just wanted to know if someone has a similar experience as me.

I bought an item from seller in China (will never do this again) and it arrived non-functioning.

I requested return and eBay states that I should pay for shipping but the cost to return is the same as the item.

If the item were functioning, I could use (which was the purpose I had when I purchased it) but unfortunately the item does not works.

Does someone have any similar experience or any advice on how to proceed?

best regards

[firesteel_surplus]

@reneferwill 

Here is my rule of thumb when buying from China:

1. Assume that there is a high probability that the item will be junk or broke and the money will be ill spent.

2. Buy the product

3. If it doesn't work, toss it.

4. If it does work and meets expectations, that is a win.

5. If it does work and EXCEEDS expectations. Go out for a steak dinner. You hit the jackpot.

6. Remember rule 1 is most important.

That is how I do any buys from China when I cannot physically hold the item in my hand from a store.

Mike

Firesteel Surplus

[pjcdn2005]

A seller is required to pay for  return shipping if an item is not as described.  When you opened the return request what reason did you use for the return?

[tedsrecords]

Stop buying things from China!! Because of China flooding the world with too many packages with low postage rates, the lazy USPS workers have become overwhelmed. Because of the CCP so many packages and the USPS seeing all these packages with Chinese characters, they confused Japan as being the same as China(although China sends 80 to 1 more packages to USA) the US insisted Japan raise their rates even though Japan already has high rates and have nothing to do with CCP China. Now the postage rates to USA almost doubled because of CCP.

 This is all because of eBay and other sites thought it would be a good idea to allow CCP to sell on their sites.

This trouble would have never happened if they never opened up to China in the first place.

[frodobagginskennedy]

No if it was DOA you need to open a case for item not as described.  THe seller cannot send you a return shipping label since he is in China.  Wait for the case to get to ask e bay to step in.  THey will then refund the purchase.

[no_zero369]

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@reneferwill wrote:

Hi all,

Just wanted to know if someone has a similar experience as me.

I bought an item from seller in China (will never do this again) and it arrived non-functioning.

I requested return and eBay states that I should pay for shipping but the cost to return is the same as the item.

If the item were functioning, I could use (which was the purpose I had when I purchased it) but unfortunately the item does not works.

Does someone have any similar experience or any advice on how to proceed?

best regards

---

er, um, ah.... I think the answer to this, unfortunately, lies in the devil of the details of the Money Back Guarantee (MBG) and how eBay works its program.  When one selects a reason for a return those reasons are divided into two classes: remorse returns and not as described (NAD) returns.   Nothing in the list of choices tells a buyer which reason is in which category, so buyers often select something that "makes sense" and pick a remorse reason when in fact they should have selected a NAD reason.

When a seller has either a "no returns" policy or a "buyer pays return shipping" policy AND the buyer selects a "remorse"  reason for the return, then the seller can reject the return (no returns) or insist the buyer pay return shipping costs.

However, when a buyer selects a NAD reason for the return it makes no difference what is the seller's returns policy, the seller is REQUIRED to pay for return shipping!  Oh sellers might ask a buyer to return the item as to avoid the cost of return shipping, but in a NAD case, the seller is responsible for shipping. 

So what I learned about shopping here, is that one needs to look at the seller's location and their returns policy.  When I see "no returns" I often just skip to the next seller.  I also am so loath to buy from Chinese sellers as their shipping is subsidized by their government and because of a Treaty gets next to free shipping with the USPS (which costs you & me more money to support our local system)

I think the Chinese sellers know how the game is played.  IF one appropriately files a NAD case, rather than paying return shipping the Chinese seller will ask if the buyer will accept a replacement item and that they will be glad to send the item right away.  Problem is that while that item is in transit, the MBG case times out and is closed and the buyer loses all MBG protections.  This if the second item never arrives, is damaged or not as described the seller has no way to use the MBG to get their money back.  At that point the buyer has to go through other steps to try to get a refund through their credit card.

It guess one could escalate this "case" to eBay customer service, but CS would be within eBay policy to reject it due to a remorse reason being selected in the return process.  eBay states they give one bite at the MBG apple and CS rarely changes a reason for a case from remorse to NAD, because the buyer asks.  So other than a charge back through your credit card it appears as though there is little one could do.  Chalk it up to "tuition paid" in the school of eBay buying? 🤔😕