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Amazon buyer wants refund - after almost 20 days

post #1 of 29
3/31/10 at 1:02am
Thread Starter 
I sold an almost-new M-Audio Transit on Amazon, and almost 20 days later (it was delivered on Thursday, March 11) I got this email from the buyer:

After many attempts and time to get the Playback working I finally ordered another USB audio device and upon installation was immediately able to get my real time room measurement program working, confirming that the Transit playback is defective. (Recording works fine). I wish to return it for a refund, I have all original discs, cables and carton. Do I require an RMA ?

I'm certain that the Transit works (I used it for a few days when I first got it and then packed it back into the box). M-Audio also has the latest drivers, even for Windows 7. And why does it take him over 20 days to request a refund?

Anyone had a similar experience? Does this sound like a scam? What should I do? How should reply the email?
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post #2 of 29
3/31/10 at 1:17am
I would tell him/her that refund can only be issued if the Transit is back in your hand and tested to be faulty. If it is tested to be fully functional, (s)he will have to pay shipping to get it back from you. If it is indeed faulty and assuming you are the original owner of Transit, you can still claim warranty from M-Audio and sell it off. Money will be lost of course, but reputation is more important.
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post #3 of 29
3/31/10 at 1:43am
I agree with ClieOS, I had something similar occur. IT turns out after much fussing about that the person didn't know he had to plug the card into the power supply (video card). After that was settled he still wanted to return it since his power supply wouldn't work with the card. I'm not sure how amazon deals with issue resolution, but I know ebay was pretty good with theirs and when I told them through the mediator that I didn't want it back, they were fine with it. In the end the guy even gave me positive feedback which is what counts I suppose.
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post #4 of 29
3/31/10 at 1:48am
Maybe the guy is just a putz and has one of the cables plugged in wrong.

On my computer with Windows 7, it automatically recognizes if there is no 1/8" line-out cable plugged into your sound card and disables the sound device until you plug a cable in.

I know there aren't a whole lot of connections with the Transit, but hey, you never know... But seriously, I also agree with the other posters.
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post #5 of 29
3/31/10 at 2:14am
Thread Starter 
Thank you everyone for your comments. Here's the reply I sent out:

Dear XXXXX,

The M-Audio Transit had been tested before it was shipped out. Have you tried downloading the latest drivers directly from M-Audio? If the product is defective, you may return it.

Please return the product to the following address via UPS Ground or USPS Priority Mail.
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX

A refund of $55 (shipping charges will not be refunded) will only be issued after the product has been received, tested, and found to be defective. If the product is found to be fully functional, refund will not be issued, and you will have to pay a shipping charge of $4.99 to have it returned to you.

Thank you.
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post #6 of 29
3/31/10 at 2:20am
I think you are going about this the right way, but as an idea maybe you could get the person who bought it to photograph how it is connected or something so that you have piece of mind that it is not user error. Sorry I don't know much about this particular product but I hope you get my meaning.
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post #7 of 29
3/31/10 at 2:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClieOS View Post
I would tell him/her that refund can only be issued if the Transit is back in your hand and tested to be faulty. If it is tested to be fully functional, (s)he will have to pay shipping to get it back from you. If it is indeed faulty and assuming you are the original owner of Transit, you can still claim warranty from M-Audio and sell it off. Money will be lost of course, but reputation is more important.
i'm not in agreement with this opinion


what if the guy himself broke it??? it has been 20 days, after all.
getting it back broken would not necessarily prove that you sent him a defective item, just that he sent you one.

just my opinion
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post #8 of 29
3/31/10 at 10:21am
^X2
If this guy is any kind of shady you are likely to get it back non-working. He could damage it to assure himself a refund.
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post #9 of 29
3/31/10 at 11:16am
You're selling it through amazon. Check amazon policy, but I believe you have to refund him regardless the reason if it's under 30 days. IMHO, I will issue a refund once I receive the item and re-list it again, it's not worth the hassle dealing with this kind of customer.
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post #10 of 29
3/31/10 at 11:17am
I'm going to say that regardless of whether or not the buyer is at fault or not a refund just might be your best course. Unfortunately with the way eBay and Amazon is structured now the seller takes the brunt and burden of the feedback. There are all too many jerks out there who are dishonest and/or just plain mean spirited. In the end, your reputation and feedback as a seller is more important than a single sale. I'm not saying the buyer deserves a refund, but if all else fails it may be your only choice.
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post #11 of 29
3/31/10 at 12:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevenjchang View Post
i'm not in agreement with this opinion


what if the guy himself broke it??? it has been 20 days, after all.
getting it back broken would not necessarily prove that you sent him a defective item, just that he sent you one.

just my opinion
Well, as other has said, seller is almost always the underdog in a claim-for-refund case. Take eBay for an example, buyer get 45days from purchase to make a claim on Paypal and once he did, quite often your Paypal account get frozen till it is resolved. It costs time, effort and money to get things sorted out. Even if the buyer did break the thing, he could just as well claim that he has not the time to check it out all these time and when he finally did, it was broken. If a buyer is willing to ask for refund for something he breaks himself, what stops him from lying about it or worst, leave you with big negative remark all over the Internet? Yes, the system is not fair to honest seller, but as in any business, deception is part of the game whether you like it or not. All an honest seller can hope for is a little human decency.
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post #12 of 29
3/31/10 at 2:14pm
Um isnt it standard policy to say 7 days or 10 days? You arent an authorized seller selling new products anyway, it was just a used item sold by an individual right? I think you couldve taken the stance of saying its too late, if that gets you a bad review, respond to that review (comment) stating that he wanted to return it after 20 days and not a week.

But I guess now that you've sent the response asking him to return, well if he's genuine, then its a lot of shipping hassle, if he's a crook then you're gonna get a fried transit. I guess you can look for damage and claim that he did it, but either way you took the long road on this one.
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post #13 of 29
3/31/10 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClieOS View Post
Well, as other has said, seller is almost always the underdog in a claim-for-refund case. Take eBay for an example, buyer get 45days from purchase to make a claim on Paypal and once he did, quite often your Paypal account get frozen till it is resolved. It costs time, effort and money to get things sorted out. Even if the buyer did break the thing, he could just as well claim that he has not the time to check it out all these time and when he finally did, it was broken. If a buyer is willing to ask for refund for something he breaks himself, what stops him from lying about it or worst, leave you with big negative remark all over the Internet? Yes, the system is not fair to honest seller, but as in any business, deception is part of the game whether you like it or not. All an honest seller can hope for is a little human decency.
this is where forward planning comes into play. A couple of years ago I sold a used but mint condition Sony PSP on ebay (I'm not a pro seller, just sell when I have stuff to sell).
A few days later the guy puts in a dispute saying the screen is scratched. Even though he must have done it, I offered to send him a replacement shell at a cost of about £10 to me free of charge to resolve it quickly (paypal frozen, needed the funds etc.) but the guy wasn't having none of it and escalated it.
Well..unfortunatey for him I had taken plenty of timestamped pictures of the unit including the serial before posting, submitted these to paypal including the correspondance where I had offered to replace the screen, and paypal threw out the case. Oh and you know what? after that the guy had the blatent nerve to ask me to then replace the shell after paypal had thrown the case out..I said no sir not on your nelly.

The buyer is always favoured but there are steps you can take to redress the balance somewhat and protect yourself
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post #14 of 29
4/1/10 at 1:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing View Post
Um isnt it standard policy to say 7 days or 10 days? You arent an authorized seller selling new products anyway, it was just a used item sold by an individual right? I think you couldve taken the stance of saying its too late, if that gets you a bad review, respond to that review (comment) stating that he wanted to return it after 20 days and not a week.

But I guess now that you've sent the response asking him to return, well if he's genuine, then its a lot of shipping hassle, if he's a crook then you're gonna get a fried transit. I guess you can look for damage and claim that he did it, but either way you took the long road on this one.
You're right. I should have said it was too late. I just checked Amazon's return policy for marketplace sellers:
"If you receive an item different than what was described, or that is clearly in worse condition than indicated, you must contact your seller directly to report the defect or damage within 14 days of receiving the shipment."
Lesson learned.

By the way, in case something like this happens again, where did you find out about the 7 or 10 days return policy?
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post #15 of 29
4/1/10 at 2:09am
I hope you have the serial number. How do you know he isnt going to send you his own broken unit for the money, and keep the one he bought from you?
I dont know if the 14 day policy counts if you already e-mailed him permission to return it.
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