pete8475 wrote on 2020-12-09, 04:24:

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Warning, lots of text.

TL;DR
I got a free laptop and feel strange about it.

For quite a while now I've been thinking of replacing my Thinkpad T420 (i7, 8GB, Quadro graphics, SSD, etc.) with something a bit newer with a larger screen. My eyes don't like the small size of that screen as much anymore.

I found what looked to be a pretty good deal on ebay, a T530 with Quadro graphics and a 1600x900 LCD (same res as my T420 but larger screen) for a totally reasonable price. So I clicked buy it now and bought it. A few weeks later the laptop arrives and while it's a T530 it does NOT have the Quadro graphics (onboard intel only) and has a 1366x768 screen. So I message the seller and explained it's not what was listed in the auction and I asked "What do I do here? Do I ship it back?" They responded they were unaware of the mistake and that I should start a return. So I do that and a few hours later get a message from ebay saying "The seller has indicated they CANNOT provide a return shipping label.". So I forwarded that message to the seller and asked them "What do I do now? Do I take it to purolator and you reimburse me later? How does this work?"

They said to give them a few days and they would "talk to ebay". So I waited three days and told them "It's boxed up and ready to go, I got an estimate from purolator, has ebay gotten back to you?" They replied with a very short message simply saying "I offer free returns". I thought that was a bit odd and slept on it and messaged them again the next day to try and find out what to do, I quoted them and said "Ok I understand however ebay is saying you won't pay for the return shipping, and I don't think I should have to either but I will provided you reimburse for that shipping". Later that day I got message from them again insisting they offer free returns. At this point the days are ticking by and I have a laptop I don't want and I'm out several hundred dollars so I said to the seller "Should I escalate this with ebay? It's like you're not reading my messages and just saying "free returns". He replies with this "It is thanksgiving and I am with my family. Matter of fact go ahead and contact eBay. A mistake may or may not have been made. There are a lot of scams involving computers and to be frank your attitude is poor. I have tried to be accommodating but I will not be threatened over a 200$ item."

I let it sit for a while and replied "All I'm trying to do is ship your computer back to you. You can look at my feedback on here and see that I don't screw people around." I have a 100% positive feedback on ebay and I've rarely had any transaction get weird like this before. Late that night I had a message from the seller saying "I will refund you the money tomorrow. Enjoy a free computer. Have a good night" I replied with "This is insane. I don't want this laptop, it's not what I ordered. You don't want me to ship it back you, and ebay has indicated you won't provide a return shipping label. Why are you throwing away several hundred dollars? I want to send this back, what am I supposed to do?"

The next day I had a reply that said "I’m sorry about this mistake. I will be issuing you a refund when I get to my shop in the morning. With all due respect I would just like to be done with this transaction."

So anyway a week has gone by and I still have this laptop sitting in a box and now I have the money back too. It just feels strange that I have this free computer though and they don't want it back. I think I might buy the 1600x900 screen from laptopscreens but after getting that I still have the crappy onboard graphics.

Anyway hopefully this is the right area to post this, please anyone that made it through all this text let me know what you think, am I the jerk?

EDIT - also another thing I noticed but forgot to even mention to the seller is that the CPU is also NOT what was listed in the auction, it's slower than expected.

IMHO, the seller either has cognitive issues or does not understand how to operate his/her Ebay account properly . Additionally, the seller does not seem to want to learn how to do things and blames you for his own shortcomings . I think that I understand what you are feeling as the seller's behavior seems anything but normal . From your side of the story, I do not see how you could be at fault .

eBay rules are pretty crystal clear that if the seller sends you a different item than you ordered or an item in different condition than it was listed as that it is the seller's responsibility to pay for return shipping if they want the item back.

Sounds to me like the seller did one of these:
1. Knew that the listing was not correct and hoped that the buyer wouldn't notice
2. Straight up copied another listing and never even bothered to check if the specifications on the laptop they were selling were actually correct.

Either way it is 100% the seller's fault for sending you something you didn't order.

Back when Newegg was pretty new, I bought an ASUS P4 mobo which turned out to be a lemon. After about a month of "conversation", they refunded the whole cost and gave me two of the same mobo.

Until Amazon came along, I was a loyal customer to them, no matter what others said.

You have done everything correct.
If his listing says returns accepted then even if the listing was correct and you changed your mind then you will still have done nothing wrong. The fact that the listing was incorrect just means your been all the more reasonable
Of course raise a case with ebay is a last resort but if that option is about to expire then you need to have at least start it.

Twice I have done this when items haven't arrived from Nth America and my time to log a case is about to expire, I fully believe the seller has sent it and I say as much to them but I have to protect myself.
one out of those 2 items did arrive shortly after and I cancelled the case, the other I expect (hope) got lost and was returned to sender.

Sounds like seller has few things going on in his personal life or just isn't very organised , Maybe he's rich and $200 is like $1 for us, just not worth the bother. Whatever it is it's his decision to write off $200.

If it was me I'd feel strange but ok and happily keep the laptop, or sell, etc.
But if your not comfortable with both the machine and the money always the option to give to a charity, school, etc

For the seller, the laptop must have been worth less than the return shipping.

Implied, the seller themselves can't have paid very much for the item - for any number of possible & unknowable reasons. Can only surmise.

The only other motivations I can imagine are account-restriction, and/or perhaps cashflow, related. People have complicated lives, we a crazy folk.

For me it looks like for the seller it was worth more him just reimbursing you than the hassle with doing return and selling it again.

Thank you so much to everyone that took the time to read my wall of text and reply.

I actually feel much better about the situation now.

I think you did well there, Pete. Here's an idea if you want to get rid of any guilt whatsoever:

Since you don't really want the laptop and you basically got it for free, why not donate it? I work at a high school and there are kids who can not use a laptop because their parents can't afford it, so they they are left behind. Thankfully there are organizations that collect used laptops for this specific purpose. There might be one in your area or maybe you even know a family personally that would really need it. All in the spirit of Christmas 😀

Hezus wrote on 2020-12-15, 09:49:

I think you did well there, Pete. Here's an idea if you want to get rid of any guilt whatsoever:

Since you don't really want the laptop and you basically got it for free, why not donate it? I work at a high school and there are kids who can not use a laptop because their parents can't afford it, so they they are left behind. Thankfully there are organizations that collect used laptops for this specific purpose. There might be one in your area or maybe you even know a family personally that would really need it. All in the spirit of Christmas 😀

Yeah actually I'm going to gift it to the son of my cousin, he just started high school and has a real junk computer.