Question Bought a graphics card on ebay, do I have sufficient cause for complaint?

[mikeymikec]

I'm starting this thread as a sanity check if you guys wouldn't mind.

I ordered a graphics card off ebay. The card arrived, but the seller sent it in a padded envelope and a blister bag around the card, no box, no anti-static bag. Unsurprisingly the card is bent. The seller also didn't pay sufficient postage for the parcel so I had to fork out for that. I sent photos, here's the two of the card:




My main issue is that the circuit board is bent in two ways: 1) it's mostly bending away from the heatsink so I doubt there's decent contact there between heat-producing components and the HS, 2) the bus connector is bent so potentially dubious contact there. What isn't shown is that it looks to me like one of the memory chips is squashed at one end and making poor contact with the heatsink at the other.

Personally I think the seller should be doing all of the following:
a) paying the extra postage that I've had to pay
b) providing a refund
c) if they want the card back, they pay postage

I haven't tried the card because I intended to sell it and its installation as a service to a customer, and I'd have to test the hell out of it in a "prove it's not faulty" sense, and what if it breaks prematurely because of the damage.

The seller's English is not good but my impression is that their concerns are:

a) does it work
b) do I not want it (in the sense that it's an unwanted item rather than a poorly packaged and likely to be broken item)

From their wording it seems like they're willing to provide a partial refund for an "unwanted item", and they've tried to defend the bent card as being normal and that they have a 1030 that looks like that too. I personally have never seen a card look like that before. I think they're happy to pay the rest of the postage that I had to pay to get it here, but I'm not sure, but I think they want me to pay postage to send it back under the pretext of an unwanted item.

I'm considering spending one response explaining thoroughly why I consider this item damaged and then preparing to file a claim with ebay.

 

[NTMBK]

Yup. Ask the seller for a full refund. PCBs should be flat, not bent.

Do NOT plug that into your PC. There's a chance it may damage your computer, if some traces are cracked on the bent PCB. The photos are clear enough evidence that it is broken.

 

[Shmee]

I agree. Contact ebay or paypal if the seller does not give a full refund.

 

[mikeymikec]

Thanks guys. I've responded to the seller, see how it goes.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

No shame here. You paid for a used and assumably normal condition card, if the card was bent it should have been disclosed, if the card got bent during shipment it should have been packaged batter.
Absolutely ask for money back.

 

[WilliamM2]

I would have never paid postage, especially in a bag. Then a full refund for item not received.

Ebay will refund you, but I doubt you'll get postage back now.

 

[SimplyComplex]

When you formally file with eBay, definitely request a full refund - not a return. If you request a return, you have to pay shipping. If the seller counters with a return - decline or you'll have to pay return shipping.

Once the refund is granted the seller can request the card be sent back and you can print out a label (at his expense).

 

[DaaQ]

Picture #1 shows clearly the card will have a difficult time even being inserted to the PCI-E slot, as that is bent.

 

[Stuka87]

That issue wasn't caused by the shipping. It was caused by the heat sink being over torqued. Or perhaps it was removed, and the spacers/springs that went between the heat sink and the PCB were left out.

 

[DaaQ]

That issue wasn't caused by the shipping. It was caused by the heat sink being over torqued. Or perhaps it was removed, and the spacers/springs that went between the heat sink and the PCB were left out.

Agreed, it looks like the heatsink is on backwards, or 180 degree from proper according to cutout in heatsink face.

EDIT: Even if this is the case, it is probably damaged beyond worth.

 

[mikeymikec]

Update: The seller refunded the original transaction, but not the unpaid postage or the cost of return postage as we agreed, saying I'm lucky I got a refund at all and what seemed to be a suggestion that I caused the damage myself and shock horror the graphics card doesn't work.

I filed a complaint with ebay which in a few days' time will have been a month ago. Since the acknowledgement from ebay of the complaint ("we have received your report"), I've heard nothing, nor has anything apparently happened to the seller's ebay account, and the report acknowledgement email basically says "don't respond to this, you'll never hear from us again". It talks about the confidential nature of the actions they might take with the seller, but considering that I'm looking for the rest of the money the seller owes me at the very least, that would surely need some communication. Is this procedure vaguely normal for ebay, the length of time, etc?

I haven't yet dropped a negative review on the seller's account and I'll probably wait until a month has rolled round from the day of filing the complaint.

 

[WilliamM2]

Ebay probably closed the case when he gave you a refund. You are probably out of luck now. Should have never paid to ship it back, not your responsibility.

 

[mikeymikec]

Ebay probably closed the case when he gave you a refund. You are probably out of luck now. Should have never paid to ship it back, not your responsibility.

Even though I filed the complaint after the refund?

 

[fleshconsumed]

I haven't yet dropped a negative review on the seller's account and I'll probably wait until a month has rolled round from the day of filing the complaint.

I think you have 60 days since the listing ended to leave ebay feedback, so I'm guessing you have about 10 days to leave feedback. Just an FYI.

 

[WilliamM2]

Even though I filed the complaint after the refund?

I thought you filed it before. But I don't think they will force the seller to give anything more back to you. You already got a refund.

I would have had the seller send a call tag, if he wouldn't, I'd have filed a complaint with Ebay for item not as described, or damaged.

 

[mikeymikec]

I thought you filed it before. But I don't think they will force the seller to give anything more back to you. You already got a refund.

I would have had the seller send a call tag, if he wouldn't, I'd have filed a complaint with Ebay for item not as described, or damaged.

call tag?

 

[WilliamM2]

call tag?

Pre-Paid shipping label.

 

[mikeymikec]

Pre-Paid shipping label.

Yep, I guess that's the main lesson to learn from this. It's one thing to take a chance and pay the underpaid postage myself, but at that point I should be thinking that there's a chance I won't get it back, then the way the seller communicated with me should have raised some red flags to the point that in hindsight I should have been asking for the underpaid postage / return postage up front before he got the card back. However I suppose I was on the hook for the graphics card cost and if they said that they refuse to pay then I'm out of pocket for a larger amount. Considering how ebay has done nothing I wonder whether I would have got a refund for anything in that situation.

I've dropped a negative review so that should hopefully warn off other people from buying his wares (he seems to typically sell computer components).

I'm wondering whether I should try to take this any further with ebay. On one hand I want my money back (mainly out of principle really), and getting ebay to do their job would be mildly reassuring, but if I have to keep chasing them to do their jobs then is that really much better than my current scenario.

 

[WilliamM2]

Yep, I guess that's the main lesson to learn from this. It's one thing to take a chance and pay the underpaid postage myself, but at that point I should be thinking that there's a chance I won't get it back, then the way the seller communicated with me should have raised some red flags to the point that in hindsight I should have been asking for the underpaid postage / return postage up front before he got the card back. However I suppose I was on the hook for the graphics card cost and if they said that they refuse to pay then I'm out of pocket for a larger amount. Considering how ebay has done nothing I wonder whether I would have got a refund for anything in that situation.

I've dropped a negative review so that should hopefully warn off other people from buying his wares (he seems to typically sell computer components).

I'm wondering whether I should try to take this any further with ebay. On one hand I want my money back (mainly out of principle really), and getting ebay to do their job would be mildly reassuring, but if I have to keep chasing them to do their jobs then is that really much better than my current scenario.

If you had filed the complaint beforehand, you would have got a full refund, but the seller would have had to pay shipping if they wanted the card back. Ebay sides with the buyer 99.9% of the time.

The way it is now, ebay sees you have a full refund. The other issues are outside of ebay. I think you would have been out of the extra postage you paid either way, unless you had an honest seller.

 

[mcmikemc]

Ebay probably closed the case when he gave you a refund. You are probably out of luck now. Should have never paid to ship it back, not your responsibility.

This 100%. I have had issues a few times with receiving the wrong part or a broken item. Every time I keep the part until I get a refund and I have shipping paid for by someone other than myself. I also pay with a credit card through PayPal so incase Ebay decides to be a dick I can charge back what I paid.

Always protect yourself. 99% of the sellers are Ebay are good people but you will run across a sale that just slipped through the cracks or you come across a shady person. Either way yo must protect yourself.

 

[Aikouka]

I've done plenty of selling on eBay, which has included video cards, and I can attest that I'd never ship a video card outside of a box. (I've only ever shipped a computer component in a padded envelope once after deeming that it was sturdy enough to be fine. It was still in its own product box, which gave it great rigidity.) Now, the one thing that did come to mind or me is that I'm not sure of what eBay considers an acceptable level of packaging, and if they do consider that acceptable, then they'd likely require you to have shipment insurance to get reimbursed for damage that occurred during shipping.

As a side note, one awkward problem that I've noticed recently on eBay is that there are international buyers that purchase your US-only auctions and use a middle-man to get the package to them. I'm not super fond with this, because my job is to get it to the destination provided (i.e. that middle-man) in proper order. I don't like the idea that someone might try to put me on the hook for however that middle-man tries to ship things, which may be subpar for the overseas transit.

 

[mikeymikec]

... and now the seller has managed to remove the negative feedback.

 

[Aikouka]

... and now the seller has managed to remove the negative feedback.

I wouldn't be surprised if they got eBay to remove it by declaring that it was improper negative feedback due to the complaint being about damage during shipping. Now, I agree with you that their level of packaging was arguably inadequate, and honestly, even if you could file a claim through USPS insurance, I bet USPS would deny it due to using a padded envelope too.

 

[funboy6942]

At looking at the pictures, the seller is def in the wrong, but I did not read any of the comments but thats a aftermarket cooler, with NO spacers for thats not bent because of mail, its bent because no spacers, and cranked the crap out of the screws till the board warped because of it. You can tell that by looking at just the first pic, the core is in the middle and the bend follows where all the screws are, to the sink with no metal under the pcb bending right onto it

How did no one else notice this? It was the first thing I saw right away knowing 100% thats not mail, thats wrong cooler, no spacer, and cranked the crap out of it bending the pcb into the heatsink due to.......no ledge or spacer due to that NOT being the oem hsf for that card.:O