Who should pay for the RMA shipback? Customer, dealer or the manufacturer?

[Turkish]

I'm going through my first RMA and I was shocked "" when I found out that I'm supposed to pay for shipping fees. I've been a happy Newegg customer since 2000 and this is not going to change that but I'm just curious if this is the same for all other dealers? I'm RMAing my MSI motherboard and thought either Newegg or MSI should pay for the shipping fee. What do you all think?

 

[GonzoCircus]

I think sometimes they can send you a shipping label to print out, but I usually just chalk it up to buying things online and dont mind paying a few bucks to have it RMA (something like monitor is another thing though, dealer should foot the bill for that)

 

[KC5AV]

Most of the time you will find that you are responsible for shipping.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I think they should pay, but it rarely happens.

 

[xSauronx]

if youd bought something from EB or somewhere and it had messed up youd be driving it back
something heavy i wouldnt pay to return ship; but small stuff never bothered me

my sister had a sony monitor that messed up a few months after she got it, and had them send her a shipping label to send it back to them since it would have cost about $50 just for ground shipping for her to send it

 

[wfn]

it really depends. if the item arrived doa and it looks like it's due to their negligence (bad packaging) they should pay. otherwise you should pay.

maybe it's a bad example but i can't think of anything else at the moment; when your car needs service and you take it in for warranty maintenance you don't ask the dealer to compensate you for gas or wear.

 

[Balt]

The problem with manufacturers or vendors paying for shipping back is that idiots will send back functioning products that they only think are defective. In the end it would probably just make all of our prices higher, even with restocking fees.

A lot of vendors/manufacturers expect the end user to pay shipping.

 

[Turkish]

Thanks for the replies.

This is a $110 motherboard and I paid $15 to ship it back via UPS. I used UPS rather than USPS because I want to get my exchange item as soon as possible. Anyways, the thing that bothers me is that if I had originally paid $125 ($110+$15 for shipping), I could have gotten the platinium edition of the same motherboard with more utilities and better overclocking features. Oh well.

:beer:

 

[shilala]

If the item is DOA it's the shippers problem to pay the bill for return and reshipment. Ask for a call tag and they'll provide it.
If it's simply a customer return (you didn't like it, not happy, you ordered the wrong thing) it's up to you to foot the bill.
Normally if you're asking to return a defective item they'll offer the call tag.
If you're sending back a warranty item under the store's own policy (i.e. 15-30 day no hassle return policy) then shipping is your responsibility.
RMA'ing to the manufacturer is also your responsibility to pay shipping fees unless otherwise stated in your item's warranty.

 

[daniel1113]

The customer should have to pay UNLESS the item is DOA. That's it.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: daniel1113
The customer should have to pay UNLESS the item is DOA. That's it.

Well, the motherboard looked perfectly fine when I got it. It just didn't work when I installed it It wouldn't work with any video card... no output on monitors and won't post. Tried different video cards, HDs, memory, PSU and resetted the CMOS. Nope, nothing worked. I think they should pay but oh well.

 

[faenix]

Originally posted by: shilala
If the item is DOA it's the shippers problem to pay the bill for return and reshipment. Ask for a call tag and they'll provide it.
If it's simply a customer return (you didn't like it, not happy, you ordered the wrong thing) it's up to you to foot the bill.
Normally if you're asking to return a defective item they'll offer the call tag.
If you're sending back a warranty item under the store's own policy (i.e. 15-30 day no hassle return policy) then shipping is your responsibility.
RMA'ing to the manufacturer is also your responsibility to pay shipping fees unless otherwise stated in your item's warranty.

Shilala has it.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I think they should pay, but it rarely happens.

 

[awal]

I think we need a poll.

 

[wfbberzerker]

ive always been responsible for paying for shipping.