Seller knowingly sent defective good; buyer obliged to return?

[harrycallahan72]

An SD card. Yeah one of those. After copping two of these my memory is now coming back to me: never buy cheap SD card on eBay.

Well, the card is advertised as 32GB but then in the fine print which admittedly I never read it does say card may not be genuine and it may have a capacity of less than 32. A 32GB card which may not be a 32GB card, seller can't see a problem with that.

Though please read carefully: a card which randomly corrupts files is completely useless for digital data storage. This card does that. This bit it not in the description.

Seller wants me to return card in order to get refund. 

Why are these things even being sold? It isn't right that buyers are needessly being put through this hassle of commercial transactions involving refunds just so some dodgy character can offload the junk which didn't pass QC in China. They should be in landfill, **bleep**.

Should I return his/her useless junk so they can sell it to someone else? 

I've already tried to raise PP dispute but am getting Internal Server Error.

[*crikey*mate*]

only return it through PayPal, otherwise I'm willing to bet all the money in my pocket that you'll never see your refund.

[tstore]

I read the listing, sellers actually says that item is not genuine and that it may not store 32GB. For the seller to even say item is not genuine in the listing you should open up PayPal dispute immediately and call PayPal for them to read the listing. It is against AustPost's policy (possibly even the law) to send counterfeit items. I would never buy memory cards on eBay as many of them are tampered with and are run through a program to give fake capacities. Even when formating them. There is a tool available online which will reconstruct the card's memory to restructure it so that the true storage capacity will be displayed on your computer.

[harrycallahan72]

Thanks for replies. I'm trying to raise a dispute but still getting Internal Server Error at PayPal when that is attempted.

I agree with above, it's just wrong wrong wrong to be selling such an item.

I didn't read the fine print because I bought it through mobile app which doesn't provide all details on the one screen. It was a 32GB card listed in Australia, I didn't expect it to be fast but I expected it to be 32GB and work - it needs to at least store files uncorrupted or it's garbage.

I copied a few gigabytes of music and many don't list correctly. Tested it with h2testw, fail. I see it as outright fraud if the seller is knowingly selling junk. He says it might not store 32GB; well it kind of does - as corrupted data. At least a genuine 8GB card would store files correctly.

You'll notice the seller does have a lot of good feedback. Imagine the poor sods who buy the card and don't test it properly then give good feedback. Then go on holiday and have endless problems with the camera.

[digital*ghost]

It looks to me like the listing sold out very quickly in only a few days (the last 100 of the 135 available were sold between 14-18 January) - a lot of people wouldn't have receieved / tested it or had the opportunity to leave feedback. I suspect the decision to knowingly sell a non-genuine item is going to come back and bite them soon enough.

BTW, the ended listing may still be reportable, and any current listings that admit the item isn't (or suggest it may not be) genuine would be reportable, too.

Are you logging directly into PayPal and attempting to open the dispute, or are you trying to access the resolution centre from eBay? (The link from eBay to PayPal often has problems). 

[tstore]

Reason they are corrupted is because the actual available size on card is probably something small like 2GB but your computer thinks it is infact 32GB and proceeds to copy your files. If you run the fixer that I noted it will reconstruct the cards memory, giving the correct available size

[amber-eyed-girl]

I would also run a full virus scan on any computer you stuck it into, just to be on the safe side.

If it not a genuine brand name SD card, who knows what could be on it? That is also a consideration.

If you are still having trouble contacting Paypal, their number is 1800-073-263...they will want you to file the claim online, but they could make a note of the issue, and you should let them know there are errors with their system right now.

[harrycallahan72]

PayPal dispute raised.

Had to log in to PP outside of eBay and then enter again via eBay. If not already logged into a session the Internal Server Error is raised.

I'm just a little suspicious that the facility which costs eBay-PP money and hassle isn't working but the rest is fine. No doubt they've got their best people working on that one /sarc.

The seller has sold 135 of  these and doesn't have a single negative feedback. 135 x $15 = $2025.

My test shows 3.6GB OK. Under $5 worth of storage made unuseable by dodgy firmware is sold for $15. 

[harrycallahan72]

Also I reported the listing via the listing, as advised above.

I was a little disappointed that the option to report "selling defective items" doesn't appear. I reported the listing as counterfeit which is true, but I reckon it's worse (from the consumer perspective).

The items aren't just fake they are DEFECTIVE. They are knowlingly selling goods which do not work. In my book that's fraud (and have told the seller that). At least your fake <big name> jeans serve the intended clothing purpose. These cards are for the bin.

[harrycallahan72]

I have the dispute decided in my favour.

They tell me I have to return the item. I am required to "Provide us [PayPal] with online tracking. Ship the item using any shipping
service that provides online tracking".

So I need to spend more than $5 t(much more?) to get my $15 back.

I've just read elsewhere that Parcel Post is sufficient...

"Send by Parcel Post and lodge over the post office counter and make sure the till receipt has the seller's post code written on it, then upload the till receipt to Paypal to prove postage to the seller's suburb (postcode), Paypal will then reverse the transaction."

Can someone advise if this is correct? Is Australia Post Parcel Post sufficient? Or more to the point, does that allow online tracking? I would have thought not.

BTW the listing is still up, after my complaint.