The proper thing to do is notify the seller and ask for a refund or have them send you something that works. Should you receive such a product, do you send it back [and pay the shipping fees] or hold onto it while the dispute is resolved to avoid wasting any more money?
I have been very fortunate to only very rarely come across this situation. I once had a problem with a product from ebay, but the seller immediately took it back, paid the shipping fees and replaced it with a new one, as that was our agreement.
The first thing I would do is contact the seller and explain the situation. One time I received a garment with the wrong size on the label, so that it was too big for me. The store told me to keep it and they shipped a smaller one. If they don't want to help, I would open a dispute with PayPal or eBay. I usually pay for things online with PayPal. One time an eBay seller sent me a couple of defective items and said I needed to ship them back. The shipping would have been more expensive for me than the items. After opening the eBay dispute suddenly they had a return label to offer me. If eBay/Paypal dispute doesn't work I would make a credit card charge back to get my money back. I would not pay to ship something that is defective or wrong because that is the seller's fault and not mine. I would only pay return shipping if the item was fine but it was my decision to return it for some reason. If they want their defective stuff back it's their problem not mine.
I try to buy only from sellers that do a lot of business. That way, if something doesn't work it doesn't hurt them to reimburse me and they will let me keep the item without worrying about shipping if it's not that expensive. Not that I want them to lose the money, but I think it's silly to mail something back that's broken when they're just going to toss it after they see I'm not lying about it. I've never had someone tell me to mail something back, actually now that I think about it. Generally I don't buy anything that doesn't claim to be in great condition either.
I have usually done what was required of me based on their terms. Usually that means not returning the broken product at all. Sure, they can get scammed that way, too, but if they're a good business, they'll just send me a new replacement product without too many expectations....or if they do have expectations for return, then they'll send a return envelope and pay for shipping on their end instead.
I only considered sending a product back when my brand new phone won't turn on after only 8 months of use. I was told by the seller that they offer 1 year warranty, so they can fix it free of charge. I did not send it back though, because I had 2 separate psychics tell me that they will refuse to fix it if I ship it back. After all, the motherboard needs to be replaced so that's an added cost for them. So in general, I will only send back electronic items that are expensive, never the cheap ones.
It depends on the situation but I try to send it back as much as possible especially when I am losing around or above $10 because that's already enough for a meal and I don't like losing that much. I thankfully only shop at a big online store where returns are free but if I'm buying off of an individual seller then I would just make the decision before I make the purchase. I find that when I assume I'll be returning the product I make better decisions when purchasing because always thinking of the worst case scenario definitely helps out a lot.
I had a defective product one time. It was a kayak paddle I purchased through Amazon, that fell apart the first time I used it..luckily I was not far from the dock!..however, I told Amazon the problem, sent back the remains of the paddle, and was reimbursed promptly. I also wrote a negative review on the product...so, that was the end of that story. I think most retailers will do their best to make you a satisfied customer and will refund if need be.
It happened to us once when we purchased a garden hose in a popular online store in the Philippines. When the hose valve wouldn't properly connect to the faucet, we returned the product. We received an email to the effect that there was nothing wrong with the garden hose thus it was returned back to us as is. In other words, the defective product is still with us so we just had to make adjustments by buying rubber gasket.
I must be pretty lucky since I've received something not working I guestt it really depends on the cost of the product, and how far the seller is from me. If it's something like 5$ I probably wouldn't go through the hassle of sending it back... I also try not to order stuff with a lot of moving parts. But like I said, had stuff sent from China and India and never got a defective product
I had a bad experience when I bought some handbags which were on sale from an online store. The bags were defective when they arrived and I reported it to the supplier. I was asked to take pictures of the bags showing the flaws. I did and was promised that I would get some replacements or a refund. However when I did what I was instructed to do, They stopped answering by emails.
It depends on the price. If I paid a lot, then I'd want it back somehow. However, a small item isn't worth the time to complain about. Nonetheless, I don't think most people enjoy losing even small amounts of money.
Whenever I would buy a product online, my standard procedure is to test the product when it is delivered. And the test should be exhaustive to avoid regrets in the future. I had experienced receiving a defective product and I hastily sent it back. I got the replacement after more than 2 weeks. But I've heard of stories that a defective product is not replaced due to a lapsed warranty hence you have to be quick and thorough with the testing.
