I recently won a rather expensive, very large and very heavy item. It arrived packed in the carton up-side-down and didn't work. After following the manual in careful detail and still unable to get the machine to respond, we contacted the manufacturer. It should be noted at this point that the item was listed in the auction as surplus inventory in excellent condition. Nothing was said nor implied anywhere in the auction that would indicate that this was a used item that was registered to someone else. Nor that it was an older model that was out of warranty.

The service department where it was made was willing to help us. After they did some trouble-shooting they were able to tell us that a board that had shakend off the base (probably due to being shipped up-side-down) needed to be replaced at a cost of $250 plus shipping. Since it was older model, we suddenly realized it would probably also need to have the consumables (ink cartridges) replaced at an additional $200 to $300. This seemed to us to be too risky and expensive a situation for us to proceed with. We reasoned that even if we replaced the board and the ink, it might still fail to work and we would have no protection whatever. So we contacted PayPal and requested a full refund and asked what the steps were for returning the item.

We were told that under the circumstances we were entitled to a full refund including the original $50 we paid for shipping if we returned the item. However, we were required to pay return shipping. Here is where the shocking part of the story happened. This package was huge and very heavy, weighing in at over 70 pounds. And because of the size, it was rated as a very large box. So we proceeded to check return shipping costs. UPS = $139 plus additional insurance costs and a sur-charge to come to our house and get the box. FedEx was only slightly less costly but still well over $125 plus all the added charges for extra insurance, etc. What made this such a huge shock was that since the shipping to us was only less than $50 we never dreamed it would cost so much to return the box to the seller.

So I am writing this guide to warn anyone who is not aware of this possible outcome: Be very careful when bidding on an item that is very large or very heavy. Your seller may have an account with the major shippers. But the cost to you may be much higher if you don't also have a high volume shipper account. To be on the safe side, consider carefully before bidding on a very large, heavy item, or one which isn't new. You may not be to registered it with the manufacturer in case it fails to work. And it may be very costly to return it. Even a seller with very good feedback, as this seller was, may not be overjoyed to help you out if the item isn't acceptable and returning it is your only option.  

 March 28, 2009 Please note: I just realized that I failed to write the follow-up guide about this situation. I did manage to successfully return the item and was eventually given a full refund. But in the process, I also discovered a solution to the return postage that was so simple I almost missed it. Please check out my guide about that to follow soon. I will call it "Shipping costs: More ways to reduce the cost" And thank you for reading my guide. JJG