Product Research: Should the Onus Be on the Buyer or Seller?

[fcgamer]

I've been having a rough time these past few weeks.  Trying to move is such a pain, especially since I have a large game collection and no car to boot.  So perhaps normally I would just chalk this up as a cost of doing business as a seller, but I am just so frustrated right now, after having had two bad transactions in the period of a week and a half, after having no bad transactions for years...

The recent transaction was with a member here on FW, who shall remain anonymous since I honestly don't think he is trying to screw me over, rather just some bad luck all around.  We had done a trade, his item for a brand new Famiclone, circa 2005+ I would guess (box said made in the United Emirates, though I speculate it was really made in PRC).  Now the problem with such modern clones is that they use the cheapest plastic available, use NOAC, and other price-cutting methods so that the machines can be sold for about $15 or less in their intended markets.  These clones are not like the robust clones of the past, which had just copied the original hardware as well as the quality.

So the user gets the machine (for some reason unknown to me, he **never** sent his part of the trade, according to him.  It leaves me scratching my head, I mean, why shouldn't we have sent our end around the same time, and today I was truly expecting to find it in my postal box and then saw his message of complaint, also seeing that he never bothered to send his end yet either...).  Either way, he gets the machine, throws a UK converter into it, and he says the machine fries the adapter.  Then he uses a universal adapter of sorts, says that adapter ends up ultimately frying the machine, and then tells me that the product I sent is faulty.  But this is where **my** problem lies; it is not so much in the fact that he delayed in sending his half of the trade, or the fact that he ultimately (imo) ended up with the better end of the deal (one clone machine + $40 shipping for a product he was selling for about $15 or 20 USD shipped), rather the fact that somehow the blame is placed on me, it becomes my problem that he fried the machine.  That leads the question, with product research, should the onus be placed on the buyer or seller?

The other guy also complained that the cartridge that came with the game broke when he inserted it into the machine; well the plastic quality is low, I agree, but I just opened two of the exact same cart today to reuse the cases for some loose PCBs I have.  To break it just by inserting it into the machine, he must have manhandled it, honestly.  The plastic quality is poor, but not **that** poor.

But then getting back to the machine itself.  It was brand new.  It worked.  It worked the same as any other devices plugged in, here in Taiwan.  The problem was with the converter, somehow he fried the machine either initially (as I suspect) with the UK converter, and then (possibly) again with the universal converter.  How does the machine suddenly become "faulty" just because he used the wrong adapter and fried the damn thing?  It makes no sense to me.  In my youth, I had received a *modern* style Dendy (this was circa 2002 or so) and I ended up frying it in a similar manner, but not for a minute did I try to complain to the seller and blame him for the product being faulty, when in the end I realized I was the one who screwed up.  I just don't get it.

So that brings me to two things.  The first is, shouldn't the buyer be responsible for doing research on the product's quality before purchasing it?  I never try to hide the quality, and am always willing to ask questions when asked.  But when you are purchasing old electronics for gray area markets, of course there will be a vast variance of standards. 

Secondly, is it really the seller's fault if the buyer makes a mistake and breaks the product, such as in this case?  Maybe for a large retail store I could get it, but this is a freaking one-by-one trade on a small gaming forum.

I just want to hear what others think.  Am I just out of touch with reality, or not? 

[famifan]

did you sell the famiclone with proper AC adapter?

if AC adapter wasn't included at all, i think that responsibility for proper use should be on the buyer.

plugging the machine to not compatible AC adapter is just improper use of the hardware.

it's like a gun. no one could you prevent you from shooting your own leg, it's thoroughly your onus, but not a someone who sold it to you. (selling of guns is the another story entirely, but for this case it's not a big deal and acts like a good example)

[Yelir]

He never sent his part of the trade, AND managed to fry the system you had sent to him? Can't be any more clear that he's in the wrong and quite clearly past the line of defence to me.

[fcgamer]

did you sell the famiclone with proper AC adapter?

if AC adapter wasn't included at all, i think that responsibility for proper use should be on the buyer.

Yes, the machine came with an ac adapter.