My predicament

I bought a lens from a long-standing member of this forum, the transaction and communication were great, however the lens, not so much. When the lens arrived I mounted it and took some test shots. It worked perfectly fine wide open but with smaller apertures I was getting completely blown out photos. I took a look at it while using the DoF preview button and noticed that the aperture was barely shutting even set at f/22. When I did get it to close I noticed oil on the blades so I then contacted the seller who claimed he had just used it on a trip and had no problems with it.

The seller offered a refund with no trouble but he is asking that I return the lens prior to him issuing the refund.

Now despite the fact that he has been a member of this forum for three years and has many positive feedbacks (and only one negative that I could find due to this forums lack of a negative feedback section possibly) I am still wary of sending the item back to the seller without some sort of guarantee that I will get my money back. If I had some course of action if I were to ship it back and not get my money I would have no problem doing so but I am unprotected at this point.

The seller says that he has been involved in a transaction where he refunded money and never received the item, to which I said he should have been protected by paypal just as if he were buying an item from someone (after all isn't that what you are essentially doing; buying your item back?)

Now, at this point, I am not here to give the seller a bad reputation, I am simply starting this thread to see what others would do/have done in this situation.

Am I silly to want the refund before I send the item back? I certainly wouldn't expect someone to send me an item I am purchasing before I paid for it.

Should I file a dispute with paypal? I would really hate to do this as he seems like a good guy, but things are not always as they seem on the internet. I just do not want to send the lens back and never see my money again.

send it to me, i have many positive feedbacks too.

find a middleman? arent there sites for this specific predicament?

theelectrician, if I were in the seller's shoes I would request the exact same thing. You seem to be much more of an unknown commodity given your short history here, so I would not want you to have my lens and my money. Additionally I think it is fairly standard practice for seller to want item returned before refunding payment, regardless of standing in the on line community

That being said, you need to do what feels right for you.

Having the item insured with a receiving signature.

Whether the sale occurs between an online retailer such as B&H, eBay, or another fellow POTN member, buyers wishing to return the item for a refund have to ship the item prior to receiving their money back. The seller has the right to inspect the item to see if it was replaced, broken, modified etc before issuing the refund. I haven't heard of any case where the buyer gets their money back first then return the item. That would give "fleebayers" the opportunity to rip the sellers off by replacing their genuine item with an inferior replica. That's my 3 cents.

You could get a quote for the repair of the lens and then discuss the settlement with the seller.
Based on the quote you can decide if you want to keep it or send it back.
This will also add proof to your claim the lens will not stop down properly.

Maybe you can some to some agreement where the seller can refund part of the purchase price to offset the repair cost, that way you don't need to send the lens anywhere.

l89kip wrote in post #10603270
Having the item insured with a receiving signature.

+1.

l89kip wrote in post #10603270
Having the item insured with a receiving signature.

Good idea, but even if I get proof that it was received what course of action would I have?

turkleten wrote in post #10603315
Whether the sale occurs between an online retailer such as B&H, eBay, or another fellow POTN member, buyers wishing to return the item for a refund have to ship the item prior to receiving their money back. The seller has the right to inspect the item to see if it was replaced, broken, modified etc before issuing the refund. I haven't heard of any case where the buyer gets their money back first then return the item. That would give "fleebayers" the opportunity to rip the sellers off by replacing their genuine item with an inferior replica. That's my 3 cents.

I understand if it is a licensed business but what is to stop him from getting the lens back and claiming I swapped it out with a broken one and keeping both the lens and my money?

lannes wrote in post #10603319
You could get a quote for the repair of the lens and then discuss the settlement with the seller.
Based on the quote you can decide if you want to keep it or send it back.
This will also add proof to your claim the lens will not stop down properly.

Maybe you can some to some agreement where the seller can refund part of the purchase price to offset the repair cost, that way you don't need to send the lens anywhere.

If it was a 50mm f/1.8 I would consider this but it probably isn't worth fixing

theelectrician wrote in post #10603397
I understand if it is a licensed business but what is to stop him from getting the lens back and claiming I swapped it out with a broken one and keeping both the lens and my money?

Perhaps the same thing that stopped him when you bought the lens. You sent him the payment first, correct?

With as many people who pull the no return/sale is final stunt I would be glad he's willing to take it back for a full refund. Just send it back to him.

Well I will be shipping it back tomorrow so i

Well I will be shipping it back tomorrow so i hope he is the stand up guy he seems to be and not just taking me for a ride

theelectrician wrote in post #10602882
The seller offered a refund with no trouble but he is asking that I return the lens prior to him issuing the refund.

Now despite the fact that he has been a member of this forum for three years and has many positive feedbacks (and only one negative that I could find due to this forums lack of a negative feedback section possibly) I am still wary of sending the item back to the seller without some sort of guarantee that I will get my money back.

From his perspective... theelectrician has less than 50 posts (48 at the time I posted this) and joined in July 2010. How does he know you aren't taking him for a ride? Buying used sight-unseen always requires a bit of a gamble. There's no guarantee you'll get your money back, but if his feedback is good and he's got a positive reputation, there's a pretty good chance you'll get your money back. The other option is to keep the lens, never deal with him again, and get it repaired yourself.

theelectrician wrote in post #10603397
Good idea, but even if I get proof that it was received what course of action would I have?

Lots of good courses of action: a mail fraud case raised with his local police jurisdiction, or small claims court.

Never mind about sending it off to get repaired. Just saw that the lens is the 50mm f/1.8 II. Sorry you got in such a predicament, but for this particular lens you're better off fixing it yourself. Here's some instructions for disassembling the nifty fifty:
http://nis-lab.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp …gb_filter/disas​sembly.pdf