Mistake During Sale of Motherboard

[acmcool]

I recently started selling on this forum...I sold a board to forum member..He had asked me about bent pins.I never had worried about bent pins as board was successfully running dual E2620's for more than 2 months for vsphere setup.So I informed him everything was good.
Now the buyers is annoyed.I sent him picture of the board in my chassis before. He did not ask for any more pictures.We went ahead with the sale.But seems he is more experienced with bent pins than I am.
Only thing I can do at this point is offer refund once the board is returned.
Any help how I should handle the sale of motherboard is useful..I always provide as much information as possible.I dont feel like lying for $200 odd dollars.But this was an honest mistake or may be lack of knowledge..

 

[Aestr]

It's not totally clear so can you confirm if you knew there were bent pins when answering the buyer? Either way if it arrived with bent pins and you told him there were none you can either refund him after return of the board or partially refund if you both agree to it and he keeps the board as-is.

 

[acmcool]

I was not aware of the bent pins...As I said it was working perfectly fine So I assumed it was fine..Thats my fault I guess.

 

[WeekendWarrior]

An occasional misunderstanding or difference in knowledge or expectations when selling comes with the territory even with good intentions. What I've done in these situations on ebay is I ask the buyer what it would take to make it right in their mind, and let them know that I am willing to take the item back while paying shipping both ways. This does two things - it lets the person know that they have some control over the situation and shows that you're willing to take a small loss to avoid bad feelings (and potentially a bad rep).

 

[sergeant72]

Hi,

I'm the "annoyed" buyer and would appreciate the advise on how to resolve the situation and what other people would think in the similar case. Returning the board will put me at - ~$60 (living in Canada, was charged import fees of ~$40 plus return shipping). The frustrating part is I did ask about the bent pins. Here is one of the pictures which was provided:

And here are the pictures which i just took (still trying to take a better one as the damage is actually worse then it looks on those pictures):

 

[T_Minus]

I would expect that @acmcool will issue refund, for the missed bent pins and you return the board.

There's really not much to do about DUTY FEE


The pins look bent up not sideways or over, so that's probably why they work fine still when you isntall CPU they go flat/normal ???

 

[acmcool]

Yes cpu goes in fine without any issues...I did not have to force it in..

 

[Pri]

Nevermind they are the same motherboard, I noticed the chips missing are actually underneath the retention bar. My bad! - Definitely the same board.

 

[acmcool]

You scared me man...

 

[Pri]

Sorry about that. I realised when I saw the thermal compound in the same spot in both photos (just above the socket) and looked closer at the chips missing I realised they were just hidden under the bar.

As for the bent pins, did the seller ship it with the plastic retainer in the sockets? As when shipping without that the pins can get damaged from g-forces of being shipped, thrown about etc - They are as you well know, very fragile.

 

[acmcool]

I am the seller lol..Yes I had plastic retainers in there...Also it was double boxed..I am trying to do my best man..

 

[Pri]

Sounds like you took all the precautions. Guess it's up to you and the buyer to negotiate.

 

[sergeant72]

acmcool, I appreciate that you are trying to resolve the situation.
Returning the board is not the best option for me - I do have pair of those E5-2630L on the way (hopefully...)
Debating if I should take a risk and attempt to fix it up (I do understand if I do that, return/refund is off the table)

 

[Aestr]

As another Canadian I feel your pain on duty and how that impacts your decision on if it's worth it to return. FWIW you can apply for a refund of duties and taxes on returned goods. photoprice.ca: Returning purchase to the US? Get a refund of your paid tax. .

 

[coolrunnings82]

FWIW, it's worth asking Supermicro if they can fix the socket in my opinion. Definitely not a warranty issue but they've been good to me on stuff like that...

 

[vanfawx]

A couple jobs ago, I worked at a shop that was very big into Supermicro gear. We had a stack of boards with bent CPU pins. They were still under warranty, so I started a claim. Supermicro (at least as of 3 years ago) charges $50USD to repair a board with bent CPU pins.

Boards came back like new, with an attached sheet with the tests the board went through after repair with sign offs. Send an email to rma@supermicro.com and open a dialogue. If I dig enough I might actually be able to dig out the RMA claim forms for Supermicro.

 

[sergeant72]

acmcool is cool
The situation is resolved, partial refund received.
I will provide the update on attempt to fix up the bent pins.

 

[Jake1978]

Sorry for what is perhaps a stupid question, but I'm wholly unfamiliar with that kind of damage. I've never seen a MB with a socket that looks like that. If CPU's work fine on the MB, then what is the actual issue caused by the "bent" pins?

 

[T_Minus]

Well, that's good to know I think I have an older one with bent pins may be worth $50 fix

 

[neo]

Sorry for what is perhaps a stupid question, but I'm wholly unfamiliar with that kind of damage. I've never seen a MB with a socket that looks like that. If CPU's work fine on the MB, then what is the actual issue caused by the "bent" pins?

There are ~2000 pins on the CPU. Each pin has a specific purpose. Some are for the PCIe slots, some are for RAM slots, etc... Given what pin(s) are bent, it's related component will not function.