Hello I bought a kit from tindie, one surface mount component arrived broken, when I looked for replacements I realised part counterfeit. At this point I dont want to waste time on this. The seller wants me to ship the board back to Asia. USPS 40$ minimum. I contacted support. Wondering what I should try do to. Send the boards back? Get the seller to generate a label? Ask for a refund? what a mess
Given the circumstances, I would think the best option is to locate a non-counterfeit SMD part. Do you know the part number?
I found the part ordered it, but now having thought the kits needs alot of work before usable. it’s just not worth it anymore to me
OK. Well I hope you find something else that meets your needs. It’s disappointing that the seller was unable to hep you out. You should be able to claim a refund directly from Tindie though.
ok thank you, the seller is asking me to send goods back to China. Is that how tindie operates usually?
You can certainly open a request with Tindie but you might want to find your payment in PayPal and dispute that. If they sent you a counterfeit or damaged product you should not have to send it back. If you open a PayPal dispute, the seller will have to explain themselves to avoid you getting your money back.
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-open-a-dispute-with-a-seller-faq1344
In this situation there are two options, 
either you return the product or you refund your money. Now after everyone’s choice discussing this with the seller.
I think we are all aware of that but the poster is saying that is not happening.
To update everyone: the seller asked me to ship the items back to China after I received the broken board(the broken components were counterfeits), I looked into every shipping option but too expensive. I contacted tinder which essentially told the seller to decide between paying for shipping or straight refund, at this point tindie staff and I are still waiting for an answer ! Thanks all!
1 Like
What parts is it we are talking about that are counterfeits? You haven’t given any detail, but not being of the manufacturer you expect does not automatically mean counterfeit. There are many levels of quality between an OEM grade component and a true counterfeit.
to update everyone,
Tindie offered to take care of shipping the items back to China, but needed me to send them to tindie first here in california first.
I did that but tindie warned me they would need the seller to receive and inspect the goods before any sort of refund is started.
I ended up starting charge back after a few more weeks of silence.
Very disapointed, purchased product was shipped from california, had damaged parts(which turned out to be counterfeit) … maybe tindie staff couldve performed visual inspection and refunded me after months of waiting for the seller to figure it out.
not generalizing there are great tindie sellers, great tindie customers and great staff, but tindie staff allowed this seller to go way past their own rules!!!
Don’t even think about sending back to China, it never works, China customs will just reject it, and seller will blame you, it’s a set up.