Who covers return shipping in this situation?
 

I purchased a new business printer/copier/scanner on eBay, with free shipping. Per the seller it was new in box, never used. It arrives and does appear to be new-in-box, but is broken and unusable (mechanical problem with the document feeder). The nearest repair center is an hour from me, so that's not an option. I need to return it through eBay, but I don't think I should be out $40-50 shipping for an item that arrived broken. Will eBay require the seller to pay return shipping in this type of situation? Or am I stuck with the shipping, and it's just a feedback issue if the seller refuses to reimburse me?

Ebay will (likely) provide you a shipping label which will be charged to the shipper. You won't be out a dime.

Just click "start a return" and go from there.

In a not as described I believe the seller always has to pay for the return.

True ^^^
I was in a similar situation, but as a seller. The seller either provides a shipping label or Ebay will charge you. (mine was a medium sized box and they charged me a 10.23 return fee.' and I opened a case and reported the buyer and got on the phone about the bad person. Nothing they can do. Its a he-say she-say coin flip on who broke it, so it falls on the seller.

I had a dilemma on this. I ordered tires for my ATV, and accidentally ordered the wrong size. I contacted the seller to initiate a return and told them why. I was willing to pay the return shipping since it was my mistake. They were very rude and told me I couldn't return them. I opened a return on eBay, and the seller is now stuck covering the return.

I would still be willing to cover the return shipping (@ $50) but I'm not going out of my way to be kind to a seller that was that rude. The funny part is, I even offered to pay return shipping because of my mistake, and then they blew all that on their own.

It's not that hard to be nice to people.

A belated thanks to everyone for the replies here. If I had taken a minute to read the eBay policy originally (but why do the extra work when this board exists!?), I would have realized that the seller covers the return shipping for broken/damaged items. As it turns out, the seller here did not want to pay for the return shipping for a broken printer, so he refunded my payment and let me keep the broken printer, taking it as a total loss. I told him that if I was able to sell it locally I would kick him the money from the deal to help cover his losses. Seemed like a fair result.

For a purchase like this, I personally wouldn't screw w/ feebay and all their shady sellers and policies. I'd just go to Staples, Office Depot, Costco, or Sam's. Returns there are no-hassle . . . and you see it B4 you buy it and know it is new!