What's anyones opinion on this? Should I ask for/demand a partial refund

I just paid (by paypal) & received a Sony 707ESD CD player for which I paid $450 inc. shipping on Ebay. Everything looks & works as described, however the toslink optical out does not work (and was not listed as not working in the description). The analog outs & everything else works fine. Am I entitled to a partial refund & if so what is fair $25, $50, more or nothing? I should mention that it sounds fine but I prefer my Pioneer PD-59 more & will be trying to resell this on Ebay but am woried that the optical out that doesn't seem to work may prevent a sale. If someone has a PD-59 that they want to sell please send me a message as I need a second CD player for my bedroom. Thanks

If the coaxial output works, then who cares about the optical output? And why would you use the digital output in the first place when you have another transport already hooked up? Have you actually tried listening to the CD player yet? This constant churning and swapping out of used components seems like a waste of money if you're already happy with that Pioneer.

I don't have a coaxal cable to try. I'm looking for a second CD player for my bedroom. The Pioneer PD-59 player is in my living room. If I get a CD player that sounds better then my Pioneer PD-59 then that would go in my living room & the Pioneer would go in my bedroom. Hope that makes sense.

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Originally Posted by EdwardGein

I don't have a coaxal cable to try.

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you can use a video cable if you have one laying around.

Thanks I'll try that. I think I have one on hand.

Thanks for your help. The Video cable worked as a coaxal albeit it was a cheap $5 one. It didn't change the audio sound from the analog sound. The sound on the Sony 707ESD is pretty good but in my opinion not in the ballpark of the Pioneer PD-59 CD player. Perhaps the fact that you put CD's in the reverse way on the PD-59, improves the audio presense. Hopefully, I can recoup most of my costs on this one. A reference version of this, I don't know what's the difference, went for $600.

Getting a partial refund on anything is pretty tough.

If you let PayPal take the money out of your checking account, you can pretty much kiss it goodbye. The amount of time / trouble you'd have to go through to MAYBE get some kind of refund would not be worth it.

Sad truth is... If an eBay seller advertised a CD player and sent you a brick... PayPal's solution would be for you to pay a third party to verify that the brick is indeed a brick and send the brick back to the seller at your expense for a refund of your purchase price minus what it cost the crook to send the brick.

If you used a credit card to pay PayPal, you could talk to your credit card company about sending the item back "not as described" and having the charges reversed. As of now, some credit card companies will and some won't reverse PayPal charges.

If you're going to use eBay / PayPal... I would strongly advise you get a credit card that WILL reverse PayPal charges and use it for every purchase. With the protection crooks are getting from eBay / PayPal (they need to protect the crooks to protect their cut)... There are more of them all the time.

LEAVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK....and bite the bullet on the item.

Give the seller an opportunity to make good on the sale. To me, not having the optical connection is pretty serious. Ask the seller for a total refund, or what you feel is adequate compensation for the defect. If he doesn't want to deal, then leave negative feedback. Ebay has "Safe Harbor", but I think it's for transactions under $200. Good Luck.

eBay passes any disputes with PayPal transactions on to PayPal. The PayPal dispute process is exactly like I described. A crook could send you a brick. You'd be responsible for jumping through all kinds of hoops to prove it and would pay for shipping the brick both ways to get a refund.

Hate to sound so pessimistic that I didn't even suggest asking the seller for a partial or full refund... But in my experience, chances of getting a partial refund or a full refund including shipping (which you absolutely should get if the seller sent junk) are pretty much non-existent. Guess it never hurts to ask though. Would definitely give the seller a chance to make good before leaving any negative feedback and be ready for the retaliatory negative feedback if you do. Using a credit card company that will reverse PayPal transactions is a must if you are going to deal with them.

If you're spending that much on a cd player, I wouold bet that you'd have the best results by hooking up the analoge ouputs. I don't know about that particular model, but I would bet that it has better D/As than your reciever. The lack of an optical isn't really a big problem because you still have the analoge and coaxial, What's more worrisome is that you got sent a half dead item. the fact that something isn't working doesn't bode well for the unit as a whole. It could just be a dud, but something could have happened to it and the only manifestation of it at the moment is the optical out. If everything else works ok, you're probably in the clear though. I would at least try contacting the seller explain the situation and see if you could send it back, or get a partial refund.

I would certainly work with the seller & get a full refund. Why would you pay $450 for a used player that is defective? Of course as long as you keep buying used items off ebay, eventually you will get burned and whatever percieved "savings" you thought you were getting will be long gone. Work to establish a relationship with a reputable authorized dealer that will give you good advise and equipment that has full warranty.

Robert