seeking laws regarding defective merchandise

[LawMeUp]

What is the name of your state? MI

I have searched the web (ftc.gov, US legal code, UCC, etc.) as well as here on the forums, but there is just SO much information--and at times it can be very obscure--that I don't quite know where to find it.

On behalf of a friend, I purchased an action figure from an eBay seller. It turned out to be defective; the seller said he simply takes the items from the cases sent to him by manufacturers and ships them off to his buyers, so the damage had to have been done at the time of manufacture. (Because of the nature of the damage, a friend suggested it was perhaps a customer return that was resold.) Anyway, he does not accept returns nor replace defective items, so he directed me to the manufacturer. As this is a Japanese company, it took some time to get a response from them; when I finally did they just directed me to their distributor. The message from the distributor was basically, 'sorry, sounds like you dealt with a bad seller, they should have helped you.'

Who is directly reponsible to replace this item, and what law(s) say this?

 

[djohnson]

What kind of guarantee came with the item when it was purchased?

 

[LawMeUp]

I don't think it had one, other than the fact that it was supposed to be a brand new item--it was still sealed--but turned out to be broken (and not in a way that could have happened during shipment). I'd like to know who is ultimately responsible for replacing it, the seller or the manufacturer? If the party responsible fights me or argues the point, what consumer law or laws can I take back to them and say, 'Look, this says you're it, you're the one who has to fix the situation.'

 

[djohnson]

I don't see how you can hold anyone else responsible. You bought an item that was as described with no guarantee of any kind. You basically bought as is. You can try going back to the manufacturer, but burden of proof would be on you to prove the defect was theirs and not something that happened later. I think you are probably stuck.