From time to time I list some items on eBay. As we’re moving in the not-too-distant future into our new location, I thought it might be a good time to get rid of some of the extra stuff around here. This time, I decided to try to make the process a little less painful (eBay sure is painful) by purchasing some software to help.
After spending a few days in “trial period mode” for both GarageSale and iSale, I decided on the latter. I purchased the software, licensed my computer, and got ready to sell stuff.
Of course, I was also switching computers right around that time. So there was suddenly a Big Problem using iSale on my new Mac. Several emails to support later, they “reset” my license and I could use it on my new Mac. I proceeded to list a few items, only to find that the template graphics were all missing! They looked terrible! I was also frustrated that I couldn’t add a simple link to my page without switching to “non-template” mode, which meant that I lost all the template features completely. I couldn’t help but wonder, why was I even using this software? It wasn’t really helping, and it set me back a week on my auctions.
So finally I just asked the tech support people to refund my purchase. As they have very restrictive licensing, and can apparently enable and revoke licenses at will, I figured it would be no big deal for equinux to do so. Just to keep a customer happy. Unfortunately, I was told:
Because we offer demo versions of all our products, all our sales are final and we cannot grant a refund. I ask for your understanding.
So I’m curious. What’s your opinion? Does offering a “trial version” of software mean you don’t have to offer a refund to dissatisfied customers?
