Dead on arrival claims: a written process for online electronics sellers

"Unboxed it, plugged it in, nothing." Few messages an electronics seller gets are tenser. The buyer has paid and waited. Now they suspect a used or faulty unit. Handle it with a written route that names who logs the claim, what evidence is asked for, who collects and who tests. It also says who decides between a replacement, a refund and a brand warranty claim. Then give each step an owner. The buyer gets a fair answer, and you stop replacing working units sent back by mistake or on purpose.

Dead, not set up, or broken in transit?

A unit is dead on arrival when it fails out of the box, on first use, within the short window you state on your page. It is not dead on arrival when:

• it works, but the buyer cannot set it up: a router that needs a reset, a laptop that wakes only with its charger connected the first time, a monitor on the wrong input;
• it arrived broken in transit, which is a courier claim with its own photographs, set out in our note on photo proof for delivery damage;
• it failed after weeks of use, which is a warranty claim through the brand's service network.

The distinction matters because each needs a different owner. A set-up problem needs a person on the phone. Transit damage needs the courier claim filed fast. A failure after use belongs with the brand.

Consumer protection rules apply whatever your policy says, and they differ and change. Check your written route with your own adviser, and check each marketplace's current rules for orders placed there.

The route, step by step

Number each step, name the role, and set a time limit for each that your team can keep. The limits are yours to choose, so none are shown here.

1. Log it. Whoever receives the message opens one claim, whatever the channel. It carries a reference, the order number, the serial from your dispatch record, and the buyer's own words.
2. Rule out set-up. Your support person calls the buyer, rather than texting, and walks through the three or four checks that revive a "dead" unit of that type. Some claims end here, and they are the cheapest you will ever close.
3. Ask for evidence. Photographs of the serial label and the box, and a short video of the fault. If your page asked for an unboxing video on high-value items, ask for it now. If it did not, do not refuse a claim for lacking one.
4. Collect. Your dispatch person books the pickup, with the box, accessories and invoice. Marketplace orders follow the platform's return route.
5. Test. One named person tests the unit against the buyer's description, on a bench, within the limit you set, and records the result with the serial.
6. Decide. Replace, repair, refund, or send to the brand with your test report, by a rule written in advance. The angriest buyer does not get a different rule.
7. Claim back. Your purchase person raises the claim with the distributor or brand, with the test record and the original packaging.
8. Close. Tell the buyer what was found and what happens next, then close the reference.

See complaint and escalation management for the related service. Our guide to handling customer complaints and escalations covers what to do when a claim turns angry.

The claim register

Keep every claim in one sheet or in your CRM, with these columns. It is the record that wins arguments with distributors, and the place a bad batch shows up first.

Read the register for patterns. Three claims on one model from one batch is a distributor conversation, not three unlucky buyers.

Before the parcel leaves: what to record at packing

A DOA dispute is won or lost at the packing table, days before the claim arrives. Record the serial number of every unit against its order. Photograph the sealed box with the shipping label showing. For high-value items, record whether the unit was sealed by the brand or tested by you before dispatch.

Then, when a unit comes back with a different serial or a box that was opened and resealed, you have the record. Without it, you are replacing a unit you cannot prove you did not send.

For example: the laptop that came back with a different serial

For example, take an online seller of laptops and networking gear in Coimbatore, selling on its own site and on two marketplaces. The seller and figures are invented. A buyer claimed a laptop was dead on arrival. To keep the buyer happy, the owner sent a replacement before the first unit came back.

The returned laptop was dead. But its serial did not match any unit the seller had bought. The seller had never recorded serials at dispatch, so it could not show which unit it had sent. The distributor refused a claim on a laptop it had never supplied. The seller carried the cost of two laptops, about ₹55,000 each on these invented figures.

Three changes followed. Serials are now scanned against every order at packing. Replacements go out after the returned unit is collected and its serial checked, except for buyers with a long order history, where the owner decides. And the product page tells buyers, before they order, that a DOA claim on a laptop needs a photograph of the serial label and a short video of the fault.

When to skip the collection

For low-value items such as a cable, a mouse or a charger, collecting the unit costs more than the unit. Replace or refund on a photograph and a short description, log it anyway, and watch the register for repeat claims from one buyer or one batch. Set the value line yourself and write it into the route.

And do not use the process to make claims harder. A buyer who has to fight through eight steps for a genuinely dead unit loses faith in you even when you win the argument, and says so in the review. The route exists to make the honest claim fast and the dishonest one difficult.

What to do next

Pick the DOA claim that cost you most and replay it against the eight steps. Who did each one, and what was recorded? Where the answer is "whoever was free" or "nothing", that is the step to write first. Winning the order is covered across selling electronics online; this route covers what happens when the box is opened. If you want the route written and the register set up with complaint and escalation management, tell us what you need.