What should you do? Use it and the next time that you are tempted, remember that eBay is fraught with such "deals".

I do a lot of selling and buying on eBay, so I guess I've been lucky so far.

The seller has 100% positive feedback, but it's a low number (32) and it seems to be mostly from selling small electronics. For his own future reference, at the very least, I think I should say something to him.

I would contact him and tell him your concerns. He may refund some money to get positive feedback, who knows? The more I sell on ebay, the less I like it. I now have someone who bought 2 items from me, where I combined shipping, and she won't pay.

Doesn't Ebay have a procedure to follow when buyers believe an item was misrepresented? You may or may not have a valid gripe under their rules, based on your description. Contact them and see what they say. On the other hand, it's $20, everyone overpays for things from time to time.

I avoid buying used items, too often you're unknowingly stepping in to someone else's problem. If I did, I wouldn't use Ebay.

I've never used Ebay, but Kijiji is hugely popular. You have Craigslist, we have Kijiji.

Kijiji is notorious for selling appliances and electronics that don't work. I personally know people who bought washers because theirs broke down, and the replacement didn't work either. So they bought a non-working washer and had to pay to dispose of it.

There are so many scammers out there, it's so unfortunate.

I'd ask for a partial refund;
that way you don't have to ship it back etc.

Failing to 'mention' that it's a re-manufactured item is misrepresentation & the seller should make it right.

People don't keep them very long. You might be unhappy, and become a seller too? Jas, we have Kijiji up here too.

I doubt there's anything that would be done. It was represented as a used item and in reality that is exactly what it is. He doesn't have to say that it was a remanufactured, he disclosed it was used and in working condition which it is. The fact that it is remanufactured doesn't mean it had a problem, it could mean someone bought it and changed their mind and returned it, in those situations the company has to fully check it out and then sell it as reconditioned or remanufactured. That's the definition listed on all the sites that sell a lot of those types of things.
I wouldn't be bothered by it at all, the description was accurate, it's in working condition and looks as represented.

I have never had a problem with any of the products I have purchased that were listed as reconditioned or remanufactured and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more in the future.

I have bought brand new name brand items that were dead out of the box, or soon after. So that's no guarantee either.

As Raven just said, you could have purchased (at full price) a brand new juicer only to have it malfunction. At least with a reconditioned item, you know that the manufacturer has gone over it and fixed any problems, so it should be "better than new."

I agree with you, though, that it's disconcerting to purchase something that you thought was simply "slightly used," only to find out after getting it that it has been reconditioned.

If I were in your shoes for this one, I would contact the seller and tell him that you wouldn't have made the purchase if the true condition of the item had been disclosed, and request a refund of however much money you feel is appropriate. If the seller refuses, then contact PayPal (I presume you paid via PayPal since I think that's the only choice folks have these days on eBay), as well as eBay and say that the item was not as described. They will want to know if you have made an attempt to settle the matter directly with the seller, so you can't do this step until you've given the seller a chance to "settle up" with you. PayPal and eBay will investigate and will likely refund your money, but they may make you return the item to the seller (at your expense for shipping costs).

If your PayPal payment was made via a credit card linked to your PayPal account, you can also contact the cc company and dispute the charge with them, telling them that the item you received was not what was described when you made the purchase. I actually did this once, for a purchase of 30 filters for my husband's CPAP machine. The eBay listing had a photo of, and the description stated, three brand-new, unopened boxes of 10 filters each. What I received was a gallon-size ziplock baggie with 30 filters (loose) in it. I was really p-o'd because I had no way of knowing who had handled the filters or in what manner, how many people may have handled them, etc. I sent several messages to the seller through eBay, but never got a response. I filed a dispute with eBay and PayPal, but didn't get anywhere with them because I hadn't sent the filters back to the seller (why would I do that when I had no advance guarantee that I'd receive a refund). So, I disputed it with the cc company (which happened to be Discover). Discover at first denied my dispute, saying that they contacted the seller who said that I had received the item(s). So I sent Discover a screen print of the eBay listing as well as a photo of what I had received. They immediately credited the purchase amount as well as interest on the purchase amount.

And that's why I ALWAYS take screen shots of the eBay listings that I purchase.

I'd be bothered that it wasn't mentioned as a manufactured item, and I'd leave neutral feedback. I feel neutral is fair because he did not state something I would want to know, but it was not a bad transaction.

I agree with Raven. It was listed as used, it is in good shape and it works. You just didn't get quite as great a deal as you thought.

Thanks for your input, everyone. I'll probably contact him, but keep the juicer. I definitely want to avoid paying for return shipping. In fact, when I found out he was in Oregon I sent him a message offering him the option of canceling the transaction if the shipping was too high. (I bought it with free shipping.) I know that cross-country shipping costs can be steep. He said no thanks.

People don't keep them very long. You might be unhappy, and become a seller too?

OldFixer, I'm a dedicated maker and drinker of vegetable juices. If I become unhappy with this one, I'll have to buy another. ;-)

I think reconditioned qualifies as "used", so I don't consider it to be false advertising.

If he had said it was "new", then that would have been misleading. Frankly, reconditioned is probably better than an individual selling a used one. What defines lightly used?

If the manufacturer fixed it then it's probably safer than one with an unknown provenance. The manufacturer has a liability issue if the reconditioned one shorts out, or has any other safety issue. Did it come with a conditional warranty?

It came with a 6-month warranty, but I don't know when it started.

I'll try out the juicer today. Assuming it works, I've decided to take the high road: I'll leave positive feedback for the seller, and drop him a note suggesting for future reference that he might want to reveal that an item is reconditioned, to avoid surprising the buyer.