For me it was a Noctua fan that had a thick layer of dust built up. Who the fuck returns a $20 fan with thousands of hours of use? And why did Amazon think it was appropriate to send that trash to me when I paid for new??

A previous customer paid money for a new fan, and then they got a refund by returning the old fan as new.

Now they have a new fan, and they have their money back. The shitbird customer is pleased with their infinite-fan life hack.

Their return goes back normal stock.

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It's ugly and reprehensible. It happens all the time. It happens with places that are down the street, too.

Like: Auto parts. When you stop in at Autozone to get a new water pump for your Ford, the person there retrieves it, brings it to the counter, opens the box, and looks at it.

The primary thing they're looking at is the condition. They want to make sure it looks new before they hand it over to you.

Because distributors sometimes send out used parts as new. Because customers are scumbags sometimes, and people are lazy sometimes, and shit gets put into the wrong piles sometimes, and -- like any other aspect in life -- it's imperfect.

The switcharoo could have happened anywhere. Maybe even in another store with a different marquee in another state. It might not have even been deliberate.