I think that's a residual effect from Ebay. For some reason, it seems that
everyone on Ebay likes to say "As with all electronics, this item is sold
as-is". That means they know something is wrong with it but they don't want to
say, instead of saying "The following things are wrong.." and "works as
described"...

I believe you are right. They think the "as-is"
statement gives them a license to sell their junk.
I don't think it will go over too well here.