To return or not to return? Need some advice

[AJG Esq]

I picked up these McTavishes when ShoeMetro had a half off sale. They're marked as first quality and came with the AE shoe bags, but clearly have some defects. Unfortunately, Shoe Metro is all sold out and will only give me a refund. I called AE and they said they can't exchange them, it's gotta be through the third-party vendor.

Anyway, here's an album with descriptions of the defect underneath each picture. I'm considering keeping them since they're second quality but I paid second prices. Let me know what you think. Thanks.
http://imgur.com/a/bG3ok#0

[Vicious49]

The glitter should come off easily enough when you polish the shoes. Polish might help with the colors matching up a bit better as well. The rest is up to you to decide. I got a pair of strands from the ShoeBank that had a small nick in the front. Most on here suggested I send them back. I decided at that price, it was worth keeping them and I have not regretted that decision 1 bit.

[AJG Esq]

The glitter should come off easily enough when you polish the shoes. Polish might help with the colors matching up a bit better as well.

Normally I'd agree. But these are from the "rough" collection and are not meant to be polished. I'm also entertaining the idea that that means they should look rough and I'm getting bogged down in details.

[Vicious49]

Normally I'd agree. But these are from the "rough" collection and are not meant to be polished. I'm also entertaining the idea that that means they should look rough and I'm getting bogged down in details.

Even if you don't polish them, you can use some conditioner and saddle soap which is what I do with my McTavish's.

[nickrut]

Wow you thoroughly inspected those bad boys. For what you paid, I don't see why you'd return them honestly. These are casual shoes that you got for well under $200 I'd bet. At full price I MIGHT send them back, at half price, that's a steal all day.

[Redford]

See what the shoebank has right now as some of their shoes are as low as $119. Don't know if they have McTavishes but you might be able to find something else you like.

[Acousticfoodie]

I have shoes from the rough collection as well and I use conditioner on them as well. I don't know what leather the Mctavishes are, but my black hills are dublin leather, and I condition my Krauss wolverine 1Ks which are also dublin leather without problems.

[JonB]

FWIW, I also got some shoes from ShoeMetro's sale - tan suede neumoks. One shoe had a small stain on the side panel. Disappointing but again, for 50% off, *shrug*.

[Gump]

Also that "cut" in the leather looks like where the welt wraps around on itself. So that should be there. And also that loose stitching below the eyelets looks just like one strand and doesn't seem like a big deal. Glitter is really a non issue. I think you're being overly critical