I can't believe people are telling the guy to just seal them up. You all know you'll be piss too when you buy a product and it turns out to be a defect. It's not about the money, it's about the principles.
On a situation like this the only answer is "to communicate". Even if the seller is having a hard time with the manufacturer at least with them communicating the buyer wouldn't get angry and post bad reps (not taking sides here). After this is resolve I think the seller should make a thread about the manufacturer's product so nobody buys it either huh.
