I think the question is if the scratches caused the blowout... I think not... but it may be a sign of misshandling or replacing with a demo unit I would not take a bulb that was scratched.. I know many people in the hobby that keep all the boxes, manuals and wraps of everything they buy and sell the stuff as used only for a month and recoup over half of what they spent and buy new... I don't think the mail order company did this, but I would have returned the bulb if it was not in mint condition, because everything is dependent on your ballast and bulb