I can't imagine that is even a choice and I've returned stuff on AliExpress when I got the wrong item and I paid shipping but typically, if the item has any substantial value, I'm offered a small fee, even on totally dead cameras. To me, that's the cost of doing business in China. The OP needs to get clarification from the seller, that he will provide a $30 refund and not have to return the camera.
The fault is really our government, Congress and USPS made an agreement to subsidize shipments from China to the U.S. called E-Packet. They can ship stuff to us for peanuts, but to ship it back can cost 20x more and they know that and leverage that against us as it doesn't make financial sense to ship anything back.
Chinese manufacturers and sellers consolidate their mail shipments into air containers that fly cheaply on various Chinese airlines. When the packages gets to the US, the postal service takes over and delivers via first class mail at rates that are far cheaper than what you and I pay. And, the ePacket shipping solution features
free tracking and Delivery Confirmation in the Postal Service network for lightweight goods (under 2 pounds) and merchandise ordered by consumers in the United States from merchants in China.
I'm sure the OP would not be angry if he can pay the same price to ship the product back for a refund that the seller paid, probably a few dollars. Heck, it costs less for them to ship a product from China than we pay to ship that same package within the U.S. What we need to do as a group is demand from our representatives in Congress that we be given the same deal, that we can return an item to China for the same price they paid to ship it to us. Here's the link of email addresses for your representative in Congress -
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/