Q: I selected an esrog from a seller, but took it to a Rav to check before confirming the purchase. If the esrog gets lost or ruined along the way, am I liable for it?

A: If you take merchandise from a seller with the intention of buying it if it proves acceptable, you carry full liability for the item on the way to check it - provided that the price was set - even if it was lost through uncontrollable circumstances (oness). Some explain that you are considered a purchaser meanwhile, and others explain that you are considered a sho’el (C.M. 186:1, 200:11).

If you decide that you do not want the esrog, there is a dispute whether you are considered a shomer chinam, a shomer sachar, or a sho’el on the way back (200:11; Sma 200:31).

If you took a number of esrogim with the intention of choosing only one or two, on the way to the Rav you are liable for all the esrogim, at least as a shomer sachar (and possibly fully liable).

On the way back, you are fully liable for those you chose, and the aforementioned three-way dispute applies to the remainder that you return (Pischei Choshen, Pikadon, 1:[73]).