Having some dramas with ebay:
I sold a set of bike carbs on there end of July. Got a good price for them. Buyer decided after a week or so that they wouldn't fit his bike. In the meantime I'd gone home to NZ for a couple of months. I emailed the seller saying I'd sort something when I got back but understandably he went through ebay who refunded his money, and asked him to return the carbs.

When I arrived back in UK last week and the carbs hadn't arrived I got in touch with seller who said he'd sent them. To a London address on ebays instruction (I'm in Manchester and haven't lived in London for 7 years - the delivery address was my original registration address not my current shipping address). Got in touch with ebay to find out what was going on.

Ebay acknowledged that they had instructed the buyer to send them to the incorrect address but said they wont take any further action because more than 30 days have passed. Any ideas on what I can do next?

I've had an eBay business for 10 years and hate to say it but I think you have probably lost the carbs.

Your best bet is to keep on at eBay and try to get someone who can help and explain the issue. However, you generally hit a brick wall once they have made a decision. Usual tactic is either keep sending you similar emails with slightly different wording which amounts to "no", or if you speak to someone on the phone they will be helpful but they don't have the authority to fix it and the department that can fix it only accept emails.

Keep the pressure on them until you get sick of it though, you might get through to someone who can help.

You might find it easier to contact the person in your old house and get them to send it on

Escalate further in eBay, explaining the situation (ie. you were out of the country)? Contact PayPal and raise a complaint? Put a hold on your bank account/credit card associated with PayPal until they sort it? You have to be reasonable, but firm. If they still don't want to play ball, suggest you'll take them to the small claims court and ask for their UK HQ address/contact for legal reasons. Be prepared to pay your £20 and let the courts decide the fate if it goes that for, though....

Speak to the people in the London address to see if they can send them to you?

eBay are unlikely to help.

I had similar, you change your address and put in a new address, delete the old address and think job done but......

They also have your old address in another place, associated with your billing address maybe which takes a bit of finding to remove, eBay did refund me 50% of the value with some words around this is a complimentary payment and not admittance of guilt which in my case was £20 so I just took it and moved on.

The old address has cropped up a couple of times now.

eBay can be difficult in situations like this. Myself I'm a fan of writing to people and sending it using "signed for" delivery so you've got some reassurance they've received the letter. I believe emails are often ignored, but people find it much harder to ignore a letter.

As above you may get some info from the address the carbs were sent back to - worth a try!

Oot of interested - and assuming it was a private sale (ie you arent a trader) why did you even entertain the idea of having them returned?

Thats for advice all. Will definitely send letter to london address and hopefully here something back. Otherwise just keep hounding ebay. As for why i accepted the return - i had no choice. PayPal always sides with the buyer and as much as i was a little annoyed, i was expecting to get carbs back so not especially bothered.