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Ebay faulty item advice
femster87 - 14/12/13 at 12:14 AM

Bit of advice chaps, this never happened to me before.

I bought a sump of ebay and it arrived today with chemical metal on one side of it. obviously to seal a leak. The seller never mentioned it and did not include a photo of it.

So i raised a case with ebay to get the process started for a resolution and also to act immediately incase seller says i put it on, on arrival. Seller has contacted me to say he did not intentionally ignore mentioning the seal as he thought it was part of the sump. And said to post the sump back and if everything is ok he will refund me.

My problem here is, postage was £15 and will require another £15 to send back, Have I just lost 30 quid through no fault of mine? Also, if I return the sump would I get my money back?

mookaloid - 14/12/13 at 12:23 AM

say to the seller as it isn't as described that he not only should he refund your money but he should also pay for the postage for it to be returned if he wants it back. Alternatively he can send his own courier to pick it up at his expense.

If he doesn't do either of these then open a dispute with ebay. They will find in your favour and refund all your money whether you have sent the sump back or not.

Sloan85 - 14/12/13 at 12:25 AM

If it is a private seller's auction, I don't think there is any legal obligation to refund the return postage. They can only get a negative feedback.

If it was a business seller or buy it now then the seller is legally obligated to pay the return postage, although not many sellers are aware of this. This is as per the distance selling regulations.

theprisioner - 14/12/13 at 12:26 AM

You are entitled to get all your money back inc postages. Sounds like a mistake. Another approach, I assume it is alloy, get it TIG welded and negotiate a refund to compensate for the welding cost.

mookaloid - 14/12/13 at 12:30 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Sloan85
If it is a private seller's auction, I don't think there is any legal obligation to refund the return postage. They can only get a negative feedback.

If it was a business seller or buy it now then the seller is legally obligated to pay the return postage, although not many sellers are aware of this. This is as per the distance selling regulations.


This is news to me. I was under the impression that the distance selling regs applied to anyone not just businesses. In any case it would seem morally right that the buyer should not be out of pocket because a seller mis-describes something.

femster87 - 14/12/13 at 12:31 AM

quote:
Originally posted by theprisioner
You are entitled to get all your money back inc postages. Sounds like a mistake. Another approach, I assume it is alloy, get it TIG welded and negotiate a refund to compensate for the welding cost.


Yes, it is alloy and can be welded. But the chemical metal fix runs the entire edge of the sump. I just don't understand how you can miss it. I will try that approach and see what the reply is.

jps - 14/12/13 at 12:41 AM

quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
quote:
Originally posted by Sloan85
If it is a private seller's auction, I don't think there is any legal obligation to refund the return postage. They can only get a negative feedback.

If it was a business seller or buy it now then the seller is legally obligated to pay the return postage, although not many sellers are aware of this. This is as per the distance selling regulations.


This is news to me. I was under the impression that the distance selling regs applied to anyone not just businesses. In any case it would seem morally right that the buyer should not be out of pocket because a seller mis-describes something.


interesting! I bought some belts on ebay a while ago. they were described as 'very good condition' and the seller told me they bought them recently. when I got them they were over 11 years old ( from the fia markings), and rusty on the metal work. I got a full refund but returned then at my own expense so lost out on about 15quid in return postage. sounds like i should have been more demanding!

mookaloid - 14/12/13 at 12:55 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jps
quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
quote:
Originally posted by Sloan85
If it is a private seller's auction, I don't think there is any legal obligation to refund the return postage. They can only get a negative feedback.

If it was a business seller or buy it now then the seller is legally obligated to pay the return postage, although not many sellers are aware of this. This is as per the distance selling regulations.


This is news to me. I was under the impression that the distance selling regs applied to anyone not just businesses. In any case it would seem morally right that the buyer should not be out of pocket because a seller mis-describes something.


interesting! I bought some belts on ebay a while ago. they were described as 'very good condition' and the seller told me they bought them recently. when I got them they were over 11 years old ( from the fia markings), and rusty on the metal work. I got a full refund but returned then at my own expense so lost out on about 15quid in return postage. sounds like i should have been more demanding!


I have had this argument about 4 or 5 times over the past couple of years with ebay sellers who have mis-described stuff - I have always won the argument. The seller has either paid to get the stuff sent back or I have had the refund via ebay and never had to return the goods.

It just makes my blood boil when sellers think that I as a buyer should shell out my hard earned to post stuff back to them when they have made a mistake (or worse just not told the truth).

bi22le - 14/12/13 at 07:50 AM

Try and fight not paying out.

Put him onto one of the couriurs here, for example, he can use parcel monkey to get the package collected from your house.

I have experienced that Ebay are generally on the side of the buyer. They want people buying through them not selling. If the trust is lost from the buyer the site is going to shut down.

I brought last summer some ramps to get my car onto my home build trailer.Rated to 1500lbs so should be fine. I opened the box and they said rated to 1000lbs, clearly in black and white. Th seller said he was a distributer, never had complaints, never opened a box.

To save the trouble (these were the only ramps rated this high) I asked for 50% refund which covered the cost for me to buy metal and reinforce.

He still shifted ramps and maybe made a profit, I gave him positive feedback as was very happy with the service.

Negotiate and talk, dont turn the situation sour straight away or you will end up with a fight on your hands.

Brook_lands - 14/12/13 at 09:25 AM

As alll have said ebay is now 110% with the buyer, which is very good news for you with a genuine issue (and equally good news for thieves and scammers)

Open a case with ebay for goods not as described. Make sure you comply with the timescales for opening, escalating etc the case - some sellers play games to try and distract you. Ebay refund your payment inc postage and will you will probably not be expected to send the item back.

SteveWalker - 14/12/13 at 09:37 AM

quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
quote:
Originally posted by Sloan85
If it is a private seller's auction, I don't think there is any legal obligation to refund the return postage. They can only get a negative feedback.

If it was a business seller or buy it now then the seller is legally obligated to pay the return postage, although not many sellers are aware of this. This is as per the distance selling regulations.


This is news to me. I was under the impression that the distance selling regs applied to anyone not just businesses. In any case it would seem morally right that the buyer should not be out of pocket because a seller mis-describes something.


I am pretty sure that distance selling regs do apply to any seller, however, they do not apply to auctions - so on Ebay, they do apply to buy it now, but not auctions.

ReMan - 14/12/13 at 09:41 AM

I was in this position recently as the seller. And I was a bad bad man because the buyer chose not to take all the cautions in my listing as to reading the description and looking at the detailed pictures.
This was a £30 item with £12 postage.
The buyer never contacted me to complain and just opened a case under "Not as described, I'LL return for full refund".
Despite making the point that the buyer should have read the description etc I aggred to give a full refund on return.
eBay also excelled themselves and found the case in the buyers favour, and ordered me to issue a refund, BUT it was very clear that although they had frozen my funds for that payment they would not issue a refund to the buyer until I had confirmed receipt of the retuned item at the buyers cost.

Theshed - 14/12/13 at 10:21 AM

Where a seller is not a acting in the course of a business the Distance Selling regs have no effect. There is a big difference between a description which is incorrect and one which is incomplete. Subject of course to the e-bay small print which I cannot be bothered to read - if no claims are made as to the condition of any item then - buyer beware.

However a general description "very good" "good used condition" etc would amount to a representation upon which the buyer would be entitled to rely.

I suspect the e-bay small print deals with this.....