Can I take an ebay seller to county court?

[kopw]

I have bid on an item on ebay three weeks ago and have won. I have sent payment in respect of the item via paypal but have not received anything. I have contacted the seller numerous times to ask when I should expect to receive the item. I have started a dispute on paypal but don't expect the seller to take a blind bit of notice. If I don't receive either the item or a full refund including postage, can I take the seller to court for breach of contract?

[Goldlady]

If you have raised a dispute on paypal you will get your money back if you haven't already.

[barracad]

You may get a refund from Paypal. If not, you can sue the seller as long as you have their address.

[Conniff]

I can't understand how ebay can sit back and 'allow' this to happen. It quite clearly says you are entering into a binding contract, so why do they just allow paypal to refund and not take any action themselves or at least supply the details of the seller to the buyer.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Originally Posted by kopw

I have bid on an item on ebay three weeks ago and have won. I have sent payment in respect of the item via paypal but have not received anything. I have contacted the seller numerous times to ask when I should expect to receive the item. I have started a dispute on paypal but don't expect the seller to take a blind bit of notice. If I don't receive either the item or a full refund including postage, can I take the seller to court for breach of contract?

Did you just bid (and not win) three weeks ago?

Did you win the item at auction end some days after bidding? If so, when did the auction end?

How was the item to be delivered? If RM then by what service?

Has the seller responded to any of your emails?

What is his delivery policy? (eg sent within a day of auction end, a week etc)

Were you offered a choice of level of delivery service? If so, what did you pay for?

Please post back further info.

(But yes, of course you can sue for Breach of Contract, provided there is a breach)

Also, how have you opened up a dispute so soon? I haven't used ebay for ages but I thought you had to wait 30 days or something??

[Goldlady]

You can ask ebay for the seller's details.

[barracad]

Originally Posted by Conniff

I can't understand how ebay can sit back and 'allow' this to happen. It quite clearly says you are entering into a binding contract, so why do they just allow paypal to refund and not take any action themselves or at least supply the details of the seller to the buyer.

Despite the sternly worded disclaimer eBay insert on the bid page warning that a bid is a legal contract, this does not seem to be supported by UK law. Also, Paypal are owned by eBay so I guess this is why they operate that way when Paypal has been used as a payment method.

Originally Posted by Goldlady

You can ask ebay for the seller's details.

If you request the details I believe eBay only provide you with the seller's town and phone number, not their full address. Not 100% sure of that and I can't find the relevant details on eBay's help pages. I had to use the feature quite some time ago and I'm sure I wasn't given the seller's address.

[Big_Geordie]

I had a simillar problem on Ebay, I started a dispute but got no where so I got everything I had as payment reciepts off paypal for the item which should have the sellers address and name on. I took it to my local Police station to report Internet Fraud. They contacted the sellers local Police station and gave me a crime number, I was kept upto date form the police what was happening. They actually went to the guys house arrested him in front of his family for internet fraud and was taken to the Police station for questioning.

I tell you what happened I got a letter of an appology off the guy and my item was sent with a refund of postage.