bad experience through ebay

[remote]

Hi. Can anybody help me I am new to this forum. My problem is I recently sold an item on ebay for £3.00 the buyer says it is not as described this is not true and he has tried it on with another seller who has refunded him and he never returned the item. he has now put this through dispute and i have told him i will give him a full refund plus postage if he returns item. he is telling me to send him a stamped address envelope to which i am sure he will then say he sent it and it got lost. I have over 600 positive feedback, he only has 3 and 2 of them are negative. what more can i do.

[jonni2bad]

Welcome to the forums.

Has the buyer contacted you directly about this, or has he opened a dispute through PayPal?

There are conditions for disputes opened through them which would probably work in your favour, so if this is not yet the case, advise the buyer that they must log their complaint through the appropriate channels.

I don't think you need to go to the extremes of sending a pre-paid envelope. If you have offered a refund, then let him send it back - which it sounds unlikely he would do given the info you have posted already.

[remote]

thanks jonni,

No he does not 'do' paypal, he put it through the ebay dispute, which i have replied and told him once i have the item i will refund him, to which he replied 'send me a prepaid envelope'. i do not want to reply anymore as i feel matters will get worse so i just want to wait and see if item turns up. this evidence is there in the dispute that i have tried to resolve matters. what would your advise be. i spoke to the other person who he did the same with and she said he is really nasty, and she did refund him but he never sent item back.

[jonni2bad]

I would let eBay resolve it then. I will check, but I think there is no requirement for you to pay return postage up front, possibly not even at all.

I'm a little rusty on rules and regs having not really been selling much lately, but will check for you.

In what way does the buyer suggest the item is not as per the description then?

[jonni2bad]

Presume that you are not a business seller?

If you are, then SOGA and the DSR may apply, but otherwise - as a private seller - you are not obliged to pay for return postage.


Distance Selling Regulations
The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 generally apply to sales to consumers made by sellers acting in the course of a business, which have been made at a distance...

The Distance Selling Regulations apply to items purchased via Buy It Now listings and Second Chance Offers on eBay.co.uk. However, they don't apply to auction format listings on eBay.co.uk.

The Regulations also provide a period of seven working days after the date of receipt within which the consumer can cancel the contract (often referred to as the "cooling off" period) and get their money back, including the original postage and packing charges. The consumer can be asked to return the goods at their own expense, but only if the seller informed them of this requirement before the contract was made (otherwise, the seller is responsible for collecting the goods)

The cancellation rights do not apply to certain items including software, audio or video recordings that have been unsealed, perishable goods such as food or flowers, or items that have been made to order.


Sale of Goods Legislation

The most important piece of legislation relating to the sale of goods through eBay.co.uk is the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended). The Act provides that wherever goods are bought they must “conform to contract”. This means that items sold through eBay by business sellers must be:

• of "satisfactory quality";
• "as described"; and
• "fit for purpose".

Therefore goods sold by business sellers must not be inherently faulty at the time of sale, must match any description given to them and, allowing for factors like price, they must be fit for their purpose, defect free, safe and durable.

Where the seller is a private individual, the goods must be “as described”. The goods are not legally required to be of “satisfactory quality” or “fit for purpose”.

[MARTIN3030]

will move to ebay forum.

[Prolix]

Originally Posted by jonni2bad

Presume that you are not a business seller?

If you are, then SOGA and the DSR may apply, but otherwise - as a private seller - you are not obliged to pay for return postage.

I reckon that return postage would have to be paid.

The remedy, in this case (private buyer/private seller) under the Sale of Goods Act, would be to reject the goods (return them) and claim damages. Damages can be for consequential loss that would almost certainly include the return postage costs.