ebay returns question

[arthur.daley]

Hi All

Need a bit of advice as a punter on ebay!

I purchased some model railway items on ebay that were sold by a business seller and described as being in very good working order but with some wear, surface wear. However, thats not the case the item doesn't work reliably let alone well.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````I sent a very polite email pointing out the problem and asking how he wants to proceed. He says that it all worked ok when he tested it - this I doubt or his testing was at best perfunctory but if I am not happy I should return it to him at my expense for a refund.

If I was returning it because I changed my mind I'd pay the postage because it was my own stupid fault and I should have paid more attention before buying. However, given that the item is faulty, I don't think that I should pay the return postage for the return of faulty goods. On closer examination of the original ebay listing, it states in the terms and conditions.......

"i will refund any unhappy sales in full on return of item, if item gets damage in post or i have not described item correctly i will refund in full, if a item goes missing in the post i will refund after the given time limit by royal mail."

The important phrase there being "in full"

However, under that under returns policy it states............

"Return Postage - buyer pays return postage"

I thought ebay says that the seller has to pay the return postage.

Can anyone confirm the above and better still point me to something on ebay that says so.

Its not like the postage is a huge amount of money its just the principle of the matter!


Arthur

[Angloman]

Just bought a set of disk images,12 in the collection,brill disk but the company went bust and the online section does not work,they were 3.20 and 4.00 postage.Opened a case for a full refund,which the seller has offered a "full" refund, but i have to pay return postage which actually cost me £3.20 so I am out of pocket to return the goods.Have written to ebay and as they said he offered a full refund.
In my case i should of thrown them away lol

[gorgall2]

If you go on the ebay discussion boards, there are plenty on their that will be able to point you to the relevant ebay rules.

[daviddeer]

Been using flea-bay since it's inception and the sad fact is buyer always pays return postage with no redress.
I have dumped no end of items because of this. In fact I am returning a pair of shoes today that literally fell apart in the first wear.
Some sellers are fine, some don't even bother to answer; but the majority stick to the policy and send you very unhelpful emails such as: 'tough luck mate', or 'why not sell it yourself and get the money back'. Sometimes you open yourself to a torrent of literal abuse. It's like road rage, you know you are right and you want to sort it out, but good sense prevails in most cases.
If you live close enough you could wedge it in their letterbox. Although I am sure you can think of other places you would like to post it.

[pisquee]

Open a dispute case for not as described.
Most likely Ebay will side with you, and they will send a pre-paid returns label, which you put on the box, and just take it to the post office.
I once had this with a large format printer that didn't work at all when recieved - Ebay sent their usual parcel force pre paid returns label - took a while to convince them that it was too big to just put in a box and take to the post office. They wanted tracking so it had to go courier.

[James990]

I have one where they used a Portsmouth address for shipment from, but when it came to send it back it was China! So they are telling porkies, and am not sure if flebay will do anything about it!

[funkey monkey]

9 times out of 10 eBay side with the buyer if they open a case with the item not being as described where the buyer gets paid the return posted unless the seller can prove via their listing that the buyer should pay the return postage costs.

when you buy on ebay you should ALWAYS read the listing carefully as you are entering a sales contract which works both ways for the seller and buyer!

if you have failed to read it and then find you are unhappy remember you was the one that bought it and if the seller wasn't doing anything wrong you only have yourself to blame!

[JMugs]

The Distance Selling Regulations state you should not be out of pocket (check them out) this applies to ebay whether auction or fixed price sale. Ebay guidelines etc do not over rule this.
No if's,no buts.

Janners

[viccar]

In law you are entitled to your return postage back if the item is faulty and bought from a business seller, but ebay do not enforce this, so it would be up to you to go small claims or TS to claim it back.

@james90 you can report them for asking to send back to another country when you bought from 'uk' misleading address or something like that.

[GoonerGary]

It has nothing to do with eBay rules or the seller's rules, there is only one rule, the Sale of Goods Act 1979:

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi- ... 3-1011.txt