Ebay/Paypal seller protection??

RFW wrote: »

I won a few in the past. One I can think of was a wholesale lot that I'd sold (it was a product that was sold in Tesco at the time). Buyer tried to sell them on Ebay but had overpriced them and also overpaid in the first place (it was an auction). A few attempts at selling later the buyer complained that they weren't to standard and he wanted a full refund. I sent Ebay a link to the Tesco product and to the listings where the buyer had attempted to sell them and failed. They found in my favour, I think the buyer was suspended too.

Interestingly I have lost a similar case!

I was selling item A in full working order. Ebay image and listing showed the serial number.

Buyer buys my item. He is selling the same item, but broken.

I get a Return request and his broken item back. I take a photo of his return, showing the serial number doesn't match my listing and pointing to his listing. I lose the case (and get a black mark for escalation) within 23 minutes.

I went to MoneyClaim.gov.uk, got my 25 quid back, my item cost back, my seller fees back lost via losing a case, my Paypal fees back. and all postage costs back, inbound and outboard.. And I filed an ActionFraud case against the buyer.

But I lost via Ebay with what I thought was 100% watertight. But I do file against any fraudulent buyer, regardless if it make economic sense for me to do so, on a point of principle.

ballisticbrian wrote: »

To play devils advocate for a minute... Knowing everything I do about eBay buyer protection, if I bought a VCR on eBay and it appeared to work fine, I told the seller it worked and left good feedback and after a couple of uses something inside the machine stopped working, I would probably be extremely peeved and seek to redress the situation.

I don't disagree in principle, but the 'stops working' is the sticking point. Ebay is not supposed to offer a guarantee for goods - if it did not work immediately, its not as described. if it goes wrong (for used good from a private seller), I am not so sure?

Did the buyer use an old tape that chewed up the machine? Did it 'stop working' after he put something in the wrong way.

We all know which way Ebay will decide but 'stopped working'; doesn't mean shoddy goods 100% of the time...or even its the seller who has sold something faulty. Without looking at these sort of nuances you can't have a protection scheme that works equally for buyers AND sellers.

Everybody who buys a second-hand car from a private sale runs that risk and it's up to the buyer to prove that the seller knowingly sold a defective item

But you can't compare buying a used car with this. A closer comparison would be comparing it to buying electronic equipment in a shop - which is the kind of place eBay is moving towards, where it wants to place itself in the marketplace. And if you compare it with a retail shop, the odds are stacked very differently.

paypalvictim wrote: »

Thank you and definitely if as a seller you have to supply something as described in the listing how can you be held responsible for an item ceasing to work especially as you cannot guard against misuse.

In the end you have to guage whether its worth it selling/buying on ebay.

Swinging it round if you buy a working item you should expect it to work for a certain amount of time. I suspect if you's listed it as not working you'd have got a similar price and not had the return to deal with.