Help! Can a seller sue me?

Sooler

DO NOT RESPOND – you’ll only encourage them.


Who cares if they have given you 5 days – it means nothing.

Wait until you get it writing by post from their solicitor – if ever.

They’re wasting their time with you. They’d have to report the problem to eBay if they had a real problem with it.


They chose to trade on a site where they are subject to feedback – they got feedback.

Do not respond.

Vomityspice

As someone else has previously stated, you have an absolute defence of truth ( I won't make it more difficult or complex by trying to explain Plato Films v Speidel (1961) 2 WLR 470....the bored can look it up!).

As long as your feedback was truthful, then any action for libel would fail. As the burden of proof would be on you, as long as you have justification to say what you said, you'll be fine.

In any case, the threat I suspect is just idle, ther is no public funding for defamation so he would have to pay all of his cost (and probably yours when he lost!) so I would bet it is just talk! Why would you pay a solicitor £150+ per hour to argue about a £50 piece of hardware? It doesn't make sense?

However, there is always the possiblilty that your seller is an idiot? You can never tell........

Mark7799

grannybiker wrote: »

Sounds like a stroppy seller trying it on when they don't know their @rse from their elbow!
If they knew Ebay policy, they'd know you can't remove the feedback under such circumstances, even if it's untrue.
As for the legal bit, as I understand it, (and I have been known to be wrong sometimes, so won't be offended if corrected!) libel is written, slander is spoken. So they're accusing you of the wrong thing anyhow!
Forget them, they're "Fools!" Go and enjoy your wedding and hope it's a truly magical day.
(P.S. Would be tempted to put in a SNAD with Paypal if you're not out of time, just to let 'em know how wrong they are!)

Agreed - if the seller doen't know the difference between libel and slander, it doesn't say much for their legal knowledge.

sheraz2

hes trying it on ignore him

Sssssss

@sheraz2 :rotfl:

L O V E the avatar, OP this is what you should send to the seller in an email

sarahlouise210

ooooooooohh.........please tell us what you said !:D

grannybiker

sarahlouise210 wrote: »

ooooooooohh.........please tell us what you said !:D

Just click on Sheraz2s name and you'll see their avatar. Not an elbow!

Enterprise_1701C

I have an O level in Law and I could easily write a very legal sounding letter, and it is very easy to just obtain a solicitor's details and send them to anyone.

Turn the tables and complain to Ebay about threatening behaviour, giving all the facts.

~annie~_2

Hi all,
Thanks for all your replies. I feel a lot better about things after reading them.

I ended up calling eBay and getting their advice. They basically said that they would not remove the feedback I wrote as it did not break their rules of derogatory feedback, name-calling etc (great, the ONE time I follow the rules!), and that they were very sorry I had such a bad experience with a seller and here is a nice £20 voucher for your troubles. How very MSE!

I said thank you for the voucher but you're kind of missing the point - what do I do if this guy decides to take this further? They said I should refer him to them, but really, no lawyer is going to want to sue over such a trivial matter.

So ultimately, my mind is not at rest but to be honest, if he wants to take it to court he can do so - I have plenty of email evidence on my side to support my feedback. I guess at the end of the day I was getting wound up about empty threats - but nobody likes that do they?

Thanks so much for all your help - and just so you know, I didn't reply to the email. If I get any more I will be referring him to eBay. What I did do was forward the emails on to eBay and explained that the seller was bullying me and that I was feeling intimidated - they will more than likely take no action, but at least its something.

grannybiker

Glad your mind's at rest now Annie, so go enjoy your wedding gal!
(P.S. So want you to open up a SNAD with Paypal too tho', just to show 'em they can't mess with people like that!)