Ebay purchase not what it should be

gk172

Hi there, im after some advice if i may as im not to sure next step, i purchased nail varnish (6 bottles) from a seller which is supposed to change colour in differant heats as sold on qvc maybe 3 years ago but qvc no longer sell them so i was over the moon when the sets arrived and tested them and only 1 varnish works as it was supposed to the other 5 are very faint changes, and having bought them from qvc a few years back i know what the colour change should have been and it was no where near it, so i emailed the seller explaining i wasnt very happy and about the lack of colour change and there reply was they were ok when they were posted and that it needed hot and cold for the colours to react, yes i do know what it takes for the colours to change and it simply wasnt happening so i emailed them a second time explaining that i had bought the same product before and knew what to expect and that it wasnt happening and that email has been ignored as they were online at ebay and left ratings for others.

What im thinking is that these varnishes and whatever is in them may be past there sell by date and therefore not working as they should do. The cost to me was £9 and looking at a previous neg on the account they maybe willing to refund varnish cost but not p+p which would be £7 less the cost for me to send back recorded as i wouldnt trust normal post and i would be looking for proof of delivery so maybe looking at £4-5 back and hassle or i paid via paypal would that have a differant outcome?

I would be gratefull of any advice given as i really dont know what to do ie right it off and leave it at that, or do i pursue the fact what i paid for wasnt what i got, also not sure whether a neg would do me much harm as im a buyer and dont intend to sell.

Thanks in advance;)

LULUBELLE_2

If the seller is ignoring your mail, give it a couple of days then, if they haven't replied, pull their details and give them a ring.

You may well be right that the age has diminished their effectiveness, but difficult to prove that one. You say a 'very faint changes', I doubt you'd get any result from complaining to Ebay.

Chalky87

Hi,

I agree with LULUBELLE that perhaps giving them a ring would be better if they're ignoring your e-mails about a refund. However, because of the item in question I'm not sure where people stand legally after opening and using an item like nail varnish. I know that the distance selling act doesn't apply to items that are opened and then returned if the item cannot be resold for hygeine reasons. If you look for example at some of the products at ASOS.com you'll see that some items cannot be returned if opened.

If like you say QVC were selling 3 years ago it is very likely that these are out of date and perhaps stock that has been got rid of that the seller is now selling on. However, IF they're out of date and the seller didn't mention this in their description then I should think you're entitled to a refund...

My advice though would be to contact the seller via phone and ask them nicely if they would refund as the product wasn't what you were expecting. You might have to make a compromise though I feel..

David_B_2

If your not happy and they are not as described you need to communicate with the seller. If in your case this is not possable then give them ample time (at least 7/10 days) to reply and use the dispute console stating that they are not want was advertised.

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewDisputeConsole

Personelly I would put it down to experience due to the low value but leave approirate feedback to warn others.

gk172

Thank you all for replying, my thoughts now are to put it down to experience but to leave feeback reflecting this post, now do i leave neutral praising delivery but item doesnt work as described or just leave negative? Will a neg do me much damage if i dont intend to sell or am i better off not leaving anything?

appleblossom

I think to be fair, if you knew that QVC sold them 3 yrs ago but they don't anymore (and ob. as you like the product you have been keeping an eye out for them), you knew from the start that they were starting to get near the end of their shelf life. I don't think nail varnishes actually have a 'use by' date on, so seller could innocently have sold them without knowing they would not still activate - were they still sealed? had they been used? it's a difficult one really, I don't think the seller needed to specify how old they were - after all, if you see a t-shirt you don't ask (or are told) what years season it was etc, Not sure what grounds you could leave a negative?? you brought, she delivered, 1 works fine and the others still work but not up to your expectations - I think a neg would be very unfair - personally, I would just not leave a feedback as you have admitted they work, just not to the 100% - out of interest, what's the item number?