restocking fee, fair or not.

stolt

my missus bought soe lights from ebay arrived and they are huge, our fault for not measuring them (we did bt obviously not good enough) i contacted seller and said our mistake but would he accept a return, one has been opened but carefully and the box is not battered. he replied he doesnt have a return policy try to sell them on. I replied that as it was a by it now listing i thought i had 7 days as a cooling off period, he said i was correct as he has just read the help pages on ebay but hes not refunding my postage back to him and he wants a £10.00 restocking fee which will help cover his paypal fees. i have replied stating that once he refunds me also his paypal fees are refunded aswell. However i think the restocking fee is unfair.

sunnysea83

i would personally just put in a dispute with paypal, they always find in favour of buyer, you will have to return at your cost and will then get a full refund. you cn always resend the seller what he paid for postaqge. If hes a business seller i beleive he has to accept returns and i dont think he can charge a restocking fee but not sure and £10 is a joke as when he refunds paypal pay the part of the fees back and he will only be refunding what he got (from my experience) and with ebay fees he can do a mutal for his fees back.

stolt

hi thanks, i have since been on the help pages and noticed the following gem, i ahve tried to be polite as pssible but can see this one turning ugly!!!


''
Your legal rights and obligations

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. In other words, where there's no face-to-face contact between the seller and the consumer before the contract is made. 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.
These regulations 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 seller doesnt have a return policy which i have pointed out i was happy to pay for the items to be sent back but this restocking fee is unfair and just a further way of getting money out of someone, i dont make a habit of doing this sort of thing.

Lorian

Is the seller a business?

cyberbob

If you are returning the item just because you dont want it (so not the fault of the seller) The seller is within his rights to charge a restocking fee. Lots of businesses do both on and off ebay

If the seller has to use his time to get your returned items ready for sale again why should they be out of pocket because of your mistake

RFW

sunnysea83 wrote: »

If hes a business seller i beleive he has to accept returns

As long as it was fixed price, if it was an auction lot there is no right to return if the goods are as described.

stolt

to the above replies it was a buy it now auction and als they are a business.

stolt

cyberbob wrote: »

If you are returning the item just because you dont want it (so not the fault of the seller) The seller is within his rights to charge a restocking fee. Lots of businesses do both on and off ebay

If the seller has to use his time to get your returned items ready for sale again why should they be out of pocket because of your mistake

i dont understand what he has to get ready again, there in a box each, the same box that they were shipped from china in:rotfl:

its a bit of both yes they are too big for our room and thats our mistake, but they are cheap looking, feeling etc and not a quality chandelier, its a chinnese knock off tbh but we have paid top dollar for it.

RFW

stolt wrote: »

i dont understand what he has to get ready again, there in a box each, the same box that they were shipped from china in:rotfl:

If they were sent from China your rights are different, your best bet is to go through Paypal.

cyril82

stolt wrote: »

i dont understand what he has to get ready again, there in a box each, the same box that they were shipped from china in:rotfl:

its a bit of both yes they are too big for our room and thats our mistake, but they are cheap looking, feeling etc and not a quality chandelier, its a chinnese knock off tbh but we have paid top dollar for it.

The reason alot of ebay sellers charge a re-stocking fee is because once you buy and pay on ebay they don't get any fees back therefore if it cost him £5 to list an sell the first time he won't get that back, he'll then have to pay that amount again to relist and resell the goods, for many sellers that can mean a loss, simply because you changed your mind.

if you are buying something that you are unsure about or would need to inspect first then it's probably best to buy from a high street store where you can see the goods.

how is it reasonable to expect the seller to pay you to return an item and lose money on fees because you changed your mind?

sequence

The seller has to check the item is ok for resale, pay new listing fees, maybe photograph it. All of which take time. Restocking fee is fair.