My underage son in debt

aj3001

My son has recieved this morning a letter from the debt collectors, apparently he had been selling on eBay then not paid fees, he had recieved a letter requesting £29, his ebay fees were £19 so he paid those via eBay now this debt collection agency still wants £10

My question is, as he is 15, does he have to pay? He was using his own eBay account and as he isn't over 18, he surely cannot run up a debt, so can we write a letter off saying due to his age the debt isn't valid.

Also, he accidently (apparently) put my neighbours address when he signed up for eBay, so they believe for him to be residing at an address he doesn't, will this help any further in him not paying for this?

Wonder_Girl

Does he state on his EBay account that he is not 18? did you have to agree to be guarantor or give adult consent?

You really need to be referring to the terms and conditions of EBay first. And I don’t think giving false address details goes in his favour either. This is easily changed and should have been altered as soon as the mistake was noticed.

Was he buying or selling btw?

Good luck getting it sorted

WG x

Hootie19

Sorry if I'm speaking out of turn, but why shouldn't he pay his debts. Getting him off the hook isn't teaching him much of a lesson.

I thought you had to register a credit card, or at least a debit card, to be an Ebay seller. As he's 15, he hasn't used his own credit card, although I'm not sure if he'd have a debit card if he has a bank account of some kind (I doubt it though), so he presumably has committed fraud. I would think that would be far more serious than running up a debt with ebay.

I'd make him pay the full amount back and deliver a stern lecture about financial and legal responsibilities.

martyn4764

I know it's oldfashioned, but maybe he could just pay what he owes?

Nice responsible attitude you're teaching him there...

Emmzi

aj,

it's a tenner.. what sort of lesson do you want him to learn from this? How to wriggle out of things? Or how to face the consequences of his actions?

Technically he's a minor so can't enter into a contract. However if I were ebay I'd think about recourse to the parents - your duty to supervise etc. In reality it will probably just go away as soon as the situation is explained.

Wonder_Girl

aj3001 wrote:

My son has recieved this morning a letter from the debt collectors, apparently he had been selling on eBay then not paid fees, he had recieved a letter requesting £29, his ebay fees were £19 so he paid those via eBay now this debt collection agency still wants £10

Sorry i misread this bit.

The £19 was this paid before he sold the item/as soon as he listed?

If so this will have been his LISTING fees, at that price I’m guessing he went far all the pics, fancy fonts and a high starting price.

the £10 would have been the actual sale fee (percentage of the final sale price)

I'm assuming he received his payments ok? so he needs to pay Ebay for the service they provided. if he was unsure about the costs involved in selling he shouldn't have done it.

WG x

postingalwaysposting

Hootie19 wrote:

Sorry if I'm speaking out of turn, but why shouldn't he pay his debts. Getting him off the hook isn't teaching him much of a lesson.

I thought you had to register a credit card, or at least a debit card, to be an Ebay seller. As he's 15, he hasn't used his own credit card, although I'm not sure if he'd have a debit card if he has a bank account of some kind (I doubt it though), so he presumably has committed fraud. I would think that would be far more serious than running up a debt with ebay.

I'd make him pay the full amount back and deliver a stern lecture about financial and legal responsibilities.

hootie yes you used to need a credit card now you need a debit card, (they take solo) i had one of these when i was 11, also if you have a confirmed paypal account you dont even need that (could be wrong though) :rolleyes:

op i agree with everyone else, he obviously knew what he was doing so he knew he had to pay fees, make him pay them back :mad: surely if he had any sense he woud have payed them once he got money for the goods? :rolleyes:

Lazee_Wolf

I agree with everyone else, this isn't about fee dodging. This is about teaching your son responsibility and that when he uses a service, he should pay for it.

At only £10, I'd say this lesson was far too cheap!

postingalwaysposting

Wonder_Girl wrote:

Sorry i misread this bit.

The £19 was this paid before he sold the item/as soon as he listed?

If so this will have been his LISTING fees, at that price I’m guessing he went far all the pics, fancy fonts and a high starting price.

the £10 would have been the actual sale fee (percentage of the final sale price)

I'm assuming he received his payments ok? so he needs to pay Ebay for the service they provided. if he was unsure about the costs involved in selling he shouldn't have done it.

WG x

wonder girl by the sound of the op, £19 is all the fees, including listing and final value fees, the £10 is what the debt collectors have added for there 'service' once he has payed ebay they should inform the debt collectors but the additional £10 has to be payed, but be aware some companys add intrest by the day, each day he doesnt pay it they could be adding a few £1's :rolleyes:

seven-day-weekend

I didn't think he was supposed to sell on EBay anyway unless he was 18.

Make him pay his bills, I can't imagine why you are trying to grt him off the hook.

**purpleprincess**

I know this has already been said, but why are you trying to get him off the hook? It's best to start learning these lessons as early as possible. He made some money from selling something (therefore actually had the money to pay the fees) then didn't pay the fees!! And to be honest, he's lucky it's only £10 and not £100!! This is your chance to teach your son a valuable lesson in life- what is owed must be paid back. Otherwise, who knows, he might be here with his own debt in years to come.