Urgent help needed with ebay

macfly

No idea why everyone thinks this is "tricky". The OP will win a snad. Paypal don't do all this debating.
Any buyer can claim they were sent thhe wrong item and win.
And yes - failing to mention is as bad as describing wrongly.

maggiecon

I didnt pay for the ring through paypal even though it was advertised as a payment option the seller wouldnt accept it and made me pay by bank transfer.

I take it Im screwed then

Crowqueen

maggiecon wrote: »

I took the ring to a jewellers who told me the ring is called an illusion ring. ie. it is a very small diamond set in lots of metal to make the diamond look a lot bigger. thats why the picture was so misleading.

I contacted the seller whose response was "I do have a no returns policy which is stated, like most other ebayers. I am sorry but ebay is an auction site not a shop"

What do I do now?

Ridiculous. eBay guarantee you a return through Paypal, plus it is not exempt from laws existing to protect consumers. In fact, stricter laws apply to online/mail order purchases than elsewhere since there is no ability for you to examine or try on a purchase before you receive it.

EDIT: since you didn't pay through Paypal, for that amount I would consider a small claim.

@Jasmine - failure to mention is the same thing as not describing an item properly. Under SOGA even items bought from private sellers must be as described so a seller needs to convince a judge that the item was adequately described.

pearl123

I would tell the buyer that I wanted to refund as the ring was not as described. Ie; your right to a refund "under distance selling rules" etc. I would then state very clearly that if they did not offer a refund within say 24 hrs/ 2 days etc - thell tell them that you will take the official route and get a refund threw ebay. Tell them politely but clearly what you intend to do. Ebay nearly always sides with the buyer and most sellers do know this. If you indictate the you are highly dissatisifed and that you will persue a refund - then they may give in to avoid problems and negative feedback.
Sorry I waffled a bit !

frivolous_fay

maggiecon wrote: »

I didnt pay for the ring through paypal even though it was advertised as a payment option the seller wouldnt accept it and made me pay by bank transfer.

Too late for you now... but just in case you were still unsure, ebay sellers AREN'T allowed to do this.

Crowqueen

Agreed.

Your best recourse now is the courts; meanwhile this is totally ridiculous and should earn the seller a nice big neg and a report for refusing Paypal (go to Report Item, I think it's under Inappropriate Seller Terms, and then it's Seller wants unsafe payment method, or something like that).

This situation angers me because it really does make eBay out to be a bad place to shop, and decent sellers suffer as a result.

maggiecon

Gosh dont know if I could do the whole courts thing. I am based in NI and the seller in England so dont think this is an option?

How would I go about a small claim.

Going to try the seller once more.

To be honest I am just gutted because it has taken the whole excitement out of getting engaged. I cant wear the ring cause it doesnt look like a diamond just a big lump of metal. I was trying to inspect it under a light to see if I could even see the diamond it. It is totally invisible.

pearl123

I would try the dilomatic route first - request refund from seller distance selling rules etc. Item not as described etc. Then ebay route. Then if you are getting no result say within a day the Report seller as Crowqeen states , "I think it's under Inappropriate Seller Terms, and then it's Seller wants unsafe payment method,". Gen yourself up also on buyers rights.
See martin lewis link - easy to read. Also check out online. shopping consumer rights. I tend to lift the bit that applicable to me when a seller has not acted in accordance with the rules.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange

You paid alot of money - it is worth putting in a major effort to get your money back.

pearl123

Don't know whether this template would help if you amended it a bit to fit your purposes. Add bit about right to a refund "under distance selling rules."
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/txt/soga_letter_1.doc

I would and the end of the letter state that if I did not get the required refund that I'd persue that matter threw the coursts. I would also consider mentioning the fact in the letter that you were encouraged to pay via a differant method etc. You want it to sound like you know what you are talking about.
Best of luck,

Crowqueen

maggiecon wrote: »

Gosh dont know if I could do the whole courts thing. I am based in NI and the seller in England so dont think this is an option?

How would I go about a small claim.

Going to try the seller once more.

To be honest I am just gutted because it has taken the whole excitement out of getting engaged. I cant wear the ring cause it doesnt look like a diamond just a big lump of metal. I was trying to inspect it under a light to see if I could even see the diamond it. It is totally invisible.

The DSR laws are in fact not only universally applicable to the whole of the United Kingdom, but to the rest of the EU as well (though enforcing them might be difficult between countries).

Looking at the NI courts service guide, this page here is a guide to the Small Claims procedure and it appears that the ability to claim doesn't depend on the location of the defendant within the UK. The only difference cited within is the procedure where the defendant is in another EU country (except for some reason Denmark).

I think you should be OK but it might be worth seeing if the NI courts service could give you further advice. I am thinking of a law degree for next year, but sadly thus far I don't have a legal background so I wouldn't want to say definitely yea or nay.