Ebay faulty goods - who is responsible to pay for return?

kriss1977

I recently bought an electrical item from a registered business seller on Ebay which overheated and blew up (well, made a loud bang and stopped working!)

It is under 12month warranty with them so the seller has said they will replace it with a new one if I pay the postage costs for delivery of the new one but as postage costs for the original item were free I am reluctant to pay it.

They state they will not want the faulty item returning if I pay for delivery on the new item claiming it will save me these postage costs. However I took the old item to the Post Office and they said it would cost less to return the old item.

Plus if the item is faulty, shouldn't they really be paying the postage for the return of the faulty item as well as the delivery of the replacement?

This is what they had stated on Ebay - which sounds like they only don't refund postage if you change your mind which isn't the case in this situation:

1) All items come with a 12 month warranty covering manufacturing defects only. This warranty excludes any damage caused by the user.
2) Returning your item for any other reason within 7 days from receipt we will refund you less the P&P.
3) Prior to any return please get in touch with us via e-mail, so we can help you quickly and efficiently. We aim to deal with all e-mails on a 48hr turn around Monday to Friday

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traceya89

i bought an item that did not work when i got it. i am still in dispute with the seller over the postage and packing as i was charged £15 for the item to be delivered (well over the top charge, but i agreed to it). she has refunded me for the item but so far i am in dispute over the £15 p and p charge. i contacted ebay who told me i had to return the item and once the item was returned then i could address the p and p issue with ebay. paypal are not interested in my problem.

i dont see why the buyer should have to pay for p and p when the item is faulty.

waiting to see what experienced ebayers have to say about this matter!!

Crowqueen

Legally the seller is obliged to post a replacement at their expense, but the only way you can enforce this is to bring it to the small claims court.

As for #2, you can probably get your original delivery costs back through Paypal by filing a Not As Described claim, as long as you returned the item tracked and it shows as having been delivered to the seller.

I fully agree with both of you, but unfortunately without enforcement by eBay and Paypal, this means bad sellers can do this.

What might be worth in case #1 doing is writing a letter before action to threaten the seller with legal action should he force you to pay for the delivery of a replacement. That costs nothing, it can be done by you without input from a solicitor, but keep it short and to the point.

mobile48

Crowqueen wrote: »

Legally the seller is obliged to post a replacement at their expense, but the only way you can enforce this is to bring it to the small claims court.

Posted for comments only - no idea how it works myself. If you brought using a visa debit card can you instead do a charge back via your bank?

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/paypal-chargeback/

Crowqueen

mobile48 wrote: »

Posted for comments only - no idea how it works myself. If you brought using a visa debit card can you instead do a charge back via your bank?

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/paypal-chargeback/

Yup - but that doesn't solve the problem of being forced to pay for the replacement, as in #1.

I agree in #2 that would help but you wouldn't be able to reclaim the return P&P, only the initial payment, and they would be better to initiate a Paypal or eBay dispute as their first course of action.

diamond_mum

I sold on behalf of my sis in law last year some ghd's. I tested them just before I packed and posted, worked fine. I packed well and off they went. Buyer mailed me to say quiet angrily they were not working demanded a full refund. I explained I tested them before I sent them. I will give her a full refund is she returns them, which she did via recorded delivery. They came back not working so I refunded her in full plus her cost to post them back to me. Wasn't her fault they weren't working.

mobile48

Crowqueen wrote: »

Yup - but that doesn't solve the problem of being forced to pay for the replacement, as in #1.

I agree in #2 that would help but you wouldn't be able to reclaim the return P&P, only the initial payment, and they would be better to initiate a Paypal or eBay dispute as their first course of action.

Surely they would get all their money back including postage without having to return (the seller would be responsible for collecting the item). They could use the money to buy a replacement if required.

I agree it is best to open a dispute first but if seller does not agree to pay for return then the question I have is this an option or not? [I do not know the answer myself].