Ebay Unpaid item-DEBT COLLECTION AGENCY

sdd7677

I bought one item from ebay worth 100 EURO from german seller in october 2010 and couldn't complete the transaction due to misleading information about the postage. He opened the unpaid item dispute and later case was closed by ebay. I never received the item from seller.

Today(after 8 months), I recevied the letter in the post from german company (mediafinanz) who claimed that they have been assigned with collection of an outstanding payment for the goods sold by their client :eek: !!! I have never seen any debt collection letter but this seem dreadful to me as it goes on and on regarding civil process order-bailiffs and the effect of non payment on credit rating.

I don't know where do I stand with this. Thanks to MSE, as I understand consumer rights to distance selling regulations, but this seem complicated to me and never heard of. I never received goods so I don't have to pay- which is my initial understanding and there is no way I am going to pay 156 EURO (this is demanded including all charges) .

What is the best way to deal with this? To whom do I complain about this if I receive chain of letters.

I am thinking of emailing the collector company to explain the situation that way I will be on safer side. But, I am getting so stressed thinking about bailifs knocking on door and any difficulty that I may face.

I would appreciate your help with this. THANKS

macfly

There won't be any bailiffs. They would have to apply to a British court for an order. Ignore it totally. Do not encourage them with a reply.

theonlywayisup

As macfly says. Do not acknowledge, reply or complain. Simply ignore.

sdd7677

Thanks for the reply.
In the above mentioned case, Have I done anything unlawful here that I have to worry about? According to my knowledge I haven't but would appreciate if others can point out.

As I informed to the seller about order cancellation, I think I am well within british law (DSR) right of cancellation .

Also, What could be the possible harm apart from nonsense letters? I am so worried that couldn't have proper dinner and jumped back to computer to see any reply to my post....

G51shopaholic

I would contact ebay and confirm what they did re unpaid dispute as you must have paid for it, did you open case for non delivery?

If seller couldn't provide proof of delivery then you would have got a refund but seller would have had option to send out another item.

It happened to me with goods from China, which turned out to be fake - and initially seller said they were uk based - took a little fighting with ebay but I got my money back.

Ignore the letter from debt agency but getting information from ebay to back you up incase you need it.

Is the seller still registered on ebay? Not suggesting you contact them but handy to know.

hermione987uk

If you buy goods online, UK law is usually applied unless the trader states they are trading from another country. The trader should say which country's law applies on their website (or in this case the listing) or in any contracts they send. (even then I dont believe in germany they can chase you for payment on something you have never recieved.)

You can also contact Consumer Direct, the government funded consumer advice service just to check where you stand on all this, but like others have said I would just ignore any letters.

theonlywayisup

With all due respect G51, the OP need do nothing.

G51shopaholic

Sorry just re-read your post.

When you bid on something from ebay you are entering a contract to buy that item.

As you did not complete the transaction you broke your end of the contract and hence the seller is basically "sueing" you.

normally this would just result in the seller leaving negative feedback 4 u - but i guess the person is really !!!!!! off!

RFW

There really doesn't sound like anything needs to be done, they have your details and are chancing it. At a guess I'd say you may get one more letter and that will be it. No one will go to the trouble involved in cross country legal action for such a small amount of money even if it was easy to prove you owed it, which you clearly don't.

G51shopaholic

theonlywayisup wrote: »

With all due respect G51, the OP need do nothing.

He bid & won the item, hence the contact to buy is made.

Non payers are a pain on ebay, this is an example of a seller who is after their pound of flesh!

sdd7677

Thanks for all the replies.
I think I will leave as it is. I never received the item so I am not obliged to pay anything. From some posts, I can understand unpaid item is issue on ebay but in this case it's seller demanded more money (£15 for postage) after winning an auction to post item ( item listed as UK free posting) that was the only reason of non payment.

I also checked the history of the case in resolution centre. The case was closed by ebay and there wasn't any unpaid item strike on this.