Guarantee for new item from private seller

Crowqueen

She and her uncle should be careful of promising that. Assuming she is only therefore buying to satisfy a market on eBay, that would make her a business. If the items she acquired and sold to you were bought in order to sell on eBay, that would actually mean you still have rights up to six months and possibly beyond that; and she has liability for the item she sold ('fit for purpose' means the buyer can claim that an item was faulty up to six years after purchase but must be able to prove the fault was there on purchase after six months). She would still be liable if the exact same situation happened as now but she had purposely acquired the item to sell to you. No skin off your nose, but it could be an expensive lesson for her, particularly if she is making any taxable income on it and has another job which eats up her personal tax allowance.

Also if he is picking these up from e.g. catalogue returns or factory seconds, then she is going to go to a lot of trouble only to get people upset four months later on items which are faulty.

It's very nice of her but she is exposing herself to a lot of risk.

Mindless_Clone

She didn't make me any promises; she just said she'd ask and if he ever got hold of any again she would let me know. If she does, great, if not, c'est la vie.
She's definitely not a business herself; her uncle may be but I didn't buy off him and he didn't give them to her to sell as a business deal. Her feedback and buy/sell history reflects that she's just your bog standard Joe Public private person who buys and sells the odd thing on ebay (just as I do and countless others).

She's actually gone above and beyond to be helpful to me. Given that she could easily have replied "no sorry I don't have the receipt" and left it at that, I really can't complain and I'm not at all upset by any of this. Buyer beware and all that.

Crowqueen

No, of course not. I'm not worried for her - just that if she should find something for you, and buy it, and sell it to you - that is business and that would give you more rights.

She's effectively acting as a business, whether it's one item or twenty.

I wasn't saying you would be wrong to accept an offier, just expressing concern that she maybe hadn't thought that through since if that happens, you yourself would still have the right to at least a replacement or repair after four months.

It's one thing for her to say that, but if it were her posting here rather than you, I'd warn her to be careful about doing that; even in good faith it would still be her acting as a business.

It's a fine line to tread sometimes but it has significant consequences for the seller so just thought I would add something for posterity if a seller were to read this post being in the opposite position in this situation.

Mindless_Clone

Ah, I see, ok well yes, good to know for reference (for when I set myself up as an entrepreneur... )

I wonder how her uncle works then? It does raise an interesting question about how a business seller can pass on a guarantee if they purchase goods sold as seen.
I have, as I say, bought stuff at an auction before so know it's not guaranteed. I bought a tent recently, and a bag of wedding stuff (my nephew is getting married soon and I am doing the decor for him). I did end up selling on some stuff out of the wedding lot, since I only got it for a couple or things and thought I might as well recoup some of the cost by selling on the unwanted bits. Luckily (I suppose) in my case what I sold on was not electrical or particularly high value - I only did it to, essentially, pay for the initial outlay of the whole lot - spendthrift wedding and all that - but I suppose technically I could have been liable as a business seller in that case? :huh: Am I interpreting that correctly?
It'll certainly make me think twice about selling on anything I get like this in future. Not that I plan to but never say never.

P.S. I keep meaning to comment on your sig. Love that line!