Help!! eBay buyer threatening court action

porto_bello

utab007 wrote: »

threatening to leave me negative feedback unless I compensate him.

This is feedback extortion (as well as financial extortion). I suggest you contact eBay by phone and draw their attention to the buyer's specific comments, which detail the intention to 'neg' you, if you don't hand over money.

As for the court threat situation, I doubt the buyer would try it. Frankly, the way they have behaved is less than shrewd and their conduct seems to have weakened their chances at every step. Since the buyer is all about making easy money, I doubt they'd take a chance on losing a lot of money in a courtroom.

I suspect this is something of a routine of theirs - usually they get told to do one, but sometimes they succeed in picking someone naive enough to give in.

richto

oldone wrote: »

The buyer says he stripped the engine and found the cambelt stripped.This would indicate he has an above average mechanical knowledge,so when in pieces why did he not put on a new cambelt instead of claiming the car is only worth scrap value.

To be honest, the minute a buyer starts talking of a partial refund they are after a discount. Either they are happy with the purchase, or if they are not, they would be wanting to return for a full refund.

O.P. I would not worry about court cases, cambelt changes etc. and just wait for either e-bay to communicate, or court papers to arrive.

My own opinion is that he has not looked at the cambelt. He has heard a rattling noise -which could be anything on a car that age - and decided he would like some money off.

If you do feel you need to respond just ask him to return the car in the condition you sold it to him for a full refund as e-bay would ask if he opened a SNAD case. The return would be at his expense as this is a private sale, something e-bay would confirm.

Do not make any offers of partial refunds, or petrol money, as this would imply you accept the validity of his complaints.

Quite and this is not something clearly that even he was aware of without stripping the engine - so by inference not something you woudl be aware of.

Your advert does NOT say that the vehicle was 'well maintained' - only that you have completed specific works, and that it 'runs well'. Which as the buyer purchased it after inspection seems a reasonable claim.

Tell him to go jump - used cars are "Sold as seen".

Do not refund him anything. You have done nothing wrong.

richto

porto_bello wrote: »

This is feedback extortion (as well as financial extortion). I suggest you contact eBay by phone and draw their attention to the buyer's specific comments, which detail the intention to 'neg' you, if you don't hand over money.

As for the court threat situation, I doubt the buyer would try it. Frankly, the way they have behaved is less than shrewd and their conduct seems to have weakened their chances at every step. Since the buyer is all about making easy money, I doubt they'd take a chance on losing a lot of money in a courtroom.

I suspect this is something of a routine of theirs - usually they get told to do one, but sometimes they succeed in picking someone naive enough to give in.

They would have to pay the court fees, and visit your local small claims court - no doubt an inconvenience for them - plus they have no case at all. You shoudl also tell them that you will apply for the £150 you can claim in lost salary if you win should they do that....

utab007

I just finished an online chat with customer services at eBay.

They again told me the best way to proceed is to raise a unpaid dispute to get my negative feedback removed. This time I told him very clearly that payment has already been made for the item, so I don't think this makes sense for me. But he still insisted it would be the best option for me. I asked for a quick overview of the process and he said the following:

Once the case is open, you can close it after four days. Once the case is closed, you as the seller will be compensated by receiving a final value fee credit so that you will no longer be invoiced for the final value fee.

The non-paying buyer will also be sanctioned by having an unpaid item record placed on his account for not paying for your item. Once he accumulates multiple unpaid item records, his account will be restricted for unpaid items.

And after the case close just contact us again for it's removal

Should I proceed as advised???

richto

Yes, ebay are basically saying that because he didnt pay by Paypal, he cant prove he paid so you can screw him over lol. Quite amusing that they would advise you to do that...

RFW

utab007 wrote: »

Once the case is open, you can close it after four days. Once the case is closed, you as the seller will be compensated by receiving a final value fee credit so that you will no longer be invoiced for the final value fee.

The non-paying buyer will also be sanctioned by having an unpaid item record placed on his account for not paying for your item. Once he accumulates multiple unpaid item records, his account will be restricted for unpaid items.

And after the case close just contact us again for it's removal

Should I proceed as advised???

I'd follow their advice and keep a record of the chat transcript in case any problems crop up, just say you were following their advice.

purple321

I think that's really bad advice, why would you want to aggrevate him more now that he's gone quiet?! Cos he's not going to be happy to get a strike is he? Online chats with ebay are useless, you should phone and keep trying until you get an Irish voice.

hubb

Looking at the buyer's grammar and punctuation I doubt very much his standing as a balif.

plumface

richto wrote: »

Yes, ebay are basically saying that because he didnt pay by Paypal, he cant prove he paid so you can screw him over lol. Quite amusing that they would advise you to do that...

I wouldn't say amusing,i would say illegal.
What the CS rep is asking you to do is wrong,wrong,wrong.
Lets say in the OP that the seller is lying,is a terrible seller and knew all about the problems.The buyer would have at least a 'moral' case for a refund.
Ebay then tell the 'bad' seller to lie,get a deserved neg removed,saddle their buyer with a false NPB and get their fees back.
Ebay,or at least the rep should be ashamed of themselves. :mad:

Irn-Bru-Kid

hubb wrote: »

Looking at the buyer's grammar and punctuation I doubt very much his standing as a balif.

The grammar and punctuation may be a little off, but the buyer can spell Bailiff correctly