Been conned UPDATED with seller response

Hollie84

I bought a game from an ebay seller,when the game arrived the board was broken and there were parts missing,it said nothing in the item description.i contacted the buyer who told me they 'wasnt aware' they told me to send back for a refund,i checked that they was aware they would have to refund my return costs also to which she said 'send back as cheap as possible' i told her that it doesnt work that way due to ebay's policies.i have had to fight to get my refund which i had to open a case for to which i was only refunded what i paid and the original postage,i have contacted the seller asking for my £5.30 postage costs to be returned to which ive had no luck.ive contacted ebay who i did mention to in my original email the total amount i wanted refunding.they have told me that ebay only refund the original amount and anymore is down to the seller to sort basically so they instructed me to contact the seller by telephone and low and behold there is no contact information.im so angry,yes its only £5.30 but why should i be out of pocket! any advice.have emailed ebay letting them know there is no contact information

RFW

If it's a business seller contact Trading Standards, you may be stuck though. The seller should refund your postage but only by taking them to court can you force the issue, and you're not likely to do that for a fiver.

Trading Standards and/or Ebay could scare them into refunding you but that's about all you've got.

As I understand Ebay are looking into being able to refund a return postage but it is a minefield as honest sellers won't be too happy at having a sum held by Ebay for return refunds.

Meadows

Was is a private seller? Unfortunately they do not have to pay the return postage even if the item is faulty. EBay would tell you to return the item (at your cost) and provide proof of posting/delivery before they would action a claim for the original cost to be refunded, this is why unfortunately you have to weigh up the cost of is it cheaper to keep or return.

A good seller might refund but not too much you can do if they do not (similar with Amazon market place, the only amount you can refund to a buyer is up to the whole amount of the initial sale!).

Until they change the system then the buyer can well be out of pocket for a damaged item through no fault of their own!

Hollie84

I really had no idea of this,ive always been quite lucky when it comes to faulty items.i may just have to take this one on the chin then and put it down to experience.it really is unfair.the item was just over £8 with P+P but the game at original cost was £20 so as u can imagine i thought great,bargain, especially as my daughter has been bugging me for it for ages.o well guess there feedback and stars will take a knock,not very good for there 14 feedback score.

It was a private seller yes.

RFW

With a private seller it is more difficult to enforce the law, if you haven't left feedback/stars yet then I'd send a reminder asking for the refund of postage. If that fails leave neg and low stars and see if they try and get a retraction from you. If they are regular sellers they won't want to harm their account for a fiver.

Hollie84

RFW wrote: »

With a private seller it is more difficult to enforce the law, if you haven't left feedback/stars yet then I'd send a reminder asking for the refund of postage. If that fails leave neg and low stars and see if they try and get a retraction from you. If they are regular sellers they won't want to harm their account for a fiver.

Thanks,no feedback left yet,they have left mine anyway but doesnt matter on that.messaged them yesterday so will give them another nudge tomorrow then leave feedback tues/weds.not sure how much they have sold as they only have 14feedback so probably not much.from the response i got about sending the item back i dont hold out much hope.

Meadows

Unless you had a good, honest seller (and I guess they are not if they sold you a faulty unchecked game) then as you have been refunded then I doubt you will receive any further refund of cost. So a neg feedback is your only way to go, also word wisely as they could get eBay to remove a negative feedback dependant on what you say (and as the feed back in limited to characters not too much you can say, also remember you can counter feedback and you can also respond to their feed back left for you)
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alykatz

Can i just add please dont mention anything in messages about you leaving a possible neg and bad stars for them. The reason being that it could be viewed as feedback extortion and on this basis a canny seller could get it removed..

epm-84

RFW wrote: »

With a private seller it is more difficult to enforce the law

DSRs apply to UK based companies not to individuals selling stuff they don't want. Even if you buy off a Channel Islands based company like Play.com your legal rights are very limited.

epm-84

Hollie84 wrote: »

i have contacted the seller asking for my £5.30 postage costs to be returned to which ive had no luck.

How does £5.30 compare with the cost of what you were charged for P&P on the item listing and did you use the same method of postage?

freddysmith

The way I read your original post was that they were willing to refund your return postage by "'send back as cheap as possible"
I would have taken them for their word.
You could call their bluff and say they have 2 weeks to refund or I will take this email as evidence to use in court.
It's a hard line but you have nothing to lose.