Am I screwed?

ZombieTrev

I recently bought a 250gb ps3 slim for £110 from a guy on ebay. I met him and payed cash and he marked the item as payed for on his ebay account.

I got home to find that the disc drive was faulty and does not read discs.

I messaged the seller and he appollogised and admitted blame and said he would meet me again in a few days as he was working alot until then... I agreed.

Today was the day that we were supposed to meet and I wake up to a text message saying that he is 'unexpectantly going overseas for work' and so he can not meet up.

I have opened a claim on ebay, but it states that 'This item is not covered by eBay Buyer Protection.'

I presume that is because I stupidly did not pay by paypal. If the seller does not comply, will I get the money back? Does the fact that he has marked the item as payed for protect me? Or am I screwed?

Any advice (other than 'next time, pay by paypal') would be greatly appreciated.

Trevor

soolin

If you have a definite geographic address for him and he isn't really going overseas- you could try small claims.

You will have to spend more money though and have no guarantee of recovering that which you have already lost.

QuackQuackOops

Small claims will not cost more money if you are on certain benefits.

Mindless_Clone

Ebay can't make him give the money back as they have no way of reversing the payment. But they can find in your favour and he will get a mark against him for it. And, of course, you can leave appropriate feedback. Cold comfort I know but some satisfaction hastening the demise of his nefarious ebay activities.

Presumably you have his address if you picked up, although I would verify that with his registered address on ebay.
You can still make a claim in small claims court against him if you think it's worth it. I probably would for £110. You would need to ensure the listing stated that it was full working and he misrepresented it but you'd likely win. In fact, if he's not in the country to defend himself you will win.
Meanwhile, it might be worth you looking into replacing the fauly drive (might be cheraper than you think) to salvage something.

marking_bad

Why would a small claims court find in favour of the buyer?

soolin

marking_bad wrote: »

Why would a small claims court find in favour of the buyer?

They probably would, but they are not the ones who sort out the refund. That is another process entirely and having a judgement against someone doesn't guarantee that you will see your funds back.

Obviously_the_best

marking_bad wrote: »

Why would a small claims court find in favour of the buyer?

Because the buyer was mis-sold faulty good, therefore the seller should refund.

marking_bad

Obviously_the_best wrote: »

Because the buyer was mis-sold faulty good, therefore the seller should refund.

And how would the small claim court know without doubt the faulty product was one bought from ebay?

If you're going to force someone to refund, you need proof.

This is real life, not ebay rules.

jonesMUFCforever

marking_bad wrote: »

And how would the small claim court know without doubt the faulty product was one bought from ebay?

If you're going to force someone to refund, you need proof.

This is real life, not ebay rules.

The communication between the buyer and seller will be key here - if he said that he would meet to refund a reasonable person will take this as OP telling the truth and hence he should win in court.

fred7777

marking_bad wrote: »

And how would the small claim court know without doubt the faulty product was one bought from ebay?

They don't need to know without doubt.

Small claims are not criminal courts which require proof beyond reasonable doubt they are civil courts which work on balance of probability.

So if the buyer presents as evidence an ebay listing which matches the physical evidence of the non functioning drive they will accept the drive is the one purchased unless the seller presents evidence it is not.

marking_bad

fred7777 wrote: »

They don't need to know without doubt.

Small claims are not criminal courts which require proof beyond reasonable doubt they are civil courts which work on balance of probability.

They sound like a scammer's dream ticket.

What happens if the court favours the buyer but the seller refuses to refund?