Ebay refuse refund HELP!!

aj12345

I wondered if anyone could offer advice. I purchased a steam mop from an ebay seller just over a month ago, £61 plus £10 pp, it worked fine to start with but unfortunately developed a fault with 28 days. I contacted the seller to say i would like a refund or a replacement, the seller responded and stated that i should have let him now within a 7 day period as stated on his ebay page. I emailed back and explained again that the product had developed a fault within a resonable amount of time and whas not fit for purpose. He wrote back and said that i may have dropped the item or my children may have played with it and broke it. (how does he know if i have children). I decided to go threw the ebay resolution centre to settle the issue and thought that ebay would back me up as according to the sales and goods act the item is faulty and should be fit for purpose. Frustratingly ebay have found in favour of the seller and said that i had used the item a couple of times. This is surely not right. the item i belive to now be dangerous as water and electrics are a bad combination and can only turn the item off via the mains not with the on off button on the steam mop. Please can you offer me some advice as after seeing Martin Lewis on daybreak this morning, he has confirmed what i believe to be the case that because the item i faulty I have rights.

ballisticbrian

I take it as you mention electrical that it is actually an electric mop? And that you bought it from a retailer in the UK?

JimmyTheWig

Was this from a trader, or just a member of the public?
Was it brand new?

aj12345

The steam mop X5 was brand new and purchased from a private ebay seller, who was selling several of the mops at the time.

nikkit72

To be honest if he states a 7 day warranty, then that's what u get from ebay sellers,thats why most are cheaper than shops, if you wanted longer warranty then honestly, you should of paid full price from a retailer, alternatively you can try going direct to the manufacturer, but I think as you bought it off a auction site they will say unfortunately they will have nothing to do with it.

JimmyTheWig

aj12345 wrote: »

The steam mop X5 was brand new and purchased from a private ebay seller, who was selling several of the mops at the time.

If the seller really isn't a trader then I don't think there is much you can do.
Sounds, however, like they are trading without declaring themselves as a trader.
Could possibly take it through small claims court, but I'm not convinced that it would be easy to demonstrate that they were trading.

I guess you could threaten to do this and hope for some sort of refund.
Maybe, given that you've used it for a month, you could offer to split the difference and accept a refund of half the money?

aj12345

Thanks for the advice, i was hoping that the faulty goods , sales and goods act would apply to items purchased off ebay. Ive learnt my lesson and wont be purchasing any electrical items off ebay in future.

JimmyTheWig

In terms of the law, eBay doesn't come into it. You've bought from the person who sold it to you. Your contract was with them.
If they are a business then all the relevant laws apply, the same as if you had bought it from an online shop.
But if they are just a personal seller (e.g. selling an unwanted Christmas present) then you don't get that legal protection.

techspec

You say just over a month - did you file a claim within the 45 days - and did you just say it did not work - or go into details about using it.

Ebay only cover item not received and item not as described. They dont get invloved with warranty.

If you had just said it did not work and filed within 45 days - you would have got your money back upon return.

vickypark3

If the seller had more than one for sell the should have been registered as a business seller, had they been and the item had been purchased as a BIN the seller should comply with distance selling regs however I believe that ebay cannot enforce these rules.

If you funded your payment with a credit/debit card you could try asking the card issuer for help.

Some card issuers will only help when the item is valued over £100 while others may not help where paypal have been involved in the payment process, as ebay have closed the case it is still worth asking though.

[Deleted User]

If you used Paypal they might help. The seller is an account holder and not dealing fairly and that might be good grounds for stopping his account with Paypal. You should tell us who the seller is so we can all avoid him.