Do I legally have to Refund a seller??

HS2013

Hi there,

I am after some advice. I recently sold my sewing machine, it was advertised on ebay but the buyer came to my house tried it out and was happy so paid cash and took it away. I wrote the buyer a receipt which stated the make and model of machine the amount the buyer paid and both our names.

The buyer has since come back to me complaining that a specific function isn't working as it should do and is asking me to take back the machine and refund the money paid.

I am reluctant to do this as the buyer tried out the machine and was happy with it at point of purchase. I explained all the functions I previously used on the machine worked fine and the particular function the buyer was talking about was not something I have ever needed to use therefore I wouldn't know if it worked or not.

Am I legally required to refund the money or not? Just to make it clear the buyer paid a fair price even with the potential added cost of the repair to it. Also on my original ebay listing I put no refunds on the advert.

Thank you in advance!

sham63

You're OK - item was 'sold as seen' and payment by cash so they've got no easy way of getting their money back.

ballisticbrian

How long was it before they complained? What exactly is the function? Could it be user error?

nightsong

There is one possible problem here which is - although you are allowed to put "no refunds" it's not legally enforceable. In other words, saying "no refunds" on your listing does not actually mean anything! Ebay Buyer Protection overrides it.

HS2013

nightsong wrote: »

There is one possible problem here which is - although you are allowed to put "no refunds" it's not legally enforceable. In other words, saying "no refunds" on your listing does not actually mean anything! Ebay Buyer Protection overrides it.

Thank you for all your responses. I didn't actually sell it on Ebay though. It was listed on ebay as a buy it now but the buyer came to my house and payed cash and took it away. When they buyer left I ended the auction on ebay as "item is no longer for sale" - so I would have thought the same rules don't apply?

It is just so frustrating as buyer asked to try it out and I gave them plenty of time to play around with it before they agreed to pay. I think I am just going to have to stand my ground with this one.

I have looked in to repair costs for the buyer as a gesture of good will and it should cost the buyer around £50 to fix the problem and that plus the purchase cost it still a good price for the make and model of sewing machine as I wanted a quick sale.

gazzak_2

Sold as seen, end of story. Do not refund.

dizzyrascal

Absolutely NOT!!
It was a private sale and in this case the buyer took the risk so it was sold as seen.
People on here get really worked up about ebay rules but English law over rules them. In a private sale you can refuse to accept the return of goods. You are not a shop, the buyer didn't have to buy it! Simple!!

forgotmyname

If you sold it as all good but its not then i think you should refund them.

With something like that its hard to test everything in a short space of time.

You sold a faulty item and mislead them into thinking its in full working order.

Maybe my morals are better than yours.

pulliptears

'sold as seen' means nothing if the item was described in full working order but actually wasn't (i.e a certain function wasn't operational).
Depending on the wording of your original advert you could find yourself in a small claims court under the misdescriptions act.

CouponWoman

Put the buyer on your block bidder list asap


xx

Owain_Moneysaver

Trade Descriptions Act only applies to businesses.

Sale of Goods Act requires a refund if the product is faulty unless the fault was apparent at the time of purchase. I would say that if the buyer wanted a specific function to work then they should have asked you or tried it out.

What specific claims did you make about the condition of the item on the ebay listing or verbally to the buyer? If you described it as 'good working order' then it clearly isn't.