Sold car on ebay - buyer wants money back

markfj

Hi Guys

Just looking for some more expert knowledge

Basically Ive sold a catering van on eBay which was picked up last week, on ebay it sold for £2K but when the buyer came to collect he claimed to be a mechanic, and the van did in fairness overheat while being tested.

We only bought the van ourselves a few months back and we had issues with overheating, we had it fixed by a mechanic our end and it was only when the new buyers came to collect it overheated again, so after some negotiating we agreed that while we thought the overheating has been fixed we would take £1800 to allow them to get it fixed and not be out of pocket.

They have sent an email today saying that they want their money back has their mechanic friend says the head gasket has gone and will costs £600 to fix.

The points you might need to know:
- The ad didn't mentioned any overheating as we had fixed and provided a receipt of this when buying and we had used the van for a month or so after without problems

- He and his friend, saw a problem when they came to pick up the van and agreed a reduced price because of this

- They paid in cash

So Im not sure on the legalities of it all, ofcourse I wouldn't have sold him a van we thought was dodgy, but as far as we were aware it was working fine

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks
Mark

spacey2012

I would say as you negotiated a new price, that took the sale outside of E-bay and it became a new transaction and as it was a private sale :
Caveat Emptor

Enjoy the van or if you want E-bay policies, you still owe £200.

scheming_gypsy

buyer beware on eBay if you're a private seller.

Tell him to sling it. The van overheated (i knew it was head gasket and how the rest of the post was going at that point).
The van sold for 2k, he came and inspected and paid you £1800 for it and should have a receipt to show that?

He came down, inspected the van and took it away after accepting the condition and the head gasket went a week later.

OlliesDad

spacey2012 wrote: »

I would say as you negotiated a new price, that took the sale outside of E-bay and it became a new transaction and as it was a private sale :
Caveat Emptor

Enjoy the van or if you want E-bay policies, you still owe £200.

How does the OP owe £200?? He was the seller!

OP, as mentioned, as you agreed a new price taking into account the faults the van has I would say that you are covered.

I am not sure a catering van sale would be seen as a private sale either.

DKLS

As per Gypsy tell him to do one.

markfj

Thanks for your input guys

He said it took him 2.5 hours to travel 45miles home, as we bought the van under similar circumstances but I didnt take any action on the seller when we bought it as we too, paid cash and test drove it abit and was working fine until on the motorway

I am gutted the mechanic we took it to, obviously hasn't fixed it properly, because last thing we wanted to sell a van that doesn't work, but same time he knew there was a problem and agreed to buy it

Thanks again

spacey2012

OlliesDad wrote: »

How does the OP owe £200?? He was the seller! :rotfl:
No the Buyer paid £200 less than the E-bay sale thus creating a new offer.

thanks for the laugh tho..

scheming_gypsy

markfj wrote: »

Thanks for your input guys

He said it took him 2.5 hours to travel 45miles home,

and that's when he should have called you to tell you there was a problem.

markfj

Thanks again

Just a quick one

I will tell him pretty much what has been said, and what I thought in the first place, obviously he wont be happy about this and I am sure will try making a claim through ebay.

When the claim comes through, is it best to just explain to them the situation as I have here?

markfj

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

and that's when he should have called you to tell you there was a problem.

Hi

He did email me that same day to say it had overheated twice, and asked what we had done to the van to get it working

I emailed him back an hour later and said that any overheating we know of had been fixed, and we provided all paperwork to show that

And I also said as there was a mechanic that view it, they'd have a better idea than i do.

This is him today just getting back in touch

scheming_gypsy

what make of van is it?
it'd be worth finding out how much it costs for a head gasket repair so you've got some information ready for his reply and then:

1 - a head gasket repair costs £xxx
2 - you reduced the price by £200
3 - your mechanic mate told you it was a head gasket issue so you'll get mates rates

full price repair = £xxx - £200 - mates rates and leave it to him to try and justify the cost. If the quotes come back at £250 you can always offer him a £50 refund as he'd already got £200 knocked off because it was overheating.... make sure it's on email though so there's a paper trail of the conversation.