Returning an item

M12345

I bought a mobile phone from ebay in September. The seller was based in China but the item was based in Cardiff, UK.

In November I discovered the phone had malware preinstalled. At this point the ebay returns policy had ran out but the PayPal returns policy, which is 180 days, hadn't.

After opening a PayPal dispute, PayPal decided in my favour to give me a full refund, but instead of returning the phone to a UK location, they said I had to send it to China and cover the cost of tracked shipping myself. I don't believe I should have to send it to China when the stock was located here and since their stock was located here they would legally have to pay VAT here, which I think further proves the location it's returned to should not have to be China.

Is there a law or consumer act that means as the item was sold from a location in the UK and taxable in the UK it should only have to be returned to a location in the UK, despite where the seller is located?

wealdroam

M12345 wrote: »

I bought a mobile phone from ebay in September. The seller was based in China but the item was based in Cardiff, UK.

In November I discovered the phone had malware preinstalled. At this point the ebay returns policy had ran out but the PayPal returns policy, which is 180 days, hadn't.

After opening a PayPal dispute, PayPal decided in my favour to give me a full refund, but instead of returning the phone to a UK location, they said I had to send it to China and cover the cost of tracked shipping myself. I don't believe I should have to send it to China when the stock was located here and since their stock was located here they would legally have to pay VAT here, which I think further proves the location it's returned to should not have to be China.

Is there a law or consumer act that means as the item was sold from a location in the UK and taxable in the UK it should only have to be returned to a location in the UK, despite where the seller is located?

If you want to take advantage of Paypal's return policies then you will have to abide by their rules.

If you do not want Paypal's help, then of course you are free to negotiate with the seller about where to return it.

It is highly likely that the seller knows that Paypal will insist on a return to China, so may not be inclined to help.

Your other option may be to explore the laws of China re consumer rights.

I believe your mentioning of vat is unimportant.

M12345

wealdroam wrote: »

If you want to take advantage of Paypal's return policies then you will have to abide by their rules.

If you do not want Paypal's help, then of course you are free to negotiate with the seller about where to return it.

It is highly likely that the seller knows that Paypal will insist on a return to China, so may not be inclined to help.

Your other option may be to explore the laws of China re consumer rights.

I believe your mentioning of vat is unimportant.

I thought the VAT would play a part in proving the sale of the item was in the UK as I believe if I bought it directly from China they wouldn't have to pay UK or EU VAT but if stock is located here they must be VAT registered in this country? I thought there would have been something that meant I would legally only have to return it to the country where the item was located.

The seller has already made it clear they want me to send it to China, so there's no chance of sorting it with them.

The other thing is the phone cost me £65 with free UK delivery but to send it to China with tracking, which is required, it would cost me upwards of £50 that I don't get back, making it pointless.

bris

Ebay and Paypal are their own law so what you think may be correct but it will not get you a refund unless you do as they say.


They will also want it tracked and delivery confirmation uploaded.


The Coventry base is just a holding and shipping centre, the head office is in China and just like Amazon and God knows how many other large retailers the UK laws don't apply to them.