Damaged Item, Cant pay for it

[Deleted User]

I ordered a roboraptor (used) on ebay. I paid for it using the given paypal email on the listing. It turned up, the roboraptor did not work. It was packaged in a large box with no packing (rattled around in it), with the tail sticking out of the box and the brown tape was undone in places.

Went I put in batteries, the roboraptor would not walk in a straight line and only on laminate floor. It seemed to move clumsily. I had needed this for a birthday present so ordered a replacement new raptor from Amazon. When it turned up, it walked in a straight line and moved (wiggled, attacked etc) as you'd expect. The one from ebay didn't.

The seller had not taken the payment, I cancelled it. Many emails later ebay is telling me I have to pay return postage, even though the item is damaged. I have since found out the paypal email the seller gave on the listing is not a legitimate email address, so I couldn't pay them if I wanted to (I made a second paypal payment that wasn't taken, tried to send a copy of the transaction showing it was pending to the sellers email address given on paypal and it was returned as 'not valid')

Ebay are telling me I have to return the roboraptor (which is large, its not going to be cheap), pay the postage and just cross my fingers the seller without a paypal email address will refund the money!

Is this legal? I thought if goods were damaged, the return postage had to be paid by the seller? What happened to buyer protection?

pinkshoes

Have you opened a dispute for SNAD?

makeyourdaddyproud

Could you try calling eBay and asking for a postage label?

theonlywayisup

deannatrois wrote: »

Ebay are telling me I have to return the roboraptor (which is large, its not going to be cheap), pay the postage and just cross my fingers the seller without a paypal email address will refund the money!

No, eBay are not telling you that.

As above, have you opened a case?

soolin

I'm sure the regulars will correct me if I'm wrong, but firstly ebay are unlikely to be intervening once a refund is issued, and secondly , under UK law you are only obliged to make the item available for the seller to collect. So a brief response to seller stating that item is available for collection if they give you a choice of dates and times to ensure you are available.

gazfocus

If you have the money back from the transaction, I would do as Soolin suggests and email the seller, stating the item is available for him to collect and is in the same packaging as you received it.

[Deleted User]

Please note, that I cancelled the second paypal payment because when I tried to send an email direct to the seller (after he asked me which email addy I'd sent the payment to and I couldn't do this via ebay messaging because it won't allow you to give email addresses) using the paypal email address given on the listing, it was returned as not existing (the email address).

I was told in ebay chat, by a representative that i could cancel the payment.

[FONT=&quot](MEMBER) : seller accepts this after I sent him pictures of unopened box
(AGENT) : About your query, it shows here the payment is still in pending status which means you have an option to cancel it anytime as the sellers email address wasnt confirmed yet or theyve provided an invalid email address.
(MEMBER) : yes but then I get into trouble for not paying I think. I did cancel the first paypal payment because seller did not accept, I can send a pic of this if you want, this is the second payment I made in hope of getting the returns procedure started
(AGENT) : As of now, the seller didnt receive your payment as it shows its in unclaimed status. The seller needs to confirm their email address so they can receive it or register the email theyve used.
(AGENT) You dont have to worry as we can see that youve paid the item which means if the seller will try to open a case against you, simply inform us so we can help you to remove it.

[/FONT]Its as if, in spite of my repeated attempts to explain the whole situation, they are unable to see anything but rule 1.., or rule 2.., whichever they happen to be looking at at the time (like telling me to go thru their returns procedure when at the time I couldn't pay for the item and so couldn't go thru returns procedure, now there's the false email address problem, I don't feel safe sending money to this person).

The seller has now sent me an invoice. I don't want to touch this with a barge pole. Don't trust this seller an inch, but ebay sent me this just before the bank holiday :

[FONT=Arial, Verdana][FONT=Arial, Verdana][FONT=Arial, Verdana]

Thank you for contacting eBay Customer Service regarding the roboraptor (item xxx) you purchased from <ebay seller> . I'm sorry to hear that you received a defective item and I understand that you don't want to shoulder the return postage cost. Please allow me to assist you.

Before I proceed, I would like to apologise about the recent email you received regarding in this transaction. I have reviewed this transaction and can see that you haven't yet filed a return request for this transaction, also I can see here that you haven't yet paid for this transaction according to our system. Please note that to avail of eBay Money Back Guarantee, you'll first need to return the item to the seller and file a case within the timeframe.

As such, I hope you can understand that returning the item back to the seller is the buyer’s responsibility, including postage cost, unless an agreement has been reached with the seller. In some circumstances, sellers may refund buyers for return postage. You must contact the seller directly to possibly negotiate this additional refund (sellers are not obliged to accept such agreements).

I suggest you contact your seller to explain what’s happened and try to work things out with them as often issues like this can be resolved quickly over the telephone. You can request the seller's contact information by using this link:

I keep sending them evidence (pictures of the parcel when it arrived), the chat conversation above when I was told I could cancel the paypal payment, that they could see it was still pending because the seller hadn't sent a confirmation email, but they are ignoring that the item was defective. Just keep telling me to return it and pay for postage.

[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
At the moment, I haven't even received the credit for the second cancelled paypal transaction, its on hold. Now the seller has sent me an invoice for another payment lol. Its quite ridiculous.

I will send the thing back if I have to, and pay for postage, if I have to, but I don't see that this is legally correct. Can anyone help me?

Also the way it stands I can see myself having the money taken out of my account by ebay for the raptor because I haven't followed their returns procedure (because now, according to their records I haven't paid for it so once again, I can't, I know it sounds overly suspicious but I now don't trust anything this seller does). I don't know which way to turn. This seller may have made a mistake, but he could also be totally dishonest. He hasn't many transactions on his account. In 1,300 transactions, thank god, this has never happened to me before lol.

The last thing I want to do is contact the man on the telephone. I'm really not good on the phone (I have ASD).

I have now closed my ebay account. I won't buy again through them, seeing how little protection buyers have.

soolin

I will send the thing back if I have to, and pay for postage, if I have to, but I don't see that this is legally correct. Can anyone help me?

Posts 5 and 6

19lottie82

deannatrois wrote: »

seeing how little protection buyers have.

I actually spat out my coffee there, laughing!

pinkshoes

I am lost!

Are you saying you have the (faulty) item, have not had to pay, but are unhappy so you have closed your ebay account???

As already advised, contact the seller and ask them to arrange collection of the item. The item is faulty so it is their responsibility. Likewise, the might want to send you a prepaid postage label.

tykesi

Pity such a long standing member doesn't have the courtesy to actually read and digest the responses given and just carries on stropping incoherently.