eBay Frustrations

ballisticbrian

Sorry to say this Sad_bird but at the point you say this:

I've been a buyer for so long. So i know what kind of service I am looking for.

You overlooked the most important pre-requisite of selling which is you understand the selling process that is called "business." Hard lesson learnt there by the sound of it.


You may not be technically "in business" but you are carrying out a selling transaction which follows these same hard rules (nothing fluffy about it).

RFW

Sad_bird wrote: »

They know that the buyer didn't return the item. They told me to contact law enforcement.
All of this emailing and chatting to ebay and paypal was anyway stressing me out. And now I got to do what?

Long story short. I gave up. 20.00 gone. Oh well. No item returned. My loss.

How do they know the item wasn't returned? You may well have it for all they know.
I think the clue to a scammer was when they asked for a refund by bank transfer, it sounds like you were lucky not to have lost another £20 which you would have done had you made the transfer. I can't see how Ebay or Paypal are at fault on this one, unfortunately for you,

System

I'd like to add that I am at fault for refunding. There's no doubt about that. I am a long time customer of theirs, but brand new to selling. I did some investigation on the seller, looking at their ebay profile. Their account was created on the day they made the purchase. And trust me, I have been told by my own family members of my naive behaviour for refunding.

Its just that I was disappointed as a seller on ebay. When goods don't get returned, ebay can't do anything. Why? Because the buyer didn't file a return case, letting ebay know they are returning the item. So it's entirely upto the buyer to return or not.

As to your question on how ebay know, I have pasted part of the email below on what ebay said:

"I am sorry to learn that you faced inconvenience in this particular transaction and dealing with this buyer; however, I have checked the details and gone through the communication between you and your buyer and could see that you refunded the buyer for this item and buyer has not provided any tracking for the returned item.

As they are not returning the item the best course of action in this scenario would be through Citizen's Advice or through Local Law Enforcement."

(End quote).

I am not pinning the blame on anyone. Its my fault. I was merely expressing my disappointment at the situation. The loss didn't bother me as much as the fact that I couldn't do anything about the situation.

Its also the first time I met a fraud.

If theres any advice I can give to newbies like me. It's don't panic when you meet horrible people. When someone is throwing foul language at you. Don't get traumatised like me. If I didn't refund in that moment, I would be in a better situation.

I am no longer selling on ebay. And honestly, I have lost my confidence to do business. This was a first attempt. And it was not great.

Just sharing my story. I hope I don't upset or offend anyone by sharing my experience here. Expressing my frustration has helped me overcome the whole thing. And I hope people can learn from my mistakes and not do the same.

Lesson? Refund after items are returned.

Have a great day everyone.:j

System

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Sorry to say this Sad_bird but at the point you say this:
You overlooked the most important pre-requisite of selling which is you understand the selling process that is called "business." Hard lesson learnt there by the sound of it.


You may not be technically "in business" but you are carrying out a selling transaction which follows these same hard rules (nothing fluffy about it).

lesson learnt?
They say one needs to fall a few times to learn to stand up? So my fluffy outlook has been peirced with a needle. I hope there's a wall behind that fluffy cloud next time a needle tries to poke me.
Anyway your right. Thanks for the response.
Btw, you sound like you would make an excellent coach. :T:)

MEM62

Update

I received an email from a senior manager at RM stating the tracking number and where the goods had been delivered to. And, of course, it was not to my address.

Apparently this is not good enough for eBay and they will only accept a letter from RM in a very specific format that states the tracking number, the address to which the good should have been delivered and the address to which they were delivered. RM have basically said no. We have confirmed the address to which the delivery has been made and that should be sufficient. I agree and don't blame them.

As it will only cost me £25 I think I am going to run this via the small claims court. I might be on a hiding to nothing but I'll risk £25.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MEM62 wrote: »

Update



As it will only cost me £25 I think I am going to run this via the small claims court. I might be on a hiding to nothing but I'll risk £25.

Assuming you are a consumer it should be an open shut case, risk of goods passes when you as the consumer get your hands on the goods, can't see why the court wouldn't accept the info you have from Royal Mail.

How much was the item?

This is what you need:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/29/enacted

Passing of risk
(1)A sales contract is to be treated as including the following provisions as terms.
(2)The goods remain at the trader’s risk until they come into the physical possession of—
(a)the consumer, or
(b)a person identified by the consumer to take possession of the goods.

This assumes you didn't arrange the courier nor asked for the item to be sent via a courier the seller didn't offer on the listing.

MEM62

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

Assuming you are a consumer it should be an open shut case, risk of goods passes when you as the consumer get your hands on the goods, can't see why the court wouldn't accept the info you have from Royal Mail.

How much was the item?

This is what you need:

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/29/enacted

Passing of risk
(1)A sales contract is to be treated as including the following provisions as terms.
(2)The goods remain at the trader’s risk until they come into the physical possession of—
(a)the consumer, or
(b)a person identified by the consumer to take possession of the goods.

This assumes you didn't arrange the courier nor asked for the item to be sent via a courier the seller didn't offer on the listing.

Thanks for the info. The item value is £60. Not a huge deal in the great scheme of things but, like most people, I don't like being shafted. I did have one last go at trying to get an acceptable document from Royal Mail. However, today they have advised that the particular service that the shipper used does not allow this.

I have registered my details with MCOL and am in the process of raising a claim through the courts.

MEM62

I appreciate all the feedback that I have had on this issue and am please to advise that it has now been resolved.

I had an email from eBay this morning to advise that they had reversed their decision and have given me a refund. Whether this was due to a review of their original decision or as a result of the pre-action protocol letter I sent them I guess I'll never know but I am content that it has been resolved.

I will keep my eBay account open but I will only use it for low value purchases (a few pounds or so) where I can be pragmatic about writing off any losses in the event of an issue as I am not confident that buying on eBay offers the same assurances / protections when buying online as others. I cannot say that my faith in their Buyers Guarantee has been fully restored.