Foreign Ebay seller threatens to sue me

JimXX

Hey everyone,

I bought a bunch of items from a seller in a buy it now listing via Ebay UK.
The seller is based in Germany.
The pictures in the listing showed a job lot of items, I took it to the check out, left a message to the seller asking to pack them carefully.

Straight after that I had to send him a request to cancel the order.

I do not speak German but after going back to the item details page, google translate showed the seller states some of the items on the pictures are not going to be included in the sale. The lack of those items made the purchase pointless.

The seller got back to me but apparently he did not see the second message coming in because he replied he will pack the items carefully.

I sent him the same cancel request again.

He did not reply until the next day, saying my message came in late and he already has a shipping label and he will send the items, saying he thinks it's still a great deal.

I requested a cancellation again and told him I believe his listing was misleading, he should have used pictures of the actual items on sale only.
I told him if he is indeed not sending all the items I will have no choice but to open the appropriate case later.

He said he is sending this anyway and was not willing to cancel.

I received a package, out of the things he sent the most valuable one had a mechanical fault not detailed in the listing. I said to myself this is just fantastic, if I open an item "not as described" case he will think I made this up, but this is actually the truth, he had no idea what he is selling or he knew about the fault and not mentioned, who knows.

I was careless not reading the full description at the beginning but I am also not going to keep a defective item, case opened.

He goes on and on saying he stated he is a private seller, no return etc. Told him he sold these items as "used" and they should be fully functional. He didn't care.
Obviously Ebay was asked to step in, ruled on my favour. Seller lives in Germany, Ebay can't provide a label. Sent a message to the seller, told him how much shipping will be and asked him to issue the cost via PayPal. No reply, Ebay refunds me in 5 days.

Message goes to the seller, I tell him I do not wish to keep what is not mine, but he has an obligation to cover return costs if what he sold is defective. Told him the items will be available for 30 days and asked him to send the shipping fee again.

He gets back saying he did not agree with the refund, quotes me German law saying now I have the money and the item so he has a right to take me to court and all that. He says he wants me to pay him again or else gets a lawyer.

I got back to him saying the Distance Selling Regulations state he should cover return shipping since he sold a defective item but I am going be good and just send this back now and pay for it myself. Told him if he does not take this offer I honestly don't believe a judge would look at him too favourably because this would cost him nothing, he would just block the return otherwise.

UK law states something similar about these refunds forced by Ebay I am aware of that, but I also made efforts to send this back to him and I even offered to pay for return as a last resort.

Does he have a case if he tells me not to send it back but pay him again instead? How does this work anyway if I am in the UK and he is in Germany? Would he make a case through a UK court?

Thanks a lot.

theonlywayisup

A lot of text.

It seems you cancelled directly after purchase and then decided the item wouldn't be what you thought you had purchased anyway?

This bit loses me...

I was careless not reading the full description at the beginning but I am also not going to keep a defective item, case opened.

You get a refund without a return.

And again I am lost....

Does he have a case if he tells me not to send it back? How does this work anyway if I am in the UK and he is in Germany? Would he make a case through a UK court?

Did he tell you to 'not' send it back?

dlusman

Chances of him opening a court case are slim to negligible.

Why did you say you would return at your cost ?

You are under no obligation to do this.

If he isnt willing to pay for the return just keep the stuff and forget about it


( You would probaby have won a "not as described" case even if everything was working , based on the photos not being accurate )

JimXX

It seems you cancelled directly after purchase and then decided the item wouldn't be what you thought you had purchased anyway?

Okay, so I sent him a cancellation request after the purchase because I realised he is not selling what he is showing on the pictures.
He didn't cancel and what he sent me is actually defective.

You get a refund without a return.

And again I am lost....

Ebay automatically refunded me because the seller did not provide a way on time to send the items back. This probably wouldn't have happened if the seller would be UK based, instead of the refund I would have gotten a label automatically.

Did he tell you to 'not' send it back?

He says he is not paying for return, he wants me to pay him the purchase price instead.
He has not replied yet to my offer saying I would cover the return cost

Why did you say you would return at your cost ?

.

Because if there is a 1% chance he is a fool enough to take me to court, I want to prove I went way out of my way to resolve this. And this is actually the truth. I really can't do more to resolve this and the offer was genuine.

You would probaby have won a "not as described" case even if everything was working , based on the photos not being accurate

I am aware of this. But on top of the items not being accurately represented I felt the fault is also equally serious and I could only open one type of a case.

If he isnt willing to pay for the return just keep the stuff and forget about it

I can't actually do that, even if Ebay says so. Ebay is not the law of the land, I know that.
But I also don't want to hold on to these items forever. That could possibly give him grounds for a claim since I have been refunded and I have the items. This is the same in the UK not just in Germany I believe.

dlusman

JimXX wrote: »

I can't actually do that, even if Ebay says so. Ebay is not the law of the land, I know that.

Yes - but seller is unwilling to pay for return , so you are in the clear ?

JimXX

Yes - but seller is unwilling to pay for return , so you are in the clear ?

Not quite, because he can change his mind and claim his gear even after years I read.
And if I can't come up with it I could be in trouble. A judge would probably throw that out straight if he would really wait that much time to give me refund money but I am no expert.

Spoonie_Turtle

If the seller is desperate enough to want his stuff back, paying for the postage would surely be cheaper than legal action!

JimXX

paying for the postage would surely be cheaper than legal action

How would this go down, like theoretically if he would really make a case out of it?
He would make some claim through a German court or he would be required to file in the UK?

Spoonie_Turtle

JimXX wrote: »

How would this go down, like theoretically if he would really make a case out of it?
He would make some claim through a German court or he would be required to file in the UK?

Not a clue! I don't know much about civil action (or any kind of legal action) but common sense would say: You have the messages to prove you opened your case against him in the required time frame, so he had his chance and didn't take it. By eBay terms he was required to pay for the postage to get the items back and he refused, so what could he possibly do about it? You're not holding onto the items because you don't want to give them back, you're just holding them until he pays for postage.

If he did try anything I'm sure he'd lose his eBay account and be barred from selling. Even as a private seller, the loss of any future money from sales would outweigh just paying the postage.

GabbaGabbaHey

JimXX wrote: »

I got back to him saying the Distance Selling Regulations state he should cover return shipping

If you are going to try to quote the law in a dispute, then you should at least be aware that the Distance Selling Regulations have not applied since 12 June 2014, when they were replaced by the Consumer Contracts Regulations.

elsien

Maybe in future you should make the effort to read the actual listing before buying, not afterwards.