Restricted item, kept by eBay

denisiw

Hi . After contacting eBay to ask why an item I'd sold was not going to be delivered I've been sent the following message. They've given me no explanation as to why a new, unused motorbike carburettor is a restricted item! The message says that the buyer will have his money refunded.  However eBay will NOT return the item to me but I will receive what the buyer has paid! In other words eBay are confiscating the carburettor. Ok they're giving me money for it but I haven't agreed to this, I want the carburettor returned to me. What are my rights?  Thank you in advance for any advice.

RESTRICTED ITEM Dear Denis, We're writing to inform you that your recent transaction sold through the Global Shipping Programme to Y can't be completed. The item in question has been classified as restricted. This could be due to import/delivery restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Programme. The item will not be sent on to its final destination and will not be returned to you. Don’t worry! Your buyer will be notified and refunded automatically by eBay within 72 hours. You will retain the buyer’s original payment. At this time, the transaction is considered complete and no further action is needed. Visit our help page to learn more about item eligibility, dimensional requirements and prohibited items. Dellorto Carburettor ME 18 BS Sold for: £255.00 Item number: 126203506785 Item sold on: 2023-12-04T19:44:46.818Z Quantity sold: 1 Buyer: Y We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you need additional assistance, please visit the Seller Centre.. As always, thank you for selling on eBay. - The Global Shipping Programme team Email reference ID: [#fa82c653607a4f4e9e1aae60bf6ba725#] We don't check replies to this email address, so please don't reply to this message. If you have a question, go to Help & Contact. eBay sent this message to Denis (caulkwight). Learn more about account protection. eBay is committed to your privacy. Learn more about our User Privacy Notice and User Agreement. This email was sent by eBay (UK) Limited, which may use affiliates to provide eBay services. If you reside outside the United Kingdom, please refer to the User Agreement for the contact data of your contracting party. ©1995-2023 eBay Inc., eBay (UK) Limited, 5 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3TW, United Kingdom

MattMattMattUK

denisiw said:

Hi . After contacting eBay to ask why an item I'd sold was not going to be delivered I've been sent the following message. They've given me no explanation as to why a new, unused motorbike carburettor is a restricted item! The message says that the buyer will have his money refunded.  However eBay will NOT return the item to me but I will receive what the buyer has paid! In other words eBay are confiscating the carburettor. Ok they're giving me money for it but I haven't agreed to this, I want the carburettor returned to me. What are my rights?  Thank you in advance for any advice.

RESTRICTED ITEM Dear Denis, We're writing to inform you that your recent transaction sold through the Global Shipping Programme to Y can't be completed. The item in question has been classified as restricted. This could be due to import/delivery restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Programme. The item will not be sent on to its final destination and will not be returned to you. Don’t worry! Your buyer will be notified and refunded automatically by eBay within 72 hours. You will retain the buyer’s original payment. At this time, the transaction is considered complete and no further action is needed. Visit our help page to learn more about item eligibility, dimensional requirements and prohibited items. Dellorto Carburettor ME 18 BS Sold for: £255.00 Item number: 126203506785 Item sold on: 2023-12-04T19:44:46.818Z Quantity sold: 1 Buyer: Y We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you need additional assistance, please visit the Seller Centre.. As always, thank you for selling on eBay. - The Global Shipping Programme team Email reference ID: [#fa82c653607a4f4e9e1aae60bf6ba725#] We don't check replies to this email address, so please don't reply to this message. If you have a question, go to Help & Contact. eBay sent this message to Denis (caulkwight). Learn more about account protection. eBay is committed to your privacy. Learn more about our User Privacy Notice and User Agreement. This email was sent by eBay (UK) Limited, which may use affiliates to provide eBay services. If you reside outside the United Kingdom, please refer to the User Agreement for the contact data of your contracting party. ©1995-2023 eBay Inc., eBay (UK) Limited, 5 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3TW, United Kingdom

For the purposes of clarity, you have the same amount of money as if the item had sold normally and the buyer has a refund? So for you that is the same position as if the item Hadd been sold normally or not. Why are you bothered about trying to get it back if you have the money for it, you were selling it anyway so what difference does it make?

There are many reasons why a product might be prohibited for import to a third party country, without knowing the country in question it is hard to offer any meaningful answers on that question.

Your rights are as they are, you sold an item, in the instance effectively to eBay, this situation is allowed for under their terms and conditions. As far as they and the law are concerned, this is over.

molerat

Agree with above.

Which country were you sending it to ?  It looks like it may be a prohibited item for export / import to that location and EBay have messed up allowing it to be sent there so are allowing you to keep the the money for it and refunding the buyer.  Neither of you are any worse off. 

denisiw

molerat said:

Agree with above.

Which country were you sending it to ?  It looks like it may be a prohibited item for export / import to that location and EBay have messed up allowing it to be sent there so are allowing you to keep the the money for it and refunding the buyer.  Neither of you are any worse off. 

It was going to be sent to the USA.  It's still in the UK, at the Lichfield hub.  It's not an illegal item in the UK!

I was expecting eBay to send the money back to the buyer and send the carburettor back to me.  It's not up to eBay to decide what to do with it, I didn't sell it to eBay, so how can they keep it?

I want to sell the item to the person who wants to use it on his motorbike.  What are eBay going to do with it?   Destroy it?  If that is the case, why?  What right have they got to do that?

tacpot12

If they have a legal right to keep it, it will be in their terms and conditions. If they don't return it, and you sue them the court might only order that they refund the value. 

swingaloo

denisiw said:

molerat said:

Agree with above.

Which country were you sending it to ?  It looks like it may be a prohibited item for export / import to that location and EBay have messed up allowing it to be sent there so are allowing you to keep the the money for it and refunding the buyer.  Neither of you are any worse off. 

It was going to be sent to the USA.  It's still in the UK, at the Lichfield hub.  It's not an illegal item in the UK!

I was expecting eBay to send the money back to the buyer and send the carburettor back to me.  It's not up to eBay to decide what to do with it, I didn't sell it to eBay, so how can they keep it?

I want to sell the item to the person who wants to use it on his motorbike.  What are eBay going to do with it?   Destroy it?  If that is the case, why?  What right have they got to do that?

Is the person you want to sell it to the same person who was trying to buy it through Ebay?

GabbaGabbaHey

Is it possible that Dellorto don't allow non-authorised distributors to import their products into the USA?

You've got your money; the buyer has got a refund. The only party who are out of pocket are eBay and I'm pretty sure that their Ts&Cs (which you will have greed to when you created your account) will allow them to do this.

denisiw

swingaloo said:

denisiw said:

molerat said:

Agree with above.

Which country were you sending it to ?  It looks like it may be a prohibited item for export / import to that location and EBay have messed up allowing it to be sent there so are allowing you to keep the the money for it and refunding the buyer.  Neither of you are any worse off. 

It was going to be sent to the USA.  It's still in the UK, at the Lichfield hub.  It's not an illegal item in the UK!

I was expecting eBay to send the money back to the buyer and send the carburettor back to me.  It's not up to eBay to decide what to do with it, I didn't sell it to eBay, so how can they keep it?

I want to sell the item to the person who wants to use it on his motorbike.  What are eBay going to do with it?   Destroy it?  If that is the case, why?  What right have they got to do that?

Is the person you want to sell it to the same person who was trying to buy it through Ebay?

Yes, is that relevant?  He won the item, I want to sell it to him.

I did it through the eBay GPS, in hindsight that was my mistake.

denisiw

GabbaGabbaHey said:

Is it possible that Dellorto don't allow non-authorised distributors to import their products into the USA?

You've got your money; the buyer has got a refund. The only party who are out of pocket are eBay and I'm pretty sure that their Ts&Cs (which you will have greed to when you created your account) will allow them to do this.

I'm not an unauthorised distributor.  This carb happened to be in with a lot of Lambretta parts I purchased some years ago.

The fact that I'm not out of pocket is not the issue.  The point is that eBay have decided what happens to the item.  It's not even left the UK!

All they had to do is send it back to me, it's not an illegal item, there are scores of carburettors for sale on eBay.

Spoonie_Turtle

denisiw said:

GabbaGabbaHey said:

Is it possible that Dellorto don't allow non-authorised distributors to import their products into the USA?

You've got your money; the buyer has got a refund. The only party who are out of pocket are eBay and I'm pretty sure that their Ts&Cs (which you will have greed to when you created your account) will allow them to do this.

I'm not an unauthorised distributor.  This carb happened to be in with a lot of Lambretta parts I purchased some years ago.

The fact that I'm not out of pocket is not the issue.  The point is that eBay have decided what happens to the item.  It's not even left the UK!

All they had to do is send it back to me, it's not an illlegal item, there are scores of carburettors for sale on eBay.

But you are not an authorised distributor, if that is indeed the problem.

I also wonder if there's anything in a carburettor that might not be allowed in international post?  (I don't know what's in a carburettor to know what to look for in the list of post restrictions.  I know there are definitely some items allowed in domestic post that aren't allowed for international post, just don't know if any of them are relevant to this item.)

denisiw

Just been looking at the User Agreement on eBay and have come across this:

eBay does not have possession of anything listed or sold through eBay, and is not involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. The contract for the sale is directly between buyer and seller. eBay is not a party to the transaction and is not a traditional auctioneer.