Seller breaks £2k item then wants refund. Private sale.

UnsureAboutthis

 Investigate the small claims court route via Citizens Advice and then decide the best way forward, ie small claims, and/or repairs etc as advised/recommended by /Citizens Advice

What did the feedback state or email exchanges via eBay say when you dropped of the item? As they appear to be in your favour - and a couple of weeks since you dropped it off,  - before doing anything else - speak with Citizens Advice

Document the contacts you had with the buyer/ebay/etc

jim1999

ButterCheese said:

ChrisFN66 said:

Ebay have decided he’s entitled to a full refund. 

Just out of interest, what would happen if you just refused the refund and told the buyer and Ebay to do one?  They can cancel your Ebay account, but can they actually take money from your linked bank account and refund the buyer?

If the answer is no, then I would ignore, get banned from Ebay (I would want to boycott them after that anyway) and use FB marketplace from here on

I did this previously - they put my account into negative and then said they'd take action to recover the money.  I had already deleted all payment information, cancelled Direct Debits etc.

Unlike the OP, the customer service team subsequently agreed that I shouldn't be on the hook for the money and returned my balance to zero.

Whether they would pursue a seller via courts for £2k... I'm not sure.

caprikid1

"Under the consumer rights they can reject goods in the first month and in the first 6 months its up to the seller to prove it wasnt defective rather than the consumer to prove it is. "

This is a second hand non B2C transaction, not sure this applies.

The Onis will be on the buyer to prove it was not as described, the customer tried it and confirmed it working.

I think you would have a fighting chance in the small claims court.

MyRealNameToo

caprikid1 said:

"Under the consumer rights they can reject goods in the first month and in the first 6 months its up to the seller to prove it wasnt defective rather than the consumer to prove it is. "

This is a second hand non B2C transaction, not sure this applies.

The OP has never stated if it was a business or personal transaction, secondhand makes no difference. 

I assumed it was a personal sale hence the rest of the text you didnt copy paste saying it strictly doesnt apply but eBay doesnt tend to differentiate too much in cases if you claim to be a private or business seller. 

GadgetGuru

Second hand makes a huge difference. 
From my understanding, when purchasing a used car you do not use it for a month and then take it back because some oil leaked. It's up to you to check over the vehicle, or use a trained mechanic to check it over for you. Once you've purchased it, its yours. Consumer rights laws do not apply - that's for items sold as new only, where the buyer has had a chance to check it over, which in this case they have as the buyer/seller met for the handover. 
At least, thats how I would have read it. 
Then again, this is eBay and they want that buyer to keep buying items and paying fee's, so they side with the buyer!

Grumpy_chap

GadgetGuru said:

Second hand makes a huge difference. 
From my understanding, when purchasing a used car you do not use it for a month and then take it back because some oil leaked. It's up to you to check over the vehicle, or use a trained mechanic to check it over for you. Once you've purchased it, its yours. Consumer rights laws do not apply - that's for items sold as new only, where the buyer has had a chance to check it over, which in this case they have as the buyer/seller met for the handover. 
At least, thats how I would have read it. 
Then again, this is eBay and they want that buyer to keep buying items and paying fee's, so they side with the buyer!

Consumer rights do apply for second-hand items, but the expectations have to be measured against reasonable for the age and condition of the item and price paid.

The issue in the case discussed in this thread is the item was a private sale and not a B2C transaction.

ChrisFN66

To confirm, the item I sold was used and it was a private sale.

WIAWSNB

This is a strange one. 

2nd-hand, I understand the item has to be as described. It was, and you can evidence this.

There are multiple reasons why a second-hand item could subsequently fail. 

And what on earth is the point of the buyer protection fee? It covers eBay doing what - telling you to refund?! Nice earner. I thought it was an indemnity for just this sort of issue, but clearly not.

I'd definitely seek advice from CAB, or - ideally - your Legal Protection on your house insurance. Simple Q - if you sell a second hand item, and the buyer acknowledges on receipt that it was as described, are you liable if it subsequently goes faulty for an unknown reason (ie one that cannot be demonstrated to have been present at the time of sale)? If the answer is 'no', then it should apply to eBay too. 

If the buyer, say, found evidence of a previous repair, one that had failed again, that would be a different matter - they could 'evidence' that the fault existed or was likely to fail again at the point of sale.

ChrisFN66

WIAWSNB said:

This is a strange one. 

2nd-hand, I understand the item has to be as described. It was, and you can evidence this.

There are multiple reasons why a second-hand item could subsequently fail. 

And what on earth is the point of the buyer protection fee? It covers eBay doing what - telling you to refund?! Nice earner. I thought it was an indemnity for just this sort of issue, but clearly not.

I'd definitely seek advice from CAB, or - ideally - your Legal Protection on your house insurance. Simple Q - if you sell a second hand item, and the buyer acknowledges on receipt that it was as described, are you liable if it subsequently goes faulty for an unknown reason (ie one that cannot be demonstrated to have been present at the time of sale)? If the answer is 'no', then it should apply to eBay too. 

If the buyer, say, found evidence of a previous repair, one that had failed again, that would be a different matter - they could 'evidence' that the fault existed or was likely to fail again at the point of sale.

It literally was in perfect working order and hadn't had a previous fix or anything. Honestly, the whole situation is utterly bizarre! It's no different to buying a car, pushing it off a cliff, demanding a refund because it no longer worked whilst expecting the dealership to pay to recover the vehicle. 

Spoonie_Turtle

If you haven't already then I would be very much inclined to go back to eBay and be very insistent that it was as described and just refer them to the proof, not even engaging in any other argument, just 'they said it was working in X message and Y message'.