Buyers rights - Seller no longer on the Ebay platform

babycakes1983

I purchased an item that is faulty / not as described but the seller is no longer on the Ebay platform. Ebay will not help AT ALL due to the purchase being over 30 days ago. Ebay will not give me the sellers details due to GDPR and have basically told me tough. I paid via PayPal but they cannot help due to it being over 180 days since the item was purchased and I've tried charge back with my bank but because Ebay is set as a Direct Debit they cannot help either. Has anybody else had this issue and what did you do to resolve?

TIA

Keep_pedalling

Private or business seller?

babycakes1983

I don't know if they are private or a business, all I have off Ebay is the user name unfortunately

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6653435/buyers-rights-seller-no-longer-on-the-ebay-platform

If the purchase was more than 180 days ago then surely a 'not as described' claim is unlikely to succeed anyway? 'Faulty' would seem different but your rights, if any, will indeed depend on whether you bought from a trader, in order to determine if CRA applies.

babycakes1983

The item purchased was an outdoor fountain so would expect it to last longer than 12 months. It was also covered for up for 4 months to protect it over winter. It has rusted so much it now has holes in it and therefore I would think it comes under not as described and or faulty? If it was only a £20 item I would not hold out much hope but this was in-fact quite expensive hence trying to get some form of refund. Looks like I may have hit a brick wall though :-(

Aylesbury_Duck

I can't see how you are going to get a resolution. Even if the seller were still active, they are entitled to ask you to demonstrate that the fault was inherent and not a result of poor maintenance, etc. That would involve you paying someone independent to inspect it, and then claiming a remedy from the seller, which would probably be a depreciated refund.

Can it be fixed? A little bit of spot-welding where it's holed, for example? Only worth doing if it's of substantial financial or sentimental value.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81866697#Comment_81866697

That certainly sounds like 'faulty' rather than 'not as described', but, as above, even if you bought from a trader, the onus is on you to prove that it was defective at the point of sale.

Ergates

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81866697#Comment_81866697

Is the item painted? i.e. has water go through to the underlying metal through chips/cracks in the paint?

Or was it just bare metal ?

Also - did it come with an instructions regarding maintenance and/or storage.