Advice on Small Claims Court

efunc · 11 August 2018 at 7:44PM

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone has any experience of Small Claims cases or can shed any light on the process as it stands now in 2018? I recently sold an item on eBay for £125 and the buyer filed a SNAD case on eBay complaining that the item was not what he was expecting, or not genuine, or he wanted something else (it's not clear because he keeps changing his mind or argues different points). I maintained that my pictures and description were accurate and called eBay who told me they can see no issue with the case either and it's likely close in my favour if escalated. Nonetheless I offered a good will refund of £25 to keep the buyer happy. The buyer is no longer contributing to the SNAD case and instead telling me that he will sue me, take me to court, make me pay all his fees and drag me to the other end of the country to attend hearings. The cost of me traveling to the other end of the country would exceed the value of the item and that doesn't even cover the other costs I’d incur.

My question is, has anyone any experience of going to court? Is it really necessary for sums as small as £125, or can it all be done online or in the post? I am not perturbed about fighting my corner and welcome the opportunity of making the technical points clear in my defence, but having to attend in-person would be a showstopper, certainly for this amount of money.

Reading a Which? guide it states the following:

You might have to go to a court hearing if:

the defendant says they don’t owe you any money
they disagree with the amount you’ve claimed
you don’t agree with how they’ve offered to repay you
If your claim is under £10,000 you’ll be asked if you’d like to use the court’s small claims mediation service to reach an agreement with the defendant.

So it sounds like attendance will certainly be a possibility. Is this correct? I'm guessing mediation isn't an option since so far the buyer is rejecting the eBay mediation process as well as the partial refund already offered.

Anyone have any experience with very small court cases?

Thanks!

tacpot12 · 11 August 2018 at 9:47PM

Attendance is a possibility, but a small claim will usually be heard in the County Court nearest the defendant, not the claimant.

The claimant may also have to pay your (reasonable) travel costs if they lose the case.

I would suggest you update the SNAD case (if you can) with a statement to the effect that you have taken legal advice, believe that you have a watertight defence and will happily see the purchaser in court where you expect that they will be ordered to pay your costs, but that the offer of £25 still stands.

If you have not already told the seller what your address is, I would keep silent on this as this will make it harder for them to file a money claim; they will have to trace you in order to provide an address for notice of the claim to be served on you.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head · 11 August 2018 at 9:56PM

Accept the return and get the item back.

If raised to eBay they may refund the buyer and tell them to keep the item, don't trust a word customer services tell you.

Likelihood of buyer taking you to court are next to none, chances of winning if you offer return for a refund are zero as they will have failed to mitigate their loss.

If this is a smallish item the returns flow allows you to give the buyer a return label which will be billed to your eBay seller account (you only pay if the buyer actually uses the label).

Bottom line with a SNAD return eBay expect you to provide the label and refund upon return, if you accept the return and the buyer doesn't send the item back it will time out without a refund.

efunc · 11 August 2018 at 10:57PM

Thank you, that's very interesting. I can't find any info on this. Who decides where the hearing is heard? The buyer insists he'll force it to be at his court where he'll file the claim, hundreds of miles from me. Is that not correct?

He states: "We can see what a judge says, I’ll just go to court and I’ll win and then you will incur court costs up here, and then I’ll pay £60 to take it to high court and obtain a writ against you then you will have balif costs added"

And then "I’ll take you to court all the way up here if you don’t turn up I’ll escalate claim to the sheriffs and let them Perdue you"

Frankly I don't know what he's on about and I've already explained to him that he's bought exactly what was advertised, but he seems very insistent and has sent some other threatening emails. Unfortunately he has my name and address from the return label of the parcel through eBay.

forgotmyname · 12 August 2018 at 12:33AM

No the court will be your local one.

Do they work for a parking company or the tea boy in a debt collection office.

Bailiffs and high court etc... Just laugh at them. You need to goto court and lose and then fail to pay before any of that can be actioned.

I would laugh at them and state your dreams forget one thing in this case, all your comments presume you will win and you wont, I estimate less than 0.000001% chance of them winning.

If i was allowed i would choose a court even further away from them, unsure whether it needs to be your local one though or you choose which one to use?

soolin · 12 August 2018 at 8:06AM

I think it worth remembering that ebay will almost certainly find for the buyer in an SNAD case - post 3 on this thread is the important one from the_lunatic_is_in_my_head.

Therefore if ebay close the case in your buyers favour, which is odds on likely, you will lose your money and the buyer will not be under obligation to return the item- you will then have to chase him through the court if he is un coperative and refuses to allow you to collect in a reasonable time frame. You also get a defect and lose your FVFs.

I fear post 2 suggests a rather different ebay to the one I am familiar with where sellers can win cases through argument, it doesn't work like that- at the time of escalation a bot will merely close the case and refund the buyer. It is a red herring to rely on the buyer not having responded to the case- he is not under any obligation to do so and whether or not he does respond makes no difference to the escalation time.

You are ignoring the post about the process on ebay and I suggest that you seriously consider the fact that ebay have precedent in ignoring the sellers argument and finding for a buyer automaticaly. Ignoring the open case could cost you a lot of money, so think carefully before you gamble on ebay being logical. Out of interest how long has the case been opened?If you still have time my advice would be to phone ebay and plead your case, you need them to close this in your favour now, not allow it to escalate. If they don't close it then seriously consider accepting the return.

Tigsteroonie · 12 August 2018 at 8:18AM

Where is the buyer, the references to "up here" make me wonder if they are in Scotland. Not sure whether/if small claims are considered differently under Scottish law.

theonlywayisup · 12 August 2018 at 10:05AM

efunc wrote: »

Unfortunately he has my name and address from the return label of the parcel through eBay.

You seem to be missing the very important and key posts. Read posts 3 and 6 thoroughly.

Did you issue the label through eBay or were eBay forced to do it because you decided not to?

efunc · 12 August 2018 at 11:18AM

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

Where is the buyer, the references to "up here" make me wonder if they are in Scotland. Not sure whether/if small claims are considered differently under Scottish law.

No, he's in Yorkshire.

efunc · 12 August 2018 at 11:32AM

theonlywayisup wrote: »

You seem to be missing the very important and key posts. Read posts 3 and 6 thoroughly.

Did you issue the label through eBay or were eBay forced to do it because you decided not to?

The item was originally sent to the buyer via eBay Shutl, if that's what you mean. That's the only shipping label that's been purchased. I have not been forced to do anything. When the seller opened the case he said he had my address and would send the item back even though I wouldn't accept a return. I called eBay and explained that he has my address and may send the item back himself and what I should do, and they told me they can see no legitimate grounds for a grievance on the basis of his arguments and if he sends them back without authority he will simply loose his money.

I then asked how I should prove my case (it was regarding the the technical name of the colour and the material of the item) and said would it help if I got an official letter from the manufacturer? I was told that would be sufficient for it to close in my favour. The said that they can already see that it was described accurately. I have obtained the letter of confirmation and uploaded it, which has made the buyer even more abusive.

The case closes on the 16th August when the buyer can escalate.

efunc · 12 August 2018 at 11:39AM

soolin wrote: »

You are ignoring the post about the process on ebay and I suggest that you seriously consider the fact that ebay have precedent in ignoring the sellers argument and finding for a buyer automaticaly. Ignoring the open case could cost you a lot of money, so think carefully before you gamble on ebay being logical. Out of interest how long has the case been opened?If you still have time my advice would be to phone ebay and plead your case, you need them to close this in your favour now, not allow it to escalate. If they don't close it then seriously consider accepting the return.

That's interesting. So basically everything eBay told me on the phone was just pillow talk! I may call them again since I've now uploaded the proof they requested. I didn't know a seller could escalate a case.

Advice on Small Claims Court

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free