Another Ebay dispute question.

DIBSTER

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I have happily been using Ebay for well over 10 years now and I have never had any major issues until now but a recent sale has thrown up a problem that I could do with some advice on.

In January I sold a secondhand amp on Ebay to a buyer in Europe. The amp was in perfect working order and was sent through UPS to the buyer, signed for with no problems etc. The amp was sent in its original packaging and was double boxed, packed as well as possible.

Now 38 days after it was delivered I received a message from the buyer claiming there is a fault with the amp. They are not saying it is damaged but that one of the channels is not working. I'm not quite sure at this stage what they are angling for, whether it be a refund or repair. If repair, then I have informed them that they are going to have to return it to the manufacturer in the UK rather than try and sort it locally.

The buyer says they are going to open a dispute with Ebay and I'm worried this is going to end up with me losing out big time. I've read several times that Ebay almost always side with the Buyer in these types of dispute.

Would anyone know where I stand as the seller with Ebay. Is there a time limit from date of delivery to notification of the fault? I believe that you have 30 days from receipt of goods to lodge a claim, does this sound about right to you?
 
This happened to me with a motherboard I sold and PayPal ruled in my favor due to the timescale of them having it and it being 2nd hand.
 
Ebay will almost certainly side with the buyer. I think it's 30 days through Ebay and 180 days through PayPal.

A little after the horse has bolted, but for future reference NEVER sell high value item on ebay using PayPal, and absolutely never sell high value items abroad using ebay and PayPal.

Cash on Collection only.
 
Ebay will almost certainly side with the buyer. I think it's 30 days through Ebay and 180 days through PayPal.

A little after the horse has bolted, but for future reference NEVER sell high value item on ebay using PayPal, and absolutely never sell high value items abroad using ebay and PayPal.

Cash on Collection only.
Rubbish have sold loads of high value items over the last 10 years and never had an issue. He may have a good case for no refund just like I did.
 
Rubbish have sold loads of high value items over the last 10 years and never had an issue. He may have a good case for no refund just like I did.

Cool. I've been trading on Ebay since 2000 and gave up on higher value stuff after being ripped off a few times. Maybe I was just unlucky. As a Private Seller I'd consider my advice sound given the number of scammers there are out there.

Although these days I sell most of my stuff on here / Gumtree because Ebay and PayPal are total scumbags.
 
i always worry with expensive items the buyer will just send you back their broken one and keep the working one you sold them. ebay will most likely in my experience side with the buyer

I only send to the uk never abroad and collection only on expensive stuff.
 
i always worry with expensive items the buyer will just send you back their broken one and keep the working one you sold them. ebay will most likely in my experience side with the buyer

I only send to the uk never abroad and collection only on expensive stuff.

Hence why I always keep a record of the serial number and a photo of said item clearly showing the serial number as evidence.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

I'm hoping that the 38 days between delivery and claim works in my favour with Ebay, though the 180 days with Paypal is a concern. As regards High Value, I wouldn't regard this item as particularly high value in hi-fi terms (ie £400) but high enough for me to worry about. Over the years I've sold other equipment to Europe through Ebay without any problems, but certainly from now on it will be UK only should I have a similar item on the market.

I will wait to see what Ebay say before taking it further.

If it ends up that the only resolution is them returning it to me for a refund, am I right in thinking that any refund only happens once I've received the item back and in one piece?
 
If they're a proper scammer they'll just post you a couple of bricks in a box via registered mail.
 
Thanks for the feedback.

I'm hoping that the 38 days between delivery and claim works in my favour with Ebay, though the 180 days with Paypal is a concern. As regards High Value, I wouldn't regard this item as particularly high value in hi-fi terms (ie £400) but high enough for me to worry about. Over the years I've sold other equipment to Europe through Ebay without any problems, but certainly from now on it will be UK only should I have a similar item on the market.

I will wait to see what Ebay say before taking it further.

If it ends up that the only resolution is them returning it to me for a refund, am I right in thinking that any refund only happens once I've received the item back and in one piece?


ive had it where as soon as the dispute opens paypal freeze the amount out of my account. and when the buyer wins the dispute they get the money and i never receive the item back
 
More and More idiots on ebay , im getting lots of unpaid items, had a few sales of uhd discs and then a few weeks later the buyer demanding they return them!! of course ebay found in the buyers favour...
Good luck with your issue
 
Buyers take some stick but so should sellers. Bought a bedside cabinet (Ikea) from Ebay and on opening I found one side was damaged, emailed the seller and included the image. 3 days later he finally responded and asked what part it was exactly. I told him and another three days past and he said he would send a replacement.
6 days later and I received a acceptance of return and a postage label, wtf. I decided to contact Ebay and they said after reading the messages that I should again contact the seller to find out what was going on. I did and three days later he replied that he did not want the item back as he was sending a replacement part. He said he had to go the acceptance of return route as it was Ebay rules.
Another week passed and still nothing. Again I contacted Ebay and received a refund. Three days later not only did the side I needed to replace the damaged one turn up but he had also sent the opposite side.

I contacted him asking what he wants to do as i had had a refund ect. But as yet I have heard zilch. Result I have a cabinet and it did not cost me anything.
 
Hopefully it will work out for you but I fear that eBay may side with the buyer.

Playing devil’s advocate, with someting as complicated as an amp it can take time before a fault is spotted. By example I bought a new Yamaha AVR from Richer Sounds - I’d had it for about three months when I was notified that new firmware was available and tried to update. Turned out that there was a hardware fault with the firmware update circuitry. Until that point in time the AVR had worked with no apprent fault - and yet that fault had been there from day one it just took me some time to spot it.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Hopefully it will work out for you but I fear that eBay may side with the buyer.

Playing devil’s advocate, with someting as complicated as an amp it can take time before a fault is spotted. By example I bought a new Yamaha AVR from Richer Sounds - I’d had it for about three months when I was notified that new firmware was available and tried to update. Turned out that there was a hardware fault with the firmware update circuitry. Until that point in time the AVR had worked with no apprent fault - and yet that fault had been there from day one it just took me some time to spot it.

Cheers,

Nigel

In the situation you're describing I'd suggest that's tough shit from a buyer's point of view and not the seller's problem if selling used items.
 
Well much to my surprise Ebay sided with me, owing in all probability to there being nearly 6 weeks from receiving the amp to reporting the so-called fault.

As expected the buyer left me my first ever negative feedback, and also sent me a vile and abusive message which I have no intention of acknowledging or replying to.
 
Well much to my surprise Ebay sided with me, owing in all probability to there being nearly 6 weeks from receiving the amp to reporting the so-called fault.

As expected the buyer left me my first ever negative feedback, and also sent me a vile and abusive message which I have no intention of acknowledging or replying to.
You can phone ebay and explain someone raised a case which you won in your favour and buyer left negative feedback. It happened to me and they removed feedback straight away. All depends if you value your feedback as mine has been at 100% for over 400 transactions.
 
You can phone ebay and explain someone raised a case which you won in your favour and buyer left negative feedback. It happened to me and they removed feedback straight away. All depends if you value your feedback as mine has been at 100% for over 400 transactions.

Thanks for that, I might just do that. It never crossed my mind to do that.

Cheers
 
Also forward the abusive message. With luck that will be enough to see the account closed.
 
The matter is now finally resolved, though not wholly satisfactorily. As mentioned above if Ebay don't get you then Paypal sure as hell will! Ebay sided with me and rejected the buyers claim. However Paypal then entered the arena and immediately locked my Paypal a/c with the threat of £400 being drawn out of my a/c until the matter was resolved. Knowing what I do about Paypal and what I've read from other people and their experiences I knew that the odds of me winning any battle with them was next to nil, and it was going to be a pointless waste of time with messages being batted back and forth ad nauseum. The buyer put in a silly claim and I reluctantly ended up having to pay 50% of that to close it. So although the matter is closed I'm £75 out of pocket. The one good thing, albeit small, is that the buyer changed his negative feedback to a positive one. Big deal.

Next time I sell anything like this again it wont be going on Ebay for sure. It's going to be via the classifieds on this or similiar forums. It's going to be preferably collection in person, and payment via cash, BT, or Paypal Gift as a last resort.

I've never had anything like this happen before over the 10+ years I've had an Ebay a/c but it's knocked my faith in it big time. Thankfully I can't see the need to sell anything like this again for the foreseeable future.
 
I was under the impression that if you opened a dispute with eBay then you can’t subsequently open it with PayPal, & vice versa?
 

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