Seller does not send article, wait

[aegvidu]

In mid September I won an auction for a plastic welder from a seller in my city. I paid the winning price plus postage  via Paypal straight away. After a few days I contacted the seller who told me he was away for 3 weeks and would post when he got back. I waited. And waited. Nothing happens. I reported it to eBay 25 October and contacted the seller.

  There was no reply from the seller. Today I get an email from PayPal saying the refund would be put into my account and that the case was closed. No explanation was given. I looked at case history - it had been closed by eBay .

The reason given was : 

We didn't receive valid tracking information from the seller.

Final decision:

The case has been closed in your favour.

So - case closed  as far as eBay is concerned! 

But I assure you not as far as I or the NSW Fair Trading Department are.

No explanation was given to me about valid reasons for the local seller not honouring a simple transaction! He has a legal obligation to supply the article won at auction. EBay has a legal obligation to make sure Sellers are genuine and provide a safe platform for these commercial transactions.

And no way to contact eBay directly to get an explanation or lodge a complaint..The wesbite has been deliberately set up to thwart any direct action with ebay itself. Which begs the question - why?  Too many dissatisfied customers.

My consumer rights have been breached and obviously eBay is not concerned about that. That's why we have Fair Trading and solicitors well versed in Commercial Torts though , isn't it?

It's not as though eBay can't get hold of the seller. I can give them his email address, name, address and phone number and the business he runs.

I do not want a refund. I want the article I bought and paid for.

What to do next?

[digital*ghost]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Are you referring to the aeroplane sale?   That was a one off incident and cannot be taken to be the same for all ebay sales.

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The ruling in that case was made on a couple of different factors, the most relevant to everyone else was the one which accepted that ebay sales / auctions formed legally binding contracts. If that wasn't accepted, the case would have been much more difficult for the buyer to win.

In saying that, there were other, unique factors involved in that case which helped get the win for the buyer - particularly the communications and actions of the involved parties prior to the auction end. 

[letscleanupmycupboards]

The legal obligation would be to supply the goods or a refund. The OP has been given a refund. So they're not out of pocket. So what's the problem?

Under Australian law a retailer or seller has no legal obligation to sell an item to you nor do they need to provide a reason or justification for not selling to them. You can refuse to sell to anyone upon any grounds. Of course if you state that reason and it's based on gender/religion/etc that is actionable however if you tell someone politely and generically that they are not welcome to buy in your establishment then that is your perogative.

Would the OP have preferred the seller said they're out of stock? Or that they posted it and it didn't arrive so here's a refund? Plenty of ways a seller can opt out of a sale.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@letscleanupmycupboards wrote:
The legal obligation would be to supply the goods or a refund. The OP has been given a refund. So they're not out of pocket. So what's the problem?

Under Australian law a retailer or seller has no legal obligation to sell an item to you nor do they need to provide a reason or justification for not selling to them. You can refuse to sell to anyone upon any grounds. Of course if you state that reason and it's based on gender/religion/etc that is actionable however if you tell someone politely and generically that they are not welcome to buy in your establishment then that is your perogative.

Would the OP have preferred the seller said they're out of stock? Or that they posted it and it didn't arrive so here's a refund? Plenty of ways a seller can opt out of a sale.

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Not to mention Australian Consumer Law only applies to registered businesses. Sellers like you and I, it doesn't apply to, so buyers can carry on all they like, but it won't hold up in court. I know that for a fact.

Spoiler

Been there, done that. Got the t-shirt.

[chameleon54]

Another example of people sweating the small stuff.

So the seller stuffed up and started the auction way to cheap. You bid, thinking you where getting a real steal, not paying the seller what the item was actually worth. The seller opts not to sell for a ridiculously low price and refunds your money.

You have four choices.

1) you can offer the seller a fair price for the item that they might actually accept. ( now theres a thought )

2)  You can crack the tanty and threaten to go to some government organisation that is going to file your claim in the round mesh filing cabinet, next to their desk.

3)  You can go to the lawyers who will be happy to take thousands of dollars from you, wait around for months, have the case adjourned, wait around more months, have the case adjourned again, wait a bit longer and have the judge say.... They refunded your money, I find in favour of the seller, buyer to pay court costs and sellers legal fees.   OR

4)  You can accept that you didnt get something for a fraction of what it was worth, from a seller who made a mistake and move on.

Dont sweat the small stuff, lifes to short. Save your anger and energy for something that really matters.

[digital*ghost]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

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Not to mention Australian Consumer Law only applies to registered businesses. Sellers like you and I, it doesn't apply to, so buyers can carry on all they like, but it won't hold up in court. I know that for a fact.

Spoiler

Been there, done that. Got the t-shirt.

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I agree with chameleon's post in regards to practicality etc, but do want to point out that consumer law and contract law aren't the same thing, and that while the former can not be applied to private sellers, the latter most certainly can.

[letscleanupmycupboards]

Ghost I'm not sure contract law applies to a private sale of items unless it's real estate or cars. Can't really hold a seller to a sale when it's regular stuff on eBay.

[digital*ghost]

Contract law applies wherever contracts are formed. There's a reason eBay advises people even bids on an item is a contract. 

As I posted earlier, one of the reasons the buyer in the airplane case won is because the Australian courts recognised an ebay auction as a contract (the judgement is publically viewable. It's long, but an interesting read). 

[letscleanupmycupboards]

I have no idea what case you're referring to.

[digital*ghost]

This one: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/03/1185648121130.html

[letscleanupmycupboards]

A lot has changed since then. 10 year old story. eBay was in its infancy then.