Seller has ignored my email, handed over to debt collector.

[cooperplace]

I bought an item in December 2020 from a seller in Germany. By February 2021 it had not arrived and I bought the same item elsewhere. I complained to the seller who refunded my money. So far so good. Then the item arrived. The seller then contacted me saying it had arrived, they wanted their refund back. They didn't say where to send the money. I replied saying I had bought another, I had no use for their item, and offered to pay half. They replied saying they hadn't been paid and they were starting legal action. I again replied offering half. No reply. Today I get a letter from a debt collection agency in Germany demanding the cost of the item (EUR23.73) plus about EUR65 in debt collection fees. 

The Ebay dispute resolution center won't let me commence a chat because the item number has now dropped off the system.

I don't think I have any responsibility towards the seller's debt collection fees. What should I do?

[imastawka]

I agree with Digi.  But all these posts are only opinions that the OP hasn't read.

Last post they would have read was # 8

They haven't been in since.

[sandypebbles]

Perhaps they thought that everyone would outraged at how they were 'done wrong' by the seller?

[colic2bullsgirlore]

For mine the original contract was voided by the refund.

https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/buying-products-and-services/guarantees,-contracts-and-warranties...

The seller offered a product and a service. The service (delivery) was not supplied in a reasonable timeframe (2months) and as per ACL the buyer was refunded.

Therefore the original contract between the buyer and seller for supply and delivery was terminated and is demonstrated by the refund.

That the product finally arrived is the sellers problem.

The seller should not have offered the contract if they could not complete it in a reasonable timeframe.

That the buyer offered the seller half of the original contract price is incidental and offered in 😑 good faith as the buyer no longer required the product or the service.

The seller is the one under obligation to have their product picked up and returned.

The buyer should  not be disadvantaged due to the seller not being able to complete their original obligation.

[domino-710]

Whether the OP has been in or not - it still remains an interesting topic. 

[papermoon.lady]

He might have been here without being logged in...

[i-once-was-bump]

Debt collection agencies will go after any debt, in my case it was between $100 and $200. Luckily I could prove that the debt wasn't mine. It was the person with the appointment either before or after me. Somehow all the information for that person was under my name. 

[colic2bullsgirlore]

It's no wonder the OP has not returned given that It seems that many of the opinions here, based seemingly from a sellers POV, imply that the buyer is a thief and has obtained an item by deception and should "refund the refund" just because said item turned up unannounced on their doorstep after a contract was voided and then onsell it to try and get their money back

As an analogy ..... (it's not a pizza)

I purchase a Big Red Brick Schittenhousen (BRBS) online from a German company specifying supply and delivery.

After a reasonable period (regardless of the current alien attack triggered by global freezing) delivery has not occurred so I contact the seller and tell him the long drop was full so I have had to get somebody else to supply and deliver the BRBS and I want a refund.

The supplier agrees and refunds me.

Sometime later I come home from my normal Monday Macrame while Rollerskating lesson to find a large object right next to my beautiful new BRBS covered in a tartan sheet with BRBS printed on the side of it.

I remove the tartan sheet to find a BRBS......wowsers now I have TWO BRBS'S.... what more could a shrewd buyer want?

The original seller contacts me to inform me that a limping, very old carrier pigeon arrived with a message confirming BRBS delivery and they now expect payment.

I refuse and reiterate that I have bought elsewhere and do not want or need another BRBS but as a remedy I offer to pay cost price for the bricks, mortar and labour to wit.....about half the original product price..... even though I have no legal or moral obligation to do so other than my moral decision to defray some of the sellers core costs.

The original seller implies that I have breached the (now non existent) contract between us and threatens (in no uncertain terms) debt collection through a third party.

Have I stolen the BRBS just because I refuse the sellers demand to honour the (now non existent) contract?

or

Should I offer a little time for nix out of my extremely busy macrame and rollerskating schedule to mark RTS on the big tartan sheet after throwing it back over the BRBS then (read here do battle) "arrange" the Very Unreliable Late Great Big Red Transport Company (VULGBRTC) to pick up the BRBS and return to sender for free even though the seller is threatening a public flogging by either fleecing my pockets or branding my forehead with a hot iron initialled ICA (International Con Artist) for all and sundry to see all to pay for their (or their agents) bad

or perhaps

Should I ignore all further contact safe in the knowledge that I offered, what I considered to be, an appropriate moral remedy, and, that the original contract between the BRBS supplier was by mutual agreement terminated with that termination being witnessed by a refund so that any debt collection was in fact based on a fraudulent misrepresentation that a contract between I and the original seller still existed?

[katistrophik]

Well that was a long burble of nothing - but you made a few BBL's

[colic2bullsgirlore]

bbl's ??
Is that your board standard scare tactic? What are these BBL 'S you speak of?
Big Bad Loopholes?
Binary Babble Leach?
Boo Boo Logic?
Boss Board Loony?

This isn't my first rodeo.... This ID has been a PARTY list star for ages but unless I was looking for a new strawman to fit my sock puppet I doubt that the blockers are selling anything that I am looking for.

re the OP no contract no pay bluff will get you nowhere

[springyzone]

Ah well, the macrame while roller skating lesson gave me a smile, so I enjoyed the post. 

--------------

With regard to what Digital Ghost said-"why should the seller be responsible for return postage?"

I guess my reply would be-why should the buyer be responsible? He has done nothing wrong. He paid for an item that obviously went some way over the expected delivery time frame, otherwise the seller would not have refunded him, he would most likely have asked him to wait a little longer.

The buyer paid, item didn't arrive, he was refunded, he has bought elsewhere. I do believe in the circunstances, he was entitled to believe this transaction was behind him, done and dusted.

The fact the item has arrived and he opened it is not necessarily his fault either. He may not have known what was in the package. These days a lot of us buy online regularly. Just the other day I opened a package with no idea what was inside and it turned out to be a package for my son. My mistake, but these things sometimes happen.

I agree that if it could have been returned to sender without any additional cost, that would have been the best solution but that ship unfortunately has sailed.

If the buyer can get paypal to subsidise the return postage cost, that would be a great idea. I don't see it as palming responsibility onto others. I don't see it as the buyer's responsibility to be out of pocket for something that wasn't their fault. Of course it wasn't the seller's fault either but it is their item so if they want it back, it is their responsibility to arrange it. Ebay and paypal exact pretty stringent conditions on their sellers so when something like this goes wrong, I think it is fair enough if sometimes paypal etc can pick up the tab.

I get the feeling the seller may have been a bit abrupt in their demands, just demanding payment and not discussing solutions. I feel sure that digital ghost in the same circumstances would word things better to her customers and that is probably why she has such good outcomes.