Sellers delaying resolution for faulty items beyond 30 days.

[66pants]

I recently had a faulty item purchased from an overseas seller, who promised to re-send and of course it took me out past the 30 day limit for Ebay to help me with. I contacted the Ebay chat service and of course again, they advised to stay in contact and hopefully get a resolution. It never came and Ebay have wiped their hands of it.

The more people I have talked to about this problem, the more it seems people are faced with the same problem. Even Paypal are giving me the run around.

Is 30 days long enough and fair, given some items can take most of that period to arrive ? What rights do we have as buyers when all the advice seems to lead you down the path of months of to and fro ?

Love to hear other's experience with this one !

[66pants]

Need to be careful with that one . The laws changed in 2015 regarding online auction websites and while Ebay is not a retailer in the true sense, they do handle all the transactions, unlike newspapers and Gumtree. You have to ask, why do they offer a money back guarantee if they are only an advertising site !

[66pants]

Again, this is about an agreed re-send, not the initial delivery of the first item. Please try and understand the scenario here. 30 days from first estimated delivery, item faulty, seller offers to re-send, waits out the time period and Ebay won't help, even though my initial contact with Ebay was before this time expired, the 30 days from transaction stands, and that was in writing.

Seriously, it was a $25 item but it's not an isolated case and that's why I opened it for discussion.

[kopenhagen5]

No they don't handle the transactions and only become a mediator when a problem arises.

Buyers and sellers are expected to facilitate their own transactions.

eBay have added MBG's and other tools to give members confidence in using the site. 

However it is still essentially an online advertising medium with some extras.

Also auctions are strictly not auctions on eBay but tenders to purchase and come under different laws hence the often confusion of whether contract law is applicable.

[66pants]

Then if Ebay are not handling transactions, why offer any protection at all. They do act as the collection agency for ALL transactions, most predominantly through PayPal.

If you are going to offer a refund protection scheme then be real about the time taken to resolve returns, resends and refunds. The only advice I got from Ebay initially was to wait it out, keep talking to the seller and stick my head in the ground and look for worms !

[kopenhagen5]

Seriously, it was a $25 item but it's not an isolated case and that's why I opened it for discussion.

Sure, and Chinese sellers are notorious for stringing buyers out.

But you have 180 days in PayPal.

I don't usually buy from China period. But if an item arrived faulty, I would insist on a refund, not take a chance on another potentially faulty item.

[66pants]

Yes I do and that is underway. I can see that you are a seller with a perfect score, so your an honest seller and probably haven't had too many problems. That's a great thing, but unfortunately the Engrish sellers dominate Ebay and I just believe that Ebay need to take a greater stand against those sellers that play the system to their advantage...OR.....not offer any protection at all and leave it entirely up to PayPal.

The point is, an agreement was made, in writing to re-send within a "few days" and that agreement was broken. Ebay should act regardless of the time frame !

[66pants]

I had to take a bloody video of the thing not working and post it to youtube, after doing so, the offer to re-send was my only option. I asked for a refund, forwarded all this to Ebay and their response was it was a fair response. it's been a saga...

[davewil1964]

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@66pants wrote:

Paypal are on to it now so that's a good thing in this case. I guess the discussion is more about Ebay's 30 day policy. What I don't get is any other retailer is bound by Australia's consumer laws and like it or not, is does not matter who you purchase from, Ebay is the platform that we use and they should be protecting buyers for a minimum of 12 months just like any other retailer, with the exceptions of auctions.

Whether you're a "savvy" buyer or not, when agreements are made, both in writing and in good faith, Ebay has an obligation to ensure it's sellers abide by the agreement, and if not, revoke the sellers' right to use the platform.

30 days is a bunch of **bleep** !!

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Blanket statements, generally, don't always apply.

I am not a business and I do not sell new items. Ergo, I am not bound by any consumer law. I am certainly not Robinson Crusoe.

Chinese sellers, whether businesses or not, are also not bound by Australian consumer law. Nor are UK, US or even NZ sellers. In fact, any seller that is not a registered Australian business.

[springyzone]

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@66pants wrote:

Again, this is about an agreed re-send, not the initial delivery of the first item. Please try and understand the scenario here. 30 days from first estimated delivery, item faulty, seller offers to re-send, waits out the time period and Ebay won't help, even though my initial contact with Ebay was before this time expired, the 30 days from transaction stands, and that was in writing.

Seriously, it was a $25 item but it's not an isolated case and that's why I opened it for discussion.

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What you're describing here is a disconnect between what ebay encourages and what is official ebay policy.

They are always encouraging buyer & seller to work it out between them & people do this via massages.

Obviously this counts for almost nothing in your case as you have it in writing yet 'the date has passed, too bad."

Maybe ebay needs to have an official scenario where if a seller offers a resend they have to tick a box to indicate that, and it generates a new estimated arrival date and extends your time another 30 days.

[66pants]

Although this seller is a Chinese seller, they are registered as being in Sydney. They advertise as a local seller but "item posts from overseas".
If you read Ebay's term and conditions, they are bound by all the same laws that apply to Australian retailer.