Seller's eBay Caravan Drama!

[sydney-diecast-kingdom]

A talkback caller this morning to John Laws on Sydney radio's 2SM told of his eBay drama.

This man and his wife listed and sold a caravan on eBay to a woman for $6,500. He said the money went into their account via BPay (perhaps he meant PayPal). He mentioned something about $170 in fees. His wife spoke to the buyer over the phone who arranged to come and collect the caravan.

When the woman failed to show they tried to contact her but she never answered her phone or replied to any emails. As they already had her money they assumed she must have had a car accident or a sudden death in the family. Days, then weeks went by without any contact. She never answered their phone calls or emails. They assumed she must have ended up in gaol or passed away.

Stuck in limbo they ended up having to pay to put the caravan in storage and then pay for it to get re-registered even though technically it belonged to someone else. Three months later the money had been nearly all spent.

Yesterday out the blue they get a request from eBay that they have 48 hours to return the money this woman paid or it will be taken from them. The woman told eBay that she did not make the purchase. Somebody else must have used her account. Very suspicious considering this man's wife actually spoke to the woman. 

Anyway, now this couple are out of pocket their PayPal fees, storage fees, rego renewal fees and to top it off don't have the $6,500 to give back. In addition to all that they've now had to engage a solicitor. 

Messy stuff. 

[lyndal1838]

If they were paid by paypal they should have just refunded the money when the buyer did not turn up.

They could have had their fees returned and relisted the caravan without all the drama.

Sorry but it was their own fault.

[beallieblue-oz]

Bpay is into your bank account isn't it.  Not paypal.

[station254]

Who in their right mind stores something for 3 months for a Buyer that didn't show up? Much less a caravan which requires expensive storage.

I suspect they do mean Bank transfer, which some think is the same as BPay.

Anyway it's a vehicle, so untill the transfer papers are exchanged, all the seller had was the buyer's money.

Only an idiot would assume that paying for something means it's your's even if you never collected it.

The correct thing to do is ask for help from ebay/bank/this forum, get the sale cancelled, and sell the caravan to someone else.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Well...I wouldn't be spending the money until the item was either collected, or legally past any unclaimed goods limitations.

Reregistering it is a tricky one...since presumably it was sold as registered. But surely if the registration expiry is shown, it then becomes the responsibility of the new owner after that date. Whether it is in my drive or theirs. Lesson in that to understand any liability/rights if stuff is "abandoned", before one lists it I guess!

[lyndal1838]

---

@beallieblue-oz wrote:

Bpay is into your bank account isn't it.  Not paypal.

---

If it was bank transfer then ebay has no right to get involved and cannot take the money back from the sellers.

It could only be paypal if this is happening.

[*tippy*toes*]

It would be interesting to know if the buyer lived in the southern suburbs of Sydney............

[springyzone]

I do feel sorry for them in that not everyone uses ebay a lot, they may not have known much about what to do in a case like this.

In any case, most people would probably allow about a month to go by, hoping things could be sorted.

But their problem came from the fact they assumed the sale was final. They probably should not have spent the money though till they rang ebay to discuss the whole problem. I have read other cases (usually with smaller purchases) where sellers have held pick up items for months, wondering what to do. So this is not a rarity.

I do think it is pretty poor form for someone to pay the money, talk on the phone about pick up, then lie and say they knew nothing about the sale, several months after the fact.

Maybe it is time for the law to be involved, maybe the buyer does need to explain exactly how it is she never noticed $6500 on her paypal account or credit card or whatever. Maybe it is time people were held legally liable for what is done on their ebay account, if it can be shown the account was not hacked and has been used normally since a sale.

Just out of interest, I wonder what paypal can do though, if the sellers do not have $6500 in their paypal account.

[black*poppy]

I think paypal are able to use debt collection agencies, etc and impact on your credit rating and all the rest like if you don't pay bills.

I wonder if there is some form of arbitration process this seller could go through for reimbursement of storage fees, etc?   On the face of it the case looks like it would warrant a court hearing, but I don't have any legal training or anything and we clearly don't have all the facts.

[clarry100]

Could be a case for the small claims court to hear.