I was reading an article on ABC News today about the ACCC taking action against Uber Eats for unfair contract conditions.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-17/uber-eats-amends-unfair-contracts-accc-probe/11316714
“Uber Eats has committed to changing its contract terms that we believe are unfair, because they make restaurants responsible and financially liable for elements outside of their control," said Rod Sims, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Seems to me that the same rule should apply to eBay transactions under certain circumstances. Specifically:
In its contracts, Uber included terms which shifted most of the responsibility to restaurateurs — even in situations where the food left their restaurant and they had no control over the delivery process.
Many sellers would argue that they had no control over the delivery process in cases where an item arrives after the estimated delivery date and eBay refund the buyer.
ALSO, I reckon a case could be made that there are some parallels between Uber Eats and eBay.
Uber Eats has agreed to amend the terms to clarify that restaurants will only be responsible for matters within their control.
These include situations involving wrong food items, and incorrect or missing orders.
The parallel for eBay sellers is that currently they are held to account for matters within their control, like sending wrong/incorrect items or missing or not sent orders, but eBay also make sellers responsible for timely delivery within their sometimes unrealistic delivery timeframe.
This is where I think that the ACCC should look at eBay MBG terms and conditions that affect sellers. If a seller can prove that they shipped an item within their P&H timeframe then they should not be held accountable for slow delivery. It is eBay that make that guarantee, not sellers, so eBay should be responsible for refunding due to ‘late’ delivery.
Of course, if this was the case then eBay would have to recover their losses somehow . . . . probably through increasing seller fees. I think sellers will pay for eBay’s MBG folly one way or the other.
