PJ; what you do to protect your rights as you perceive them is not the issue here.

You threw down the gauntlet, providing what you believed to be authority in support.  We have responded.  It’s now up to who reads the post to decide whose opinion they prefer.

But then of course the issue could easily be put to bed right here, right now.  All that eBay and/or PayPal need to do coming here and clarify their policy position on deemed delivery – which is what they have been on more than one occasion been invited to do, but to date have failed to do.  This in itself speaks volumes.

As for “Should anyone else try that tactic, a non registered business, a private seller or an overseas seller, I will stick with Paypal and/or my card provider as those sellers do not come under the auspices of any SOG, DSR or Fair Trade legislation”

There is now a body of authority which suggests, that where a buyer located in Australia buys something from someone overseas Australian Consumer Protection Laws apply to the contract. However these authorities are not definitive, but even if they were, enforcement is still an issue. 

As for items purchased in Australia, when you read the legislation you would come to realise that the Sale of Goods Act is the core legislation on which all the others are founded. 

You would also come to realise the Sales of Goods Act(s) deal with how and when a contract is formed, the rights and responsibilities of the respective parties to the contract and the recourse a party has if the other party breaches or fails to abide by a term contained in the contract.

Finally you would also come to realise – and this is the important bit – that this Act applies to all contracts involving the sale or goods irrespective of whether the seller is a private individual, a small business (registered or not) or an incorporated entity (company), which of course means deemed delivery applies even where you purchased something from someone other than one who falls within the definition of operating a business.

That is, the Sales of Goods Act applies to all sales irrespective whether the seller is a business or not.  As for the other two Acts these are an extension of the Sales of Goods Act with one regulating non incorporated entities (sole traders partnerships etc), whilst the other regulates incorporated entities. 

So why is one a State Act whilst the other is a Commonwealth Act, the Constitution requires that it be so.