eBay issues - threat of legal action

[macca]

Hi All,

Another question on behalf of my poor girlfriend who had a bit of a day of it yesterday.

I'll try and cut the story down but keep the main points.

In January she sold an item on eBay. The winner asked a question about the specific model of the item before bidding, he was told the model number from the item, then decided to bid and on the 25th Jan 2008 won the auction. The item was sent to the winner as described in the auction (minus the original box as specified).

About three weeks later the seller e-mailed to complain that it was not the model advertised, but a lower model and that it did not come in the original box.

My girlfriend replied to defend that it was indeed the correct model, as she had checked the item and also copied the information for the relevant item from the manufacturer's website. She also explained that the auction description clearly stated that the original box had been damaged and so the item would not come in it.

The winner was obviously not happy, I suspect they didn't realise that they had bid on the wrong thing. The winner then lodged a dispute with PayPal on the 3rd March 2008, around 6 weeks after winning the auction. After some to-and-frowing with PayPal they looked at all the correspondence and decided in favour of my girlfriend. This was the 7th April 2008.

My girlfriend received a letter from the winner yesterday, copied in to PayPal and also the winners solicitors stating that the winner disagreed with PayPal's decision and had reported the seller (my girlfriend) to their local Police for fraudulant selling and had instructed their solicitors (from what I can see, they are the MD of a software company) to recover what they believe to be around £500 so far in costs.

Unfortunately as the dispute went in her favour, my girlfriend thought the matter to be over and closed and so has not kept any of the e-mails and now the original eBay auction is not available (they only stay live for 90 days apparently).

Can anybody shed any light on where we stand with this and what we should do, as underdstandably with the threat of Police and solicitors action and ridiculously large costs, my girlfriend is very upset and beside herself. Personally I'm not sure what case they have, and have a feeling that they're just trying to scare her in to a refund (the seller says if she refunds straight away then they will drop the matter).

Thanks in advance,

Mark.

[Paule]

Re: eBay issues - threat of legal action

I would take it as a scare tactic, this is a common type of scam on ebay.

If they have contacted Police, just wait for the Police for to get in touch.

You have evidence that the goods are all is as described,
if they are taking action against you, they have to prove otherwise.

Here is a link to some of the Ebay scams out there
EBaY - Legal Beagles

[Guest]

Re: eBay issues - threat of legal action

First thing your girlfriend needs to do is not panic, it is almost certainly a bluff. A solicitor's letter on its own means little and I very much doubt the police will care a great deal.

I am sure that eBay can find old information which will exonerate your girlfriend completely and I seem to recall that you may be able to bring up old pages via the eBay invoice system in the My Account link. All she needs to provide is the auction details that demonstrate that the item was a particular model number and that no original box was supplied - then the buyer is going to look rather foolish and still have to pay his solicitor's bill.

I would also suggest that you ask for an apology and retraction to be sent to the police.

[macca]

Re: eBay issues - threat of legal action

Thanks PKea. That's an interesting link, just when you think you've heard of all the scams, another pops up that you don't realise about.

Sounds like it could be the Buy and Switch scam. If so, then it could be very hard for us to prove that the correct goods were sent? Whereas, they could easily have kept a copy of the listing and then show evidence of an item that wasn't sent?

And the problem is as there's no picture of the item before it was sent out, and the listing is now unavailable from eBay so we don't have any evidence to hand. I suppose the only thing in our favour is that the PayPal decision went in my girlfriend's favour and they must have looked at all the evidence?
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Also, should mention that the winner (I checked yesterday) has a 100% positive feedback of about 60-odd from the last 12 months.
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Thanks Cetelco.

She hasn't actually had a solicitor's letter yet, just a threat that they have actioned them and the e-mail sent was copied in to the solicitors. I will just go and check that they even exist, I sort of took this for granted.

Should I reply to the e-mail or just sit tight and see what happens?

[Paule]

Re: eBay issues - threat of legal action

And the problem is as there's no picture of the item before it was sent out, and the listing is now unavailable from eBay so we don't have any evidence to hand

Did you have any pics of the product on the actaul ebay advert.
If you have, and the 'police' do get invoved they will be able to get this info from ebay

Also, should mention that the winner (I checked yesterday) has a 100% positive feedback of about 60-odd from the last 12 months.

Well thats another scam, there are lots of ways to buy feedback, what you need to do is see what they actually buy, there are thousands of '1 cent' auctions on ebay which will cost you less than a penny to win. If you want to build up good feedback, it will cost you less than a quid for over 100 good feedbacks.

Always look at exactley what they have been buying, not the feedback given.
I had a buyer from abroad who wanted to but from me his adress wasnt verified but from his feedback and his previous purchaes you could see that they were legit, and i had no probs, but if they bought all sorts fo tiny thing i may have been more wary.

[macca]

Re: eBay issues - threat of legal action

There was a picture on the listing but it was a 'library' picture from the website of the exact model. I know this isn't a great idea, and if I'd have known that's what she was planning on using then I would have advised otherwise.

As for the feedback, I'll have a look again and see what the details are. Thanks!

[Amethyst]

Re: eBay issues - threat of legal action

Important changes to Feedback
Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral Feedback from sellers.

• You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings

Peeks - hows that work then ?

[sam]

Re: eBay issues - threat of legal action

You can contact the police yourself. If indeed they did make a complaint, your local police can find out or indded tell you its a scam. Another big one is the dpa. I had a letter about that due to my self employment and if you DO ever need to register for DPA its about £30/£35 NOT £150 plus.

I would, if it where me contact your local police station.