Ebay - clothes significantly not as described from private seller

[haggis1984]

Who pays for return postage, buyer or seller?

 

My thinking was that as it's a breach of contract the seller is responsible, so the buyers responsibility only goes as far as making the goods available for collection?

[Mrs E Blackadder]

There is no obligation on the seller to pay your return postage. As this is a private seller then you may well just have to accept the price of the goods back, although it is best to try to negotiate with them. If you are unhappy about any decisions then you may need to escalate your claim via eBay or Paypal's complaints process.

[haggis1984]

Thanks for looking in Mrs E.

 

I know that in a breach of contract the wronged party should be put back in the position they would have been in had the contract not gone ahead at all.

 

In this instance if the buyer has to pay for return postage then the buyer ends up out of pocket, whilst the seller (who breached the contract) is the one who ends up back in the same position again.

[Mrs E Blackadder]

Don't forget that the seller will have paid listing/sellers fees to eBay, plus a percentage will also be lost if the buyer paid via Paypal, which most do now. If the seller refunds via Paypal then they will also lose another amount to Paypal for doing this. This is often where private sellers can lose out quite significantly, especially if they are good at not overcharging on postage in an attempt to cover their fees.

 

I have had a business seller on eBay refuse to pay return postage on a faulty item, so I think it is pretty much swings and roundabouts.

[perplexity]

Section 14 of the Sale of Goods Act applies:

Buyer not bound to return rejected goods.

 

Unless otherwise agreed, where goods are delivered to the buyer, and he refuses to accept them, having the right to do so, he is not bound to return them to the seller, but it is sufficient if he intimates to the seller that he refuses to accept them.

 

The terms of the eBay User Agreement are the same for all the members and all the listings.