Can I take ebay to court for full reimbursement of a damaged item?

[sund1ata]

Hello All, 

 

1. What happened

 

I recently sold an phone on ebay. The buyer decided to return it (he lied about the battery being defective). 

ebay debited my account to pay the buyer, I got my phone back.

When I tried to turn it on, it wouldn't start, so I took it to a phone shop. They said it was water damaged. "Maybe he dropped it in the toilet?"

 

2. Appealing to ebay

 

Rightly, I complained and made an appeal. A few days later, they sent me an email: "Congratulations! You've won. We shall send you a partial refund." 

They offered to send me 50%!

I don't accept 50% and have told them so. I have a broken phone, and they expect me to take the hit!

 

3. What is the problem?

 

At no point did they say my refund would be half the item - not on the phone, nor by email. Their language is misleading, and they did not communicate it would be half.

That's not a "win". Purely because of their miscommunication, I don't accept the sum they have offered and want a full reimbursement.

 

4. What Can I Do Now?

 

I want to take them to the Small Claims Court. They have set up arbitrary rules, completely opaque to the user. It's their "kingdom" and

they appear to do what they like. I very much doubt any common-sense test would equate half an item's value to a "win" or "partial" refund.

 

Do I have any basis on which to take ebay to court?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

Water damage is the typical get out reason for mobile phone people when it means ...I don't really know.

 

You will have a hard time proving who did the damage hence I think eBay are actually being quite unusually generous here, they typically will simply fob you off with nothing 

 

How do you pay PayPal? If the money shows on your bank statement, go do a chargeback with your bank. It will kill your eBay account but simply open a new one under diff info 

 

Dx