Have I been conned?

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I bought a lens off Ebay the other week - advertised as a Sigma 70-300mm taking 58mm filters. I put in a bid and got it pretty cheap. A few days later when I went to pick it up from the post office I was appalled when I was handed a jiffy bag instead of a box. The lens inside was protected by a single sheet of bubble-wrap! For this I was charged £10 postage. Not happy.

Anyway when I got home I examined it and instead of 70-300mm with 58mm filter size it is 75-300mm with 55mm filter size (so all my filters are useless for it). Okaaaaaayy... thinks I, I can live with this, I got it pretty cheap. I took off the caps and looked through it - I have never seen so much dust in my life. The optics are filthy.

The buyer has a "no returns" policy and he is ignoring my emails. Surely I have the right to a refund considering the item was misdescribed and is so dirty as to be not really of merchantable quality (unless you specifically point out the poor condition, which he didn't)? Shall I get Ebay or Payapl on the case? Or can I reverse the Paypal payment somehow?
 
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Hmm tough one. Might have a case with the wrongly described filter thread, but unless they specifically said it was in better condition than it is I'm not sure you'll get much help from ebay. Probably worth trying though.
 
By definition the item wasn't as described: filter thread was wrongly described. If you kick off enough with eBay they'll step in, they seem to care more for their buyers than their sellers.
 
if you go to paypal you can start a dispute. i would push this on the grounds that the filter size is wrong and that this was a vital option with regards to you purchasing the lens.
 
Sorry, I mistyped. In addition to the wrong filter size, it is 75-300mm whereas it was described as 70-300mm. So it was misdescribed in two ways. It's a different lens!

And I reckon the filthy state renders it unsellable unless the condition is made clear in the auction so potential buyers can make an informed choice.
 
It's not the right item and the seller is refusing to respond. Raise a claim initially with eBay and then a day later with Paypal.

Ebay are useless when it comes to policing, they'll just say to give the seller negative feed back, however Paypal may provide a full refund.
 
GavSt said:
if you go to paypal you can start a dispute. i would push this on the grounds that the filter size is wrong and that this was a vital option with regards to you purchasing the lens.
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+1 Seller is completely in the wrong.
Start a dispute through paypal. The seller will be required to respond. If he doesn't do so you will get a full refund but you will be expected to pay for the return of the lens. He may try to fight you but given what you received compared to what he advertised you shouldn't have a problem.
 
As far as the Sales of Good Act is concerned you have no recourse if it was an internet auction. However, if you bought it under 'Buy it Now' thats a completely different matter and you have an uncontestable 14 day 'cooling off' period as part of the Distance Selling Goods act where they must give you a refund irrespective of the reason why you are returning it.

As said above, if the item was misdescribed then you are still covered under the SOGA.

Mark
 
It's simple, the item wasn't as described.

Also the goods weren't fit for the purpose for which they were being sold, ie shooting at 70mm.

No brainer for me, the buyer is covered.
 
got to paypal, be aware though that if they find in your favour you WILL have to pay to send the lens back
 
I had a similar experience with a product i got on ebay, in the end it took over 3 months for paypal to sort it out and by the time they did they guy had moved , he has done heaps of rouge deals and then fled

Paypal payed us all back in the end as we were all covered but it was a long struggle and loads of hastle.

If i buy anything from ebay now , i always ask first if i can view the item as im local , even thought im hundreds of miles away ....

if you dont get a reply well nuff said , move on to next one :thumbs:
 
razor777 said:
As far as the Sales of Good Act is concerned you have no recourse if it was an internet auction. However, if you bought it under 'Buy it Now' thats a completely different matter and you have an uncontestable 14 day 'cooling off' period as part of the Distance Selling Goods act where they must give you a refund irrespective of the reason why you are returning it.

As said above, if the item was misdescribed then you are still covered under the SOGA.

Mark
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Sorry but you're wrong on two counts. Cooling off period is 7 days. And, assuming the seller is a private individual, Distance Selling Regulations do not apply.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/distance-selling-regulations/

PDF Document Paragraph 2.18 Sales by private individuals not acting for business purposes are not covered by the DSRs.
 
MisterE said:
Sorry but you're wrong on two counts. Cooling off period is 7 days. And, assuming the seller is a private individual, Distance Selling Regulations do not apply.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/distance-selling-regulations/

PDF Document Paragraph 2.18 Sales by private individuals not acting for business purposes are not covered by the DSRs.
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Yep - agreed.
The Sale of Goods Act also doesn't apply to private individuals either.

IMO you have plenty of grounds to lodge a dispute with PayPal though - the item clearly isn't what was described and if you'd bought it thinking that it was compatible with your filters it isn't fit for purpose.

You've done the polite thing and contacted the seller direct, if he hasn't responded then I'd say go straight to PayPal.
It may take a while to resolve and I know that it wasn't a high value item, but I'd still do it just out of principle.
 
MisterE said:
Sorry but you're wrong on two counts. Cooling off period is 7 days. And, assuming the seller is a private individual, Distance Selling Regulations do not apply.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/distance-selling-regulations/

PDF Document Paragraph 2.18 Sales by private individuals not acting for business purposes are not covered by the DSRs.
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Oh well, sure it used to be 14 days at one point. However, DSR's do cover private individuals if they were selling items for business purposes (example, selling items on ebay as an ongoing concern and not as a one off to get rid of kit).

With regards to Internet Auctions - not convered if true auction, covered if 'Buy it Now' (unless Private Individual who is not using ebay for business purposes).
 
As others have said, you are entitled to start a dispute through ebay/Paypal.

Providing the auction details said you are fully covered if you pay by Paypal - look in the Payment details section for clarification.

You should be making a SNAD - "Significantly not as described" claim - which covers a multitude of events, like receiving a brick instead of a book.......

You need to follow their guidelines correctly, especially with respect to timing - this is all explained in the Paypal's Resolution Centre or in Ebay Help Pages:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/item-not-received.html

Good luck.
 
I have had to claim back through paypal twice through similar problems. Although it takes a little while to resolve they have been very good. You should have no problem as the goods were wrongly described.
 
I've never had a problem with complaining through PayPal, but it's irksome when you have to use an expensive tracked delivery service to return an item overseas.
 
Paypal will refund you and you need to send the lens back - open and shut case, I was fleeced by Paypal earlier this year of someone who bought a mobile (think he was a trader) and disputed 6 weeks later saying it was not as described and sent it back minus some parts. As he has sent something back Paypal gave him money back, although I am still refusing to pay them and will never use them again.
 
matty said:
got to paypal, be aware though that if they find in your favour you WILL have to pay to send the lens back
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I would make sure you securely box it up and send it recorded or RMSD - you want to be able to prove it has been received, the last thing you need is for them to claim you never returned it !!

As has been said above in other threads, claim as significantly wrong item, it was not the lens you bought from the described sale.

Good luck with it :thumbs:
 
andyred said:
I would make sure you securely box it up and send it recorded or RMSD - you want to be able to prove it has been received, the last thing you need is for them to claim you never returned it !!
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depends what it's worth, ordinary mail is insured up to £39 so RMSD may not be needed
 
If the seller won't do the right thing, raise a Paypal dispute. You don't need to wait 7 days, go directly to the Paypal payment.

You'll have to pay postage back. The seller has the option of offering a partial refund as well.
 
You MUST use a delivery service with online tracking: it's part of the PayPal conditions. You are also required to send proof of posting by fax. Sometimes they have a file upload system working (it was broken last time), but they won't accept email attachments.
 
The only way to get a guaranteed proof of delivery is with RMSD.

Quite often I find that Recorded never gets logged (I have an item I posted a week ago showing its still at my local post office, even though its been received!)
 
puddleduck said:
The only way to get a guaranteed proof of delivery is with RMSD.

Quite often I find that Recorded never gets logged (I have an item I posted a week ago showing its still at my local post office, even though its been received!)
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I received a recorded delivery item a few weeks ago that I wasn't asked to sign for (relief postie).
 
andyred said:
I would make sure you securely box it up and send it recorded or RMSD - you want to be able to prove it has been received, the last thing you need is for them to claim you never returned it !!

As has been said above in other threads, claim as significantly wrong item, it was not the lens you bought from the described sale.

Good luck with it :thumbs:
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If they are bad enough they can still claim that the signature is not theirs.
 
Then you would be able to get the post office involved, at the very least RMSD covers you for the amount the lens cost.
 
Seems to be a lot of people getting ripped off lately, guess it is a sign of the trouble this country is in, people willing to do anything to get some money.
 
puddleduck said:
The only way to get a guaranteed proof of delivery is with RMSD.

Quite often I find that Recorded never gets logged (I have an item I posted a week ago showing its still at my local post office, even though its been received!)
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I once sent a recorded delivery parcel (fortunately only worth a tenner) that never arrived, and when they tried to trace it, the tracking number never even appeared to have made the local back room.
 
Get on to paypal. They have normally been good.

It'll take a few weeks but hopefully they should or it as the item isnt as described.
 
If you paid paypal by a credit card get onto them...paypal are just as bad as eBAY...BAD EXPERIENCES...ALWAYS SORTED OUT BY CCC

Good Luck...

STEVIER
 
as everyone else has said, paypal all the way, considering you have a pretty good case, there's no way you won't get your money back!
 
hi , if you paid by paypal you are covered under there protection scheme and as the item you received is different to description you should have no trouble , but you do need to do it straightaway.
good luck
 
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