Bought an item, its unusable - buyer expects me to pay return postage and delivery postage

[timeforachangebaby]

which is half the cost of the item

Its a lovely light, but sadly it is broken and cannot be put together, the item was £15.99 and the postage £7.99.

So to post it back is going to be at least another £7.99.

Can they do this? Given that they have dispatched a clearly damaged item.

[DeafLeopard]

Might not have sent it damaged - it could have got damaged in the post.

Yes ebay works that way - you pay the return postage and the seller refunds the purchase price, you will get the original postage price back, but not the cost of sending it back.

[DeafLeopard]

Forgot to add, you may find using a courier cheaper to return it than the RM

[timeforachangebaby]

Yes it was sent damaged - it cannot be assembled - am not happy about this at all.

I'll see what they come back with - I have emailed them and asked for replacement parts for the damaged bits.

[timeforachangebaby]

Yy to courier - I'll Check out parcelmonkey.

[undertheduvet]

i sold a light on ebay that arrived broken due to damage in the post. when the buyer contacted me i suggested she email me a photo of the damage and then i would refund her. couldn't see the point in sending it back to me for me to bin just a waste of money and time. would the seller of your item accept this option?

[fergoose]

if you open a not as described case with ebay tick the box marked other and type in next to it 'refund' - once escalated ebay may refund you without the need for a return. It is a no fault refund from ebay not the seller.

a good seller would refund the return postage costs, or ask for photos and claim for loss from the courier and not ask you to return the item at all.

[timeforachangebaby]

I'll see what they say, I expect they will get back to me tomorrow, its been sold as manufacturer refurbished and its unusable, DH says it can't even be bodged together, which at the price I would have been happy with (a bodged job).

As a fairly experienced ebayer (albeit just my own stuff), if this was me Id tell them to keep it and issue a full refund, it will only end up in tip anyway - its no use to anyone.

[dizzyday07]

Was it sent by RM? And was the part that's broken made of glass?

I only ask as it wouldn't be covered by RM compensation for breakage - especially if not packaged correctly!

If send by courier you'd have to check their T&Cs too

[fergoose]

what a shame - I hope you get a decent response.

[timeforachangebaby]

No, there is a sort of metal base, and a weight and the 2 should screw together, only the holes dont line up - so they cant be screwed together - this is the seller sending out a "refurbed" item, they havent checked over.

The nut to screw them together is missing but that would have been minor if the holes lined up - I asked DH if we could drill a new hole - but he said no.

Maybe sometimes, when something is too cheap - there is a reason.

[Ponders]

how heavy is it? Under 5kg you can send it for £4.99 with collect plus

but if it was never going to be usable surely you're entitled to a full refund including postage both ways?

[fergoose]

you are entitled to a full refund including p&p - a good seller will give return postage costs too, but there is no way you can enforce this