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HELP!!! Seller won't honor auction commitment.
Purchased an item that was being sold as is with free shipping. Item was identified as being damaged and incomplete...but I needed it for spare parts and was ok with said condition. Completed auction using buy it now option and immediately paid for it. The seller and I exchanged a few emails the following day about expedited shipping. Was quoted a few prices for a few options. Decided to go with the original free shipping option as it was too pricey and not as time sensitive as originally thought. Just 24 hours later, I get refunded for the item with a note attached reading - "The item is no longer in stock or is damaged". Seems fishy to me considering we exchanged emails about expediting the shipping costs 24 hours after auction was completed. What are my options at this point??? Legal options? Thought the auction was a legally binding contract on both sides. Any help would be helpful. Thanks in advance....
woodland_gnome
·2 years agoThe seller already got a "defect" when s/he cancelled the transaction (the "out of stock" etc. reason is a catchall for any seller issue--the other 3 reasons in the cancellation menu blame the buyer). That is the primary tool eBay uses to weed out bad sellers, downgrading the selling status of those who get too many relative to their sales volume (as opposed to having to pay employees to actually investigate to see how likely it was that the seller had a legitimate reason to cancel vs. deliberate policy violations).
You may leave appropriate (calm, factual--if the seller said that x was the reason say "seller said x. . ." so people don't think you are just jumping to conclusions) feedback to warn future buyers/bidders. If the usual links have vanished, go to anyone's Feedback Profile (doesn't matter who, click on the feedback score in parentheses behind the username) then scroll down to below the last comment on that page to find a "Leave feedback" link that doesn't vanish (it brings you to a list of items you can leave feedback for).
Theoretically you could sue the seller for breach of the contract of sale (for the difference between the auction price and what you ended up having to pay for a replacement), but that is almost never practical.