eBay let buyer return an item and it was sent to a wrong address and it was lost!

[roy8765]

Around a month ago, I sold a used laptop on eBay, clearly mentioning in the item description that the battery was not good and it could hold only about half an hour of charge (to the best of my knowlege) and that returns were not accepted.  The buyer claimed that the battery was bad and requested a return which I declined.  However, eBay let the buyer return it and they even provided a return address to him which was 11 years old without asking me first and the laptop was sent to a wrong address.  I never received the laptop and for all practical purposes, the ~$250 laptop is lost!  I appealed eBay's decision multiple times and they always rejected my appeal and forced me to fully refund the buyer plus shipping.  Eventually I asked for their legal department and I'm considering suing eBay in a small claims court.  What are my options and chances of success here?  Any advice from the community and the sellers who have been in this situation?

This is a pretty clear mess up on eBay's part....  They turned a long time customer into an active enemy!  Any lawyers who would like to take this case on my behalf?

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

And BTW...you also really do not want to pay court cost and or attorney fees for the other side which also can happen when you lose the case.

You really need to calm down and rethink this

There is really no way you will win a court case...none...and you could stand to lose a lot more than a laptop

[roy8765]

Ordinary Americans don't expect a 100% capacity battery on a used laptop. If you ask 100 people on the street if they expect a new battery when they buy a used laptop, they'll tell you no. And a battery is not an essential component of a laptop. It works even without a battery. Therefore it was a fully functional laptop!

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

That is an opinion and not a fact...but you said it was 100% fully functional and there is NO taking that back now. Opinions are not facts and not admissible in court either and do not hold up as facts.

Again you really have no leg to stand on.

You played the main role in everything that has occurred and there is just no ignoring that...those are facts.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

If it has to be plugged in to work it is not a laptop it is an anchor. Hiring a lawyer would be throwing good money after bad and another ridiculous lawsuit. Maybe you can find one of those lawyers who have to advertise on tv because no reasonable person would hire them.

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

No it is a laptop with no or a bad battery.....and anchor is something completely different.
A laptop can be used without a battery by being plugged in.....if is just not a 100% fully functional laptop...as the battery is a part of the laptop.
Removal of the battery doesn't change it into something else...sometihng completely different.

[roy8765]

Yes, it WAS a fully functional laptop with a battery that had ~5% capacity left clearly mentioned in its item description.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@roy8765 wrote:
Because I never suspected that eBay would allow a return and refund as it was obvious to me that the buyer could not claim INAD due to an accurate item description (the buyer claimed the battery was bad for the reason to return which was exactly as I'd described!!) That's why I declined the return and didn't bother to check my return address. eBay didn't even send a confirmation email to me with the return address before authorizing the return. Any way if eBay is found at fault in this case, I'm sure my lawyer will make them pay for all damages (and probably a lot more than that) and it doesn't really matter that I didn't have an up-to-date return address due to the precedence of the root cause default from their side.

Btw, I did try to return it to the sender (i.e. the buyer), but the buyer does not respond to my inquiries whether he's received it or not. And the buyer does not live in Champaign either:

https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?tRef=fullpage&tLc=2&text28777=&tLabels=4206182193019201...8%2C

With all due respect, could you explain this?  How and why are you trying to return this to the sender?  You have posted that you didn't get the computer back because of the wrong address you had for the return?  Did you try to redirect it instead of having it come back to your wrong address?

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[cadbury0007]

I feel your pain, but some of this is a lack of experience on your part.  You mentioned that you only sell on here 4 or 5 times a year, so the person who seldom sells is at a disadvantage every few months.  There are things that the everyday seller on here knows & deals with all the time, and a bad buyer is one of them.   EBay has updates in Spring, Summer, and Fall every stinking year, and it gets old after a while of always trying to 'keep up' with all the changes that happen.  If it's any consolation, if I had been the buyer, I wouldn't have tried to return it because of the battery - I READ THE DESCRIPTIONS.   

The thing I mentioned about the post office is referring to your ability to have it redirected to your newer address.  I wouldn't have it sent back to the sender/buyer, since that seems like a lose-lose situation too.   Why would you try and send it back to the one person who you already know does not want the laptop?   EBay has changed a lot over the years, and people who scam are playing fast & loose with the rules.  It's hard to keep up with, but coming to the community to view greivances and trying to see what to look out for is in your best interest.   Ask questions to take advantage of the experience that some of these members have BEFORE you get in over your head.  There are a lot of good, knowledgeable people on here who visit every day, looking to help people get out of tight spots.  It doesn't always work, but that's how we get experience.  Everybody falls at some point, but we gotta keep get getting up to get back in the 'game'.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

But you said it was a fully functional laptop when you chose used. Now you’re saying it isn’t? People buy laptops to use untethered by power cords. You sold a SNAD item. No court is going to find in your favor. You caused your own problems.

[castlemagicmemories]

The thing I mentioned about the post office is referring to your ability to have it redirected to your newer address.  I wouldn't have it sent back to the sender/buyer, since that seems like a lose-lose situation too.   Why would you try and send it back to the one person who you already know does not want the laptop?   

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Thank you!

[roy8765]

Because I knew who the buyer was, but I had no clue who lived in my 11 year old address... It's quite possible that the buyer has indeed received the laptop and is trying to steal it.

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

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@roy8765 wrote:

Ordinary Americans don't expect a 100% capacity battery on a used laptop. If you ask 100 people on the street if they expect a new battery when they buy a used laptop, they'll tell you no. And a battery is not an essential component of a laptop. It works even without a battery. Therefore it was a fully functional laptop!


There is a big difference between being functional and being 100% fully functional. Yes a laptop can function without a battery but it is not 100% fully functional as it will not work at all if the battery is dead or removed and not plugged in. The battery is part of the laptop. The laptop is made to use both way...and as such to be 100% fully functional would need to work both way 100%
If a part of the laptop is not 100% fully functional then the unit as a whole can also not be 100% fully functional

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[roy8765]

I'd have loved to, but the post office didn't let me do that.

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

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@roy8765 wrote:
I'd have loved to, but the post office didn't let me do that.

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NO this is on you too...You picked the address you have on file and you chose not to keep it up to date. This is not the fault of anyone else. Everything that happened is all because YOU did not do what you should have and now have consequesnces from that....but you created this issue and you could have avoided it by doing what is required and keeping your address up to date

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

There is an on going theme here and that is you want to blame everyone and everything else for what you had 100% control over and could have avoided.
You will eventually need to acknowledge that you caused pretty much everything that happened.....and you are now dealing with the consequences of that

Again..you could have avoided all of it....pretty much by doing 2 things that you needed to do to begin with.