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?

[buyselljack2016]

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@everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures wrote:
Of course it is...just because you do not think so doesn't mean it isn't. So you are basically giving an unfounded opinion when the facts say otherwise.

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As you did not quote which of my posts  you are responding to it is hard to be sure, but I am thinking it was about where the item ended up.

With that said, it is not 100% a fact that it went back to the buyer, but it is a 100% fact that it did not go from The FOX VALLEY, IL 60599 hub back to Champaign in the time frame given.  My money is on the buyer having gotten the item back.

The fact that USPS can deliver "Priority Express" to most USA locations in one day has absolutly nothing to do with a "return to sender" eBay "return service" labeled package.

It is a USPS scanning  error/glitch.  It has happened to me more than once. The return to sender (me) item is shown in my area. Gets physically delivered to my mailbox, and then within minutes shows a delivery scan location of the Zip that it was returned from.

This has nothing to do with the OP being right, or wrong with his curent issue.

The buyer did what they should do.  Morally/ethically they should reply to the seller's messages attempting to recover the item. Not sure what the tone of the messages to the buyer have been about recovering the laptop. I'm sure the seller would provide a shipping label/other compensation(funds to ship it back) to recover the item. Legally, the buyer can probablly just throw it in the trash.

EDIT:  and may I add, no more unfounded that the factless opinion that you are making

[goodluckselling]

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@roy8765 wrote:
Also, the fact that the buyer may be trying to pouch my returned laptop now shows his character when he requested a return and refund the first time around... Unfortunately a bad buyer started all this and eBay let him do it.

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Have you tried to send the buyer who's address you have in the order details page a return shipping label?  Since you feel they got the package returned to them because of a expired forwarding order I would try to send them a return shipping label back to your current address.

Yes you will have to pay for it yourself.

Good Luck Selling!

[roy8765]

No, I don’t want to make millions off of this incident!  I’m just trying to recover my damages.  But saying that when it comes down to court and lawyers, they’re not gonna just file for $300!  That’s just how our legal system works.

[roy8765]

Thank you repeating this process for the 10th time here. I’m fully away of where eBay stands and that’s exactly what will be challenged. The laptop was fully functional even under eBay’s definition of Used and the item description has been accurate.

[sewgood51646]

ebay will ALWAYS side with the buyer !

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

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@roy8765 wrote:

No, I don’t want to make millions off of this incident!  I’m just trying to recover my damages.  But saying that when it comes down to court and lawyers, they’re not gonna just file for $300!  That’s just how our legal system works.

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That is about all you can file for $300..if you do so and it is "small claims" court. That is a fact.
You cannot just file for more just because nor can lawyers. There must be a legal reason allowed for more than actual damages and there is none.

And again there is no court that can ignore the legal contract (TOU) you have voluntarily agreed to...and it is a legal contract. Key point is that you were not forced to agree to it and use the site as agreed...you did it voluntarily.

And yes you can lose a lot more than your laptop or the $300...legal fees for your lawyer will not be cheap, court costs for small clains not not that expensive right about $100 on average, then you pay for sepeonas, etc etc...and when you lose you could/will pay if there are expenses/legal fees on the other side etc etc

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

Courts do not take kindly to having time wasted either...which could present another issue. And if they even get that far they will deal with the illegal use of the address on file...since you will admit it to them as you did here. They cannot ignore something that is illegal and when people tell them all about it.

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

Oh and the court will also see you refuse to the legal process you agree to...you are not following TOU once again and violating the terms of your contract
And any court proceeding must be held in Utah...so plane fares all around added to expenses too

So again you will lose a lot more money than the $300

[jaanti-69]

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@roy8765 wrote:

No, I don’t want to make millions off of this incident!  I’m just trying to recover my damages.  But saying that when it comes down to court and lawyers, they’re not gonna just file for $300!  That’s just how our legal system works.

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You do realize that you have to go to California (or is it Utah since the user agreement says Utah law applies) to sue?

Stop and think, the travel expenses alone would negate any judgement you received.

[street*bandit]

I woulld take this to Judge Judy.

Forget about the old address for  a moment everyone.

What about the fact that Ebay sided with the buyer for the reason for the return.  A bad battery when it was spelled out in the listing that  it was bad?

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

Bad battery when the listing and condition said fully functional....which makes the listing wrong and conflicting and the reason ebay sided with the buyer. It is not allowed to post conflicting information in a listing and post the wrong condition.
This would have always been sided with the buyer because it was listed incorrectly.

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

The return issue was another issue as OP failed to have on file their current address/update their current address. Laptop was sent/returned to exactly where the OP told ebay they lived. And instead is using an address that is not theirs without permission of the address holder...making this also an illegal use of an address not belonging to the OP.

[roy8765]

It looks like you act in the capacity of a judge, an attorney, as well as an eBay spokesman here. But unfortunately I have more important things to attend to than responding to your tens of similar messages a day here....

[roy8765]

What is important here is that the laptop has been "fully functional" under the definition of Used. A battery is an unessential component of a laptop and even a battery at 5% capacity qualifies as Used when clearly disclosed in the item description.

The listing here has been accurate and honest and eBay's INAD decision has been a mistake. Thus eBay is on the hook for damages in this case and all similar cases. As I mentioned earlier, this is NOT a small claims court case.

[everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures]

It being unessential is your opinion but the fact remains for a laptop to be fully functional all parts of it must be fully functional.
The laptop cannot be used for any reasonable amount of time with the battery you had in it...and you even said as much.

You cannot have it both way and a battery is essential to it's use when it is unplugged as a laptop is meant and created to be used BOTH ways. If one way cannot really be used because a part of it is bad, the battery, then it is not fully functional. They were not created to be used with just a plug only.