Pieved (Ebay :( ) Advice Please

[Rory]

I bought a carbon bonnet, back in feb, on eBay from unique_clothing who also trade as JDM parts or something, but soon after decided to sell the car so never even fitted the bonnet, I just put it back on eBay as my 14 days change of mind had passed

it sold and I checked and sent it, it arrived at its new owners a day later than it should have but thats not a big deal, anyway he has fitted it and sasys the panel gaps are huge and wants a refund, theres little I can do given that the bonnet is a cheaper than usual carbon fibre job I assume the chap is telling the truth and it doesn't fit well, I have asked him to carefully wrap it back up in its original box and return it and agreed I will refund if it is simply a bad fit, warning that any damage would mean no refund

meanwhile I have opened a dispute with unique_clothing so I can hopefully return it to them, but i'm way over my 45 days seller protection, sale of goods act is on my side if the item is not fit for purpose, as its only 3 months since purchase, but what if eBay sides with the seller as I didn't respond earlier?

how easy is it to get money back from an online business??

[IHgs300]

Unless you paid by credit card Rory, you are at e-bay's mercy really. Depends on whether they side with seller or not? Did you leave feedback for the original transaction?

[Rory]

no fortunately so its not like i'll be going back on my word either, i've sent the original supplier my request for a refund and quoted the sale of goods act anyway simply because he is trading as a business

[IHgs300]

Hope you get a refund mate, If he's a business he has to abide by trading rules.

[steve2006]

If it follows the usual track Fleabay will do nothing to help and Poopal (part of Fleabay) will also do nothing apart from quote their T+Cs.

If the seller doesn't play ball you could either contact Trading Standards for further advice or if as previously mentioned you paid by Credit card via poopal contact your card provided and tell them you wish to open a dispute ( credit card providers are jointly liable with the retailer)

[Rory]

fortunately the seller has accepted my request for a refund, just got to wait for the buyer to return it to me, i've then got to make sure it is the one I sold him and then fit to take photos of the panel gaps, then pack it back up and return it to the guys I bought it off, then hopefully I get my cash back, the impression I get from both the seller and the person I then sold it to are that they are genuine so fingers crossed things will be resolved smoothly

[Rory]

just a quick update, I got the bonnet back off the buyer today, I did feel he was genuine with his complaint, simply with the tone of the messages, he never accused me of trying to rip him off or anything like that, and so I tried to help as best I could

now as i'd opened a case to the seller I originally got the bonnet off they simply asked for me to show images of the defects, they will claim a refund for me in the next coming week and will only ask for the bonnet back if they really have to, so...

I put the bonnet on my own car and took a couple of photos...

you can see how the panel gap is pretty much parallel until it reaches the headlamp, then curves away from the wing

Then took a couple of photos of imperfections in the carbon weave, they had started to go white in places:

The bolt holes are too small for the original bolts, the supplied bolt's heads are small enough to go completely through the bonnet hinges, so would need some good washers/collars on for them to fit and stay still, all in all a bad experience, just hoping the seller offers me a refund, as I still need to refund my buyer for his return postage

all in all, lesson learned, the panel gaps wouldn't be half as noticeable on a dark car though so if the original seller does not want it back i'm gonna put it on a no reserve back on eBay, but showing all defects, someone may make use of it

[Rory]

Final Update, the Original Seller offered me a refund excluding postage, without requiring the bonnet back, so it would have stood me at £60, plus I still owed my buyer £50 for the insured return postage, so I could sell the bonnet as defective to cover those costs, but I didn't wanna take chances, so I requested a full refund, and they agreed, I got that today, but then a slight twist...

I was credited, I had the defective bonnet, and still owed my buyer his £50

so I stuck it on the bay at what I thought was a reasonable if not pricey £125+ p&p (of £50) and had some interest, the successful eBay sale at this price would have given me ~£40 for the overall inconvenience

I was offered an acceptable £100 cash on collection and provisionally accepted, now, I don't take things off eBay until the deal is done, so I upped the price by quite a chunk, pending payment from the cash offer i'd had, and while still waiting for a response on that one, someone only pressed buy it now and gave me £225 including postage, thus leaving me £125 up!!! result

in all honesty, I advertised it as accurately as I could, and had I been a buyer, I wouldn't have bought it at the price it went for, but i've covered all bases on it, all defects were mentioned, and it was listed as for parts or not working, no returns, and i'm a private seller, and the chap who bought it is sticking it on a drift car, which implies its gonna get knocked about from time to time anyway