eBay advice

Ironic Namesake · 27 Feb 2006 at 22:26

Not looking for eBay help just want to see everyone's point of view on this :

Sold a hard drive for about £25 - sent it wrapped in quite a bit of bubble wrap and 2 padded envelope.

Buyer e-mails me :

I received your package on the 22nd February.

On signing for your package, I witnessed the postman accidentally dropping your package on the concrete.

On opening the package I found your hard drive.

I managed to F-DISK the drive after several restarts.

Unfortunately on trying to format the drive it stopped at 7% and would continue even after several restarts and I could hear a clicking noise coming from the drive.

As it is damaged I would like a refund please sent via paypal to

I replied saying she should have rejected the drive but would honour a refund if she returned it. Since then a few days have passed and she hasn't communicated at all but had the time to file a PayPal complaint to get her money back.

I'm feeling to just give a refund and not bother with it as I know how much hassle it is to claim from Royal Mail - just want to see a general point of view if I should both disputing her PayPal claim or not.

-westy- · 27 Feb 2006 at 22:28

If the drive was in good working order when you sent it, its not your problem, she should claim from Royal Mail.

Immsy · 27 Feb 2006 at 22:40

Problem with that is Paypal / Ebay are so weighted in favour of the end consumer / buyer they will issue chargebacks like its going out of fashion.

lmfy2k · 27 Feb 2006 at 22:42

I received your package on the 22nd February.

On signing for your package, I witnessed the postman accidentally dropping your package on the concrete.

On opening the package I found your hard drive.

I managed to F-DISK the drive after several restarts.

Unfortunately on trying to format the drive it stopped at 7% and would continue even after several restarts and I could hear a clicking noise coming from the drive.

As it is damaged I would like a refund please sent via paypal to

oh dear now ive heard it all, thats got to be a very poor attempt at getting a refund, she is trying it on imo.

as the above poster has said, it was working when you sent it, it was working when the posty had it in his hands infront of her.

itis not your fault that its faulty. (was the HD under warranty at all?)

tell her to send the HD back to you so you can test it and if it indeed turns out faulty tell her you will refund her once you get refunded from Royal Mail,

do not give in mate!

djbenjo · 27 Feb 2006 at 22:46

You will probably have paypal nick your money off you

This is why I don't bother with ebay/paypal anymore, everyone and their dog out to rip you off. Similar things happened to me twice in a month of selling about 10-15 bits and bobs.

Adz · 27 Feb 2006 at 22:51

-westy- said:
If the drive was in good working order when you sent it, its not your problem, she should claim from Royal Mail.

I'm afraid that's not true. It's the seller's responsibility to ensure that the item is delivered intact to the buyer. He will have to claim from RM or take the hit. However, I would insist that she sends the drive back before making a refund.

Request her contact details from eBay - it's much harder to ignore a phonecall than an email.

lozza · 27 Feb 2006 at 22:57

Forward her email to Paypal, along with your email stating she should not have accepted the package and that you will refund the cost of the drive once you have recieved it back from her and tested it and claimed back from RM.

What did she actually make a claim for with paypal?

Ironic Namesake · 27 Feb 2006 at 23:01

Didn't actually check that , here is what she put

Dear Paypal, I received the seller on the 22nd February. On signing for your package, I witnessed the postman accidentally dropping your package on the concrete. On opening the dropped package I found the hard drive. I managed to F-DISK the drive after several restarts. Unfortunately on trying to format the drive it stopped at 7% and would continue even after several restarts and I could hear a clicking noise coming from the drive. I would like the seller to file a complaint with royal mail and request and claim on the insurance. And is damaged as windows as is unable to format the drive. I have tried to contact the seller with no response. Regards, xxx

No response ? hmmm

Filing a complaint doesn't help me - it takes 10 days to get a refund from PayPal - much longer from Royal Mail!

cootuk · 27 Feb 2006 at 23:25

I'd ask for the drive back and make damned sure it is the same serial number as that sent out...seems like a few people 'swap' their broken stuff on Fleabay like this..allegedly

Will · 27 Feb 2006 at 23:27

Can't you just close your paypal account now, if you fear getting a chareback? I know its hassle, but if the money matters and is a significant ammount, and you know you're in the clear in terms of the drives condition...

Adz · 27 Feb 2006 at 23:28

Will said:
Can't you just close your paypal account now, if you fear getting a chareback? I know its hassle, but if the money matters and is a significant ammount, and you know you're in the clear in terms of the drives condition...

They'll still pursue you for the money I'm afraid. There's no escaping the T&Cs you agreed to when signing up with Paypal.

Ironic Namesake · 27 Feb 2006 at 23:28

Unfortunately I can't just close this PayPal account...need it quite a lot

Nix · 27 Feb 2006 at 23:36

TBH this reminds me a lot of a thread a while ago where someone ****** over by the person who bought their stuff.

I will say on this though, if you have evidence you've offered to refund on return of the HDD than surely paypal could let you two sort it out. Otherwise, I'd say it's not your problem and she should take it up with the courier.

A2Z · 28 Feb 2006 at 00:46

Get her phone number, phone her up and tell her you will give her refund when you get the drive back.

If she doesnt - paypal wont give her any money until she provides proof of posting that she has sent it back to you.

starscream · 28 Feb 2006 at 01:11

As I don't think you mentioned if this was recorded delivery or not (as it would change things) I'm going to assume it was just normal mail.

I would have say the right thing to do is to issue a refund and claim from royal mail. I'm pretty sure that someone who recieves mail cannot make a claim, only the sender. This leaves her with a faulty hard drive when she paid for a working one. Obviously it's not your fault, its the post offices, but if you look at things from her point of view, she doesn't have a lot of options.

However, she needs to send it back first.