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Ebay and trading standards
 

I had a buyer threatening me of reporting me to trading standards, just because I will not accept a return of a purchase over 3 months now through ebay, which is of an electronic and has stopped working after 3 months.
I did however offer a partial refund for being on the safe side, which they agreed with.

But now I am having second thoughts and wondering, if they can actually complain to trading standards, and will the trading standards take an actions on this matter?

Bear in mind the ebay/paypal resolution period is over and the buyer cannot leave a feedback for their purchase as it is over 60 days.

Trading standards won't take any action based on the fact the item doesn't work.

They may take an interest if the buyer claims the item is either counterfeit or dangerous (I'm not saying it's either of course).

Do not take that as gospel.

A smart buyer may persuade ebay/paypal to take action.

Has happened before.

trading standards unlikely to do anything unless theres been many complaints, by law you only have 28 days to return item, i would speak to ebay support as GB says there are times they can open a dispute outisde the period, on the plus side they cant leave neg fb

Offer a 28 day warranty on things you are happy with or state other ie 14 day return etc
trading standards will not bother with them if it is a used item in most cases its a buyer BEWARE 28 days is good buyers like it and not much chance of somthing going down in that time unless its naff allready

Isn't it really one of those things were it's sold as seen?

I've had a couple of similar things happen to me..

Firstly,trading standards wont give a damn(this is virtually garuanteed)..

Only thing you have to be worried about(aside from your conscience) is did you offer a warranty with the product..?...if you did,then the buyer can take you to small claims courts,and he will win...

If you didn't offer a warranty,but you're registered as a business seller..the buyer might still have a case with small claims,in that any "trader" is legally obliged to offer a "reasonable" warranty policy on whatever he sells..(ebay,as always,is a bit of dark horse in this respect)..

i had some prat who complained about a tablet i sold him with 1 months warranty left (out of 12) packing it in..i offered to replace it for a new one..he wasn't interested,and sent me a bunch of emails citing UK legal compliance and trading standards and small claims blha blah,and that he was entitled to a full refund...i basically called his bluff from then on and ignored him as he was acting like a prxxk..it costs almost 50 quid to go to small claims,and unless someone has a cast iron case against the seller...its highly unlikely anyone would bother..

From what I understand trading standards are only ever concerned if they have NUMEROUS complaints about the same trader