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Is fleabay driving anybody else mad ? If your buyer it’s wondeful,I have bought just about everything over the last 10 years and only a couple of times come across pain in the arse sellers and PayPal came to the rescue every time.

Then there is selling, a cess pit of thieving,dishonest folk with low iqs. I don’t sell as a business but now and again sell the odd item to clear the way for more wargaming stuff. This week I tried to sell some old Lego for my son ,never again.

Successfully sold and dispatched I thought until I get a message saying the buyer wants to return the item because he feels the Lego is possibly counterfeit ,even though it’s a boxed and from the Lego range and I bought it from a shop. So complete idiot but hey ho anything for a quite life so just return it and I will happily refund.

Over the next 24hrs I get nearly 22 messages about demanding refunds and how he has been put out having to drive to a post office and lost time from work etc etc and finally a threat for quick payment or by feedback will be wrecked.

Where do these people hatch from ?

It’s my own fault for buying dodgy Lego from Tesco’s lol

Build a wall man, a very tiny lego wall.....same exp here for sure

When i sell I always stipulate that item is sold as seen and there is a no returns policy... is it enforcable by UK law? The jury is out on that one.. Does it keep people away who are serial buyer/returners. I believe so.

Document everything from your end.
Photos of parcels and items in the box etc... proof of postage proof of all communication from both parties.

If the user threatens you REPORT it to ebay along with all the details you've got. It's against Ebay rules to threaten users the way you are being threatened and as you're putting up no resistance to refunding you should not be being insulted.

Whilst the net is full of "ebay is all for the buyers not the sellers" sometimes its because the sellers don't document everything and often don't report. Document - prove and report. And report early (like right now) when things turn sour. It's not about revenge its about proving your point and showing that you're doing an honest trade and the other party isn't.

Getting 20 messages in a single night is abusive, if someone did it on the forums here you'd be reporting it so do the same on ebay - just be sure to have all your proof of postage and of honouring the refund etc...

 Argive wrote:
When i sell I always stipulate that item is sold as seen and there is a no returns policy... is it enforcable by UK law? The jury is out on that one.. Does it keep people away who are serial buyer/returners. I believe so.

The jury is in no way out on it, a no-return policy is 100% illegal in the UK and indeed all of Europe. You are obliged, by law, to allow someone 14 days(for online sales) after they receive the item to notify you they intend to return because they've changed their mind, they then have a further 14 days to send you the item, and you are required to refund the full original purchase price, minus shipping either way which is at the customer's expense. You are obliged, by law, to accept a return for an item that is faulty, unfit for purpose, or not as-described in your sales listing, fully at your expense including shipping both ways. In fact, by obfuscating the fact that a customer has a right to cancel/return within 14 days without penalty, you extend their right to do so to a full year after the date of delivery.

It's no point complaining about ebil customers and nasty-wasty ebay when you're the one trying to avoid following the law.

That said: OP, as I recall it's against ebay's terms to use the threat of a negative review to try and induce a seller to do something, especially given you seem to be following the rules yourself without issue. Report the scumbag.

Just a further note - now I'm a bit more awake - 20 messages in one night and threats sounds like they are pressuring you into making a fast refund. It sounds like typical scammy behaviour where you might not get all your product back or get it back in equal condition etc... They are pressuring you into doing the return fast and not getting ebay involved. Get ebay involved - report the incident even ask for their feedback on resolution advice regarding the matter.

 darkness screamer wrote:
Is fleabay driving anybody else mad ? If your buyer it’s wondeful,I have bought just about everything over the last 10 years and only a couple of times come across pain in the arse sellers and PayPal came to the rescue every time.

Then there is selling, a cess pit of thieving,dishonest folk with low iqs. I don’t sell as a business but now and again sell the odd item to clear the way for more wargaming stuff. This week I tried to sell some old Lego for my son ,never again.

Successfully sold and dispatched I thought until I get a message saying the buyer wants to return the item because he feels the Lego is possibly counterfeit ,even though it’s a boxed and from the Lego range and I bought it from a shop. So complete idiot but hey ho anything for a quite life so just return it and I will happily refund.

Over the next 24hrs I get nearly 22 messages about demanding refunds and how he has been put out having to drive to a post office and lost time from work etc etc and finally a threat for quick payment or by feedback will be wrecked.

Where do these people hatch from ?

It’s my own fault for buying dodgy Lego from Tesco’s lol

what just happened? Er...get off my lawn?

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Argive wrote:
When i sell I always stipulate that item is sold as seen and there is a no returns policy... is it enforcable by UK law? The jury is out on that one.. Does it keep people away who are serial buyer/returners. I believe so.

The jury is in no way out on it, a no-return policy is 100% illegal in the UK and indeed all of Europe. You are obliged, by law, to allow someone 14 days(for online sales) after they receive the item to notify you they intend to return because they've changed their mind, they then have a further 14 days to send you the item, and you are required to refund the full original purchase price, minus shipping either way which is at the customer's expense. You are obliged, by law, to accept a return for an item that is faulty, unfit for purpose, or not as-described in your sales listing, fully at your expense including shipping both ways. In fact, by obfuscating the fact that a customer has a right to cancel/return within 14 days without penalty, you extend their right to do so to a full year after the date of delivery.

It's no point complaining about ebil customers and nasty-wasty ebay when you're the one trying to avoid following the law.

That said: OP, as I recall it's against ebay's terms to use the threat of a negative review to try and induce a seller to do something, especially given you seem to be following the rules yourself without issue. Report the scumbag.

If the goods are not faulty and sold as described I would contest a refund.

I suppose does technicaly count as distance selling so in theory the 14 days does apply even if the goods arent faulty.
Would someone be willing to go to small claims for that £20 kit if ebay mediation fails though..

Loving some of the comments on here lol

So lets get things straight, I have been nothing but polite with the buyer and helpful and certainly not avoiding following the law !

I have offered a refund and the item has now returned. The refund has been made but still the messages flow of how much bother I have put him to having to return it.

On top of this he has now left me negative feedback which has no basis or truth to it. And yes I have raised the issues with fleabay but I have now been forced to block the buyer as the verbal tirade is making me yawn. Oh he has also put in a complaint that my auction had inaccurate information and misleading pictures in it lol. The information was crystal clear with numerous large pictures and clear warning stating check the pictures to be absolutely clear on what you are bidding on etc etc.

Anyway just updating you on a £14 lego sale(minus £4 paying for his return postage as Im such a nice guy) that just keeps giving.


Give it 24hrs and Im sure the saga will grow.


Must go, gotta sell some counterfeit lego.


Car boot sales are soooo much easier.

Thats very unlucky :(

Sadly, absolutely agree - eBay and Paypal have a massive, torrential bias vs. the seller nowdays. It's mainly because they realized that business-wise, it's better for them that way. The race-to-the-bottom-customer-is-always-right thing is pretty rampant.

I've had a few absolute jackbags try to screw me over. Now I start taking notes, and copy-pasting all of their messages/info, etc. I am also very quick to immediately block offending buyers. It won't stop idiots..it just won't, and eBay has made concerted efforts to avoid allowing sellers to have any say/compensation.

Keep in mind you can't even put actual feedback on buyers nowdays. You used to rate them just as they rated you, etc.

Argive wrote:
If the goods are not faulty and sold as described I would contest a refund.

It doesn't matter. Ebay takes the side of the buyer, no matter how ludicrously far-fetched their story might be.

I was forced to refund a buyer who claimed he never received about 6k of Blood Angels I flogged him. Only, he'd signed for delivery. Ebay didn't care.

Keep in mind you can't even put actual feedback on buyers nowdays. You used to rate them just as they rated you, etc.

You definetely still get positive or negative ratings, I recently bought some fantasy orc boys and got a positive rating from the seller in Canada so it isn't just a UK thing too.

 Excommunicatus wrote:

Argive wrote:
If the goods are not faulty and sold as described I would contest a refund.

It doesn't matter. Ebay takes the side of the buyer, no matter how ludicrously far-fetched their story might be.

I was forced to refund a buyer who claimed he never received about 6k of Blood Angels I flogged him. Only, he'd signed for delivery. Ebay didn't care.

In this case(what Argive is describing, not the OP's situation), ebay would not be "taking the side of the buyer", they would be complying with European and British law. Over here you have 14 days to decide you want to return an item, for whatever reason you like, or even no reason whatsoever - the return is at the customer's expense, but the price of the item itself must be refunded in-full. And it's been that way for twenty sodding years, so frankly if someone is still grumbling about it at this stage, they begin to just sound like the kind of shonky trader who doesn't believe in consumer rights at all.

(although if you don't put in your terms and conditions that the any change of mind return is at the customers expense you have to pay for that too,

so if you just go with the blanket 'no returns' it's not only unenforceable you'll have to pay for the privilege of getting your stuff back from the annoying sod who just decided they don't want it)

Did a case study on Ebay during my MBA courses. . . this sounds, sadly, par for the course for eBay.


It is to the point where many full-time sellers are opting for other routes that are more balanced in their dealing with return/refund situations. . . In the course of the case study I did, the UK side of the house sounded especially non-committal about "fixing" the issues that have been outlined in this thread, specifically the buyers who are scammers. As of late 2017, they 'claimed' that they had implemented a new buyer/seller review system wherein any outright negative reviews would not be published until they had been vetted and verified on both ends. . . Sounds like they are doing spectacularly there /s.

There is a reason Ebay has largely stagnated over the last few years. I honestly can't remember the last time I bought anything off Ebay, much less tried to sell anything.

 Argive wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Argive wrote:
When i sell I always stipulate that item is sold as seen and there is a no returns policy... is it enforcable by UK law? The jury is out on that one.. Does it keep people away who are serial buyer/returners. I believe so.

The jury is in no way out on it, a no-return policy is 100% illegal in the UK and indeed all of Europe. You are obliged, by law, to allow someone 14 days(for online sales) after they receive the item to notify you they intend to return because they've changed their mind, they then have a further 14 days to send you the item, and you are required to refund the full original purchase price, minus shipping either way which is at the customer's expense. You are obliged, by law, to accept a return for an item that is faulty, unfit for purpose, or not as-described in your sales listing, fully at your expense including shipping both ways. In fact, by obfuscating the fact that a customer has a right to cancel/return within 14 days without penalty, you extend their right to do so to a full year after the date of delivery.

It's no point complaining about ebil customers and nasty-wasty ebay when you're the one trying to avoid following the law.

That said: OP, as I recall it's against ebay's terms to use the threat of a negative review to try and induce a seller to do something, especially given you seem to be following the rules yourself without issue. Report the scumbag.

If the goods are not faulty and sold as described I would contest a refund.

I suppose does technicaly count as distance selling so in theory the 14 days does apply even if the goods arent faulty.
Would someone be willing to go to small claims for that £20 kit if ebay mediation fails though..

See, this is a thread about how ebay is evilbadwrong for unjustly taking the side of the consumer, yet what it's actually full of are people stating blatantly that they don't see the actual law as legitimate and would seek to frustrate a consumer's rights under it if they could, so I wonder exactly how else are ebay supposed to respond?

The law is clear, it is Distance Selling, and the 14 day grace period does apply. Ebay are doing nothing more than being a responsible platform that complies with the law when they prevent unscrupulous sellers like yourself from trying to drag out and contest the refund process in order to discourage people.

These regulations exist in the first place because of individuals and companies taking "no returns" to extremes that bordered on fraud. Ebay's method of enforcing those regulations exists because of individuals and companies seeking to avoid obeying those regulations exactly as you advocate. If that's given rise to a situation where sellers are vulnerable to scammers, there's nobody to blame but yourselves.

eBay isn't what it once was.

Before, it was a giant, interwebular car boot sale. You could find all sorts on there, and at a variety of prices.

Now? Now it's just a Scalper's Paradise, and I hate it. No more 'well, guess I don't need my G1 Transformers, I'll put them on eBay, see what I can get'. Now it's 'I've carefully hunted down each and every one, paid a pittance, and will now maintain my sad little business empire by selling on at a huge mark up....mwaahahahahahahahhaa!'.

Just, not for me. Facebook Trading. That's where it's at. No fees, no fuss.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Facebook Trading. That's where it's at. No fees, no fuss.

About to transition my Ebay stuff over to that, while that lasts.

I feel like a sucker now for, after asking for a refund when my item didn't arrive for a month past the due date, sending the money back to the guy after it arrived the day after I received my refund.

Should've taken the money and ran, clearly.