I sold an item on eBay this afternoon as a Private Seller. The Buyer now wants a refund as purchased in error. Where do I stand now ?

Hi,

Although not registered as such you are clearly a Business.

Therefore the buyer is within their rights to cancel the order under Distance Selling Regulations.

You need to refund the payment and once you have done so you can send the buyer a 'mutual cancellation' request in order to get the final value fee credit.  Let them know in advance why you are doing so and ask them to agree to it:

http://res.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CreateDispute&DisputeReason=2&guest=1

Here's the page with link to upgrade to a Business seller, whicih you need to do pronto as HMRC are having a crackdown on Internet sellers!:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/businesscentre/identification/index.html

With regards to courier, then you'll obviously need to cancel!

Even a Private seller would be advised to refund the buyer if they don't want the item.  Otherwise they can claim non receipt or deliberately damage an item in order to open a dispute.  You then end up with something you can't re-sell.

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The distance selling regulations are the law of the land. It isn't eBay that decides whether they apply, it's the trading standards departments and ultimately the courts.

If you are operating as a business, i.e. selling by way of trade the regulations will apply to you whether or not you have disclosed your business status to eBay.

It would be wise to put this right quickly as disgruntled buyers are liable to complain to the trading standards as well as to eBay. The consequence of this can be very serious, especially as questions are likely to arise about anything else you may have overlooked to disclose to the authorities.