Buyer claims item faulty after 30 days from delivery

[gmrk21]

Hi

A buyer has claimed a Smartwatch I sold on my primary account has become faulty after 30 days from delivery. They had previously left me positive feedback. 

I have asked for the item back so I can send off for repair. Are my obligations for the buyer over after 30 days? I am just worried the buyer will start a chargeback. The watch is quite expensive over £250

[4_bathrooms]

Buyers usually have 30 days following the latest estimated delivery date to open an eBay Money Back Guarantee case; this can be later than the actual delivery date.

Has the buyer actually opened a case - this will likely be called a "request"? If so, does it state a time limit for dealing with the case?

[gmrk21]

At the moment it is just a question about an item. 

I haven't had any requests yet as such. It is now 35 days after delivery. 

[4_bathrooms · Accepted solution]

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@gmrk21 wrote:

At the moment it is just a question about an item. 

I haven't had any requests yet as such. It is now 35 days after delivery. 

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If you're a private seller it isn't really your problem if it was working when the buyer received it. It sounds like your buyer is out of time to open an eBay MBG case but that doesn't prevent them opening a dispute with their payment provider (chargeback). eBay is pretty vague about what protection they're willing to offer if there hasn't been a previous MBG case decided in the seller's favour or if the buyer hasn't already been refunded through eBay.

Check the feedback the buyer has left for other sellers; are there any red flags (i.e. red dots or weird comments) there?

In your shoes if I thought the buyer was telling the truth I'd ask them to open a return via eBay - they can do this even if they're out of time to open an MBG case. If the item returned wasn't the item I sent or had clearly been misused the case would be closed and whatever the buyer sent would be returned to them. If the item I sent was returned but wasn't obviously damaged by the buyer and could be easily repaired I'd sort the repair out then return it to the buyer.

If the buyer opened a payment dispute (chargeback) and I didn't receive the same item back in the condition I sent it in I would file a report with Action Fraud and supply the reference number to eBay as part of my "evidence".

[gmrk21]

The buyer has a few hundred positive feedback and has actually sold over 50 items themself.

Seemed like the perfect buyer tbh.