topic Re: Buyer won’t return equipment in Member To Member Support

Buyer won’t return equipment

al_507 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:32:41 GMT

Hi a buyer bought a hot tub from me I am a 100 % certain there was no issue with pump or liner. He complained to eBay and got a full refund. He is now refusing to acknowledge my emails and won’t return equipment. I have messaged eBay many times and they won’t respond

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

papso22 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:06:59 GMT

If you refused to accept the return ebay will refund and tell the buyer they don't have to return the item.

They won't help now.

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

al_507 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:14:23 GMT

Thanks for responding. no protection for the seller then
Buyer only has to lie and he wins
Sent from my iPhone

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

*guinevere* — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:18:11 GMT

Are you sure the refund has been paid by yourself? Sometimes ebay gives a goodwill refund from their own funds. I would check if i were you.

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

al_507 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:45:23 GMT

They sent me email my card was charged
Sent from my iPhone

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

red_magpie — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 23:06:51 GMT

no protection for the seller then

There's very little protection for the seller if a buyer complains that an item is faulty. eBay never sees the item and its policy seems to be to take the buyer's word agaist the seller's.

However, you should not have had to refund the buyer until the item was returned. It looks as though this may have been your first sale, so perhaps you did not realise that it was up to you to arrange and pay for the return? This is what eBay requires when an item is not as described, whether it was delivered or collected.

If you didn't do this your buyer will have escalated the case for eBay to step in and they will have automatically enforced a refund without the item having been returned. You will probably also receive a defect on your account for failing to resolve the problem without eBay's involvement.

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

jckl1957 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 07:18:34 GMT

This is between you and the buyer.

Send them a 'letter before action' using a tracked and signed delivery service.

If they agree to returning the hot tub, you will have to arrange to collect it.

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

red_magpie — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 08:01:27 GMT

Worth a try, but take legal advice before taking any threatened action.

Remember that this sale was made under the terms of eBay's user agreement, which you both accepted.

As I said earlier, when a buyer opens a "not as described" case eBay requires the seller to arrange and pay for the item to be returned. You accepted this in the user agreement.

You also accepted that eBay would decide all disputes, including deciding whether the item has to be returned. If you failed to arrange the return of this hot tub eBay will have decided the case in your buyer's favour, and enforced a refund without the buyer having to return 1t. So your buyer can keep it or do whatever they want with it.

So take legal advice before trying to demand its return. You may find it better to try persuasion, although this isn't always effective. Sellers often lose their money and the item because they didn't arrange for the item to be returned.

Re: Buyer won’t return equipment

papso22 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 08:19:26 GMT

Absolutely. It is difficult to see how a seller can sue a buyer when the buyer would have been told by ebay that they can keep the item, and the seller agreed to abide by Ebay's actions (in the User Agreement).