Warranties on new products bought on E Bay

[justinsmith2014]

Since I had  a bad experience * with a seller not interested in my problem because it was over 3 months past the purchase date (and it was too late to put bad feedback on, I assume) I have never bought stuff off E Bay where I feel a decent warranty is important. I always assume the effective warranty is effectively only 3 months off E Bay and if I want more than that I use Amazon or direct to a seller (or even a shop ! ).

Am I right to be wary though ?

If a customer buys a product off an E Bay seller advertising a 12 month warranty and it goes wrong after say 6 months, is the buyer solely reliant on the "goodwill" and professionalism of the seller ? Would E Bay get involved at all ?

* years ago I bought a wooden point for my lad's Brio style railway. It warped after only 6 months but the EBay seller was not interested, I assumed it was because he knew it was too late to give bad feedback. I have never forgotten that !

[61stephenuk]

Even 3 months is too long to expect any help from eBay.

After their 30day Money Back Guarantee eBay wont be interested in  any problem with an item and do not cover warranties anyway and will not get involved.

A buyer would probably be recommended to contact Citizens Advice.

Many manufacturers do not  cover warranties for goods sold by unauthorised sellers which many online sellers could be.

[arkwebus]

As you identify actually "enforcing" a warranty on-line is difficult [unless perhaps from a well-known seller].

If the warranty is vital then a bricks and mortar shop may be better.

EBay's money back guarantee does as you know work for 30 days and is simple.  From business sellers you do have legal protections to 6 months [though again difficult to enforce].  Paypal allows simpler redress up to 180 days and [if financially worth it] your payment provider may help

@justinsmith2014 

[justinsmith2014]

As an E Bay buyer you do effectively have some redress up to 3 months don't you (because most sellers do not want bad feedback) ?

[justinsmith2014]

You are correct about lack of power for online purchases which is why so many peopel use Amazon I suppose.

But even using a seller direct you can often put a bad review (Google for example) on at any time and most sellers are at least a bit concerned about the possibility of that.

Whereas buying through E Bay you can only do a review (i.e. feedback) up to 3 months.

[arkwebus]

Yes!  How much good leaving a bad review elsewhere will have on actually getting a guarantee enforceable will be open to discussion!

@justinsmith2014 

[jckl1957]

Feedback is not a weapon and Ebay do not allow feedback extortion.

You would not be allowed to hint at leaving negative feedback if the seller did not help you with an issue.

Sellers who sell in very large numbers can absorb an amount of bad feedback and keep a high percentage and you do have to be careful what you say in feedback as sellers can ask for it to be removed.

Any warranty, whether it is for 6  months or a lifetime, is only as good as your ability to enforce it.

[justinsmith2014]

I'm sure the possibility of buyers putting negative reviews on does affect how online sellers run their businesses, yes definitely.

In fcat I can remember a couple of years ago trying to get a phone swapped which supposedly the had a 10 year warranty. The company was just fobbing me off and I got annoyed enough to put a bad review on Google. Miraculously they then changed their attitude completely !

[61stephenuk]

Feedback can only be left for 60 days and as jckl1957 says any hint of feedback extortion the seller could get the feedback removed.

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

There are some things I would never buy off ebay, like things I want a decent warranty on.

Some reputable dealers can offer a few years warranty.

Personally I offer a year warranty over and above ebays 30 days.

[justinsmith2014]

.....Feedback is not a weapon and Ebay do not allow feedback extortion.

You would not be allowed to hint at leaving negative feedback if the seller did not help you with an issue....

I do not agree with you at all, and I suspect that the only people who do would be, err, other sellers !

I am a seller (though not on E Bay, I have my own business selling direct) and if I gave a customer poor service - we never do, not on purpose anyway - I would EXPECT poor feedback and/or no repeat business .

It is not a case of extorting anything, in fact  a customer would not even have to say anything. If a seller refuses to provide decent service one woudl have thought they'd expect poor feedback.

Actually feedback is a weapon, it is a weapon for better customer service, of course it is or it is nothing !

What do you think feedback is there for ? ! ?

[justinsmith2014]

...Any warranty, whether it is for 6 months or a lifetime, is only as good as your ability to enforce it...

I agree with you , which is why I am asking the question. Bearing in mind that feedback on E Bay can only be put on up to 3 months, what power do customers have to enforce it after that ? And, it would seem, the answer is not much, therefore my basic approach, only expect a 3 month warranty with anything bought on E Bay, may be sound ?

[justinsmith2014]

..Feedback can only be left for 60 days..

Only 60 days ?

That's even worse !

So, effectively, anything bought on E Bay only has a 60 day warranty ! !

>>as jckl1957 says any hint of feedback extortion the seller could get the feedback removed<<

If a seller refuses to replace an iten with a years warranty that goes wrong after 59 days then it is perfectly permissable to put that in any feedback. In fact buyers SHOULD be putting that in any feedback as a warning to other buyers !

[justinsmith2014]

>>There are some things I would never buy off ebay, like things I want a decent warranty on.

Some reputable dealers can offer a few years warranty.

Personally I offer a year warranty over and above ebays 30 days.<<

The problem is Nigel that your longer warranty may not be as attractive to buyers as it should be, for the reasons discussed above. Which I think is very sad because good sellers are not getting credit for their customer service over the 60 days.

TBH I'd like to know why there is a 60 day limit on feedback anyway, AFAIK there is no 60 day limit on Amazon. Surely the feedback limit should be the same as the advertised warranty (subject to a minimum 60 days) ? And don't shoot that down that without thinking about it ! If the feedback cut off limit was the same as the warranty I personally would be more likely to by stuff (that I wanted a year's warranty on) off E Bay, because at the moment I would not buy it there. And I suspect I would not be the only one by along way. Alternatively E Bay could have an arbitration system for warranty claims not being honoured by sellers, that would also increase the likelihood of me buying more expensive stuff off E Bay.

Why would sellers who give good customer service only want their customers to be able to give feedback up to 60 days anyway ? I don't understand it.

[justinsmith2014]

I bought two halogen heaters off E Bay, and on both one of the elements failed within 4 months.

Just out of interest I contacted the seller. He did actually answer me but said I had to "contact the manufacturer", which is abdicating his responsibilities as the contract is with the seller not the manufacturer. Furthermore that advice is a fob off anyway because in the real world it is a dead end, particularly with stuff made in China.

Anyway, there is nothing I can do as the feedback time limit has expired. The best reason for why the feedback time limit should be the same as the warranty, which, for new items, is, I believe, a minimum of one year.....

[maell6631]

If you paid by credit card you can make a claim under section 75 from them. If between 100 and 35000 pounds. They will probably want evidence you tried to resolve with the seller first but you can get a refund that way.  Why I try to buy most things with a credit card and pay directly with it.

Otherwise charge back is an option.

[m25jet]

In addition to the advice given by maelll6631, if you paid for the item via PayPal you could pursue the option of opening a case against the seller by logging into your PayPal account and opening an Item Not As Described that way, making sure that you escalate the case before PayPal's twenty day cut-off period.  Unlike eBay, who only give buyers thirty days to open a case against a seller, PayPal allow buyers a total of one hundred and eighty days to open a case against the seller, and they also tend to look at cases far more closely than eBay do.

In the event that you paid for the item using a credit or debit card then I would suggest that you take the advice already given to you by maelll6631, although the time within which you can open a case is shorter than with PayPal, the cut-off date being set at one hundred and twenty days after the date of purchase.