Hi All I recently sold a pair of 2008 forks On e-bay about 4 days after getting them i got an e-mail saying the lockout wasnt working he said he’d get local shop to repair! would i foot the Bill ? i originally told him to get them repaired ,then later the same night told him to return them & i’d refund him,i did’nt hear from him for 9 Day’s then he contacted me saying shop would repair for £40,then i got another e-mail wanting £20 more than he paid for them & i,ve to refund him B4 he’ll post them back or he’d raise a dispute, i,ve got 100% feedback !what should i do ??

was the lockout broken when you originally posted them off? Was this described in your ebay listing.

if it was broken and you didnt include it in the description then i would take them back. I would only pay for the cost of him to post them back to you – around £8

Did he pay extra to have the forks insured wheb he bought them? I’d ring ebay and talk to them, raise a dispute yourself, ban him from bidding on your items again and stop worrying. You can reply to negative feedback, mind you.

i had rode the bike with the fork’s a few day’s b4 removing them lockout was working & had never had a problem with it,& would you refund b4 getting fork’s Back?

what does he say is wrong with the lockout? i doubt whether any damage would have occured in postage.

Are you intending to re-list the forks again on eBay? if so consider how much it has already cost you in listing and selling fees. If you add on the same again for another auction, plus refund him the cost of posting the fork back to you, will this exceed the cost to let him get the fork fixed?

Hi he doesnt say what’s wrong with it,i’ve offered to pay £20 towards the repair

If you’re confident they were in good working order when you sold them then stand by it. I’d be disinclined to refund anything.

I reckon take the hit, you sold them in good faith and he has broken them. how much feedback have you got?

he’s clearly taking the ****. Get them sent back. A bit of -ve feedback won’t ruin you.

Paypal always side with the buyer, if he raises a dispute you’ll loose no matter what.

However, they will NOT make you refund the money without proof of postage from the seller, so either way, HE has to post them back to you at HIS cost not yours.

Send him an e-mail pointing out that it’ll cost him £10-£20 to post them back and that with the £20 you’ve already offered, he’ll be able to fix the forks for te same money and everyone is happy.

Hi I’ve been an e-bay member since 2003 with 100% feedback (216 transactions )he has 98% feedback

If it were me, I think I would be, in the politist way possible, trying to talk to them directly by phone and/or getting the name/address and tel no. of the bike shop involved so that I can confirm the story. It sounds to me like they might be trying it on with you. For sure, any genuine honest decent buyer would be straight up with you and agreeing to let you confirm their story to get it resolved to their satisfaction. And to me, it would seem like a reasonable request on your part.

DO NOT refund until you’ve got them back in your hands, otherwise you’ll loose money and your forks.

I bought an AV amplifier at christmas that didn’t work on arrival, seller claims otherwise, dispute was raised via paypal after negotiations broke down between me and the seller. I had to return it at my cost and prove proof of postage before Paypal would issue a refund. but I did get refunded including postage costs to me but not back, if he raises a claim you’ll loose as that’s the way the paypal system works unfortunately.

Empty out your paypal account then delete your credit card number, no chance of a chrage back then.

He has to prove the item has been safely returned to you and in the same condition you sent it in order for paypal to agree a refund.

If they weren’t broken when you sent them then it’s an item damaged in the post which ebay/paypal will not touch.

Claim from the postie or take the neg.

Don’t whatever you do give him the money back before getting the forks.

Not strictly true about the requirement for proof of postage, it depends on how he has paid. If his PayPal account is linked to a credit card (not a debit card) then the credit card company have ‘juristiction’ over the money and any subsequent chargeback. I am talking from experience. Some sh*te bought a set of Kysrium wheels from me, broke a wheel after 6 weeks, tried to lace up the supplied spare rim, mullered that claiming the thread was damaged on arrival despite it being a brand new rim(I suspect he didn’t realise the nipple cups have an opposite thread) and his credit card company charged me back for the sale – He never sent back the goods. B*ST*RD. Luckily after the dispute was raised I could see the way it was going and after reading about the credit card company I emptied the PayPal account just in time and cut the links to my bank accounts and cards. To cut a long story short it was a LOT of hassle, had to open another PayPal account etc etc. I managed to avoid paying the chargeback through a well timed planned house move. Not big or clever at all and a few letters from eBay’s debt collectors had me slightly worried before I moved on.

Not a good experience at all. I don’t know what is the best course of action for you but go into any eBay sales with your eyes open. People expect the same service for your secondhand gear that a shop provides for new goods. Also there are a lot of sh*ts out there who are willing to try to screw you over.

I think e-bay has gone to pot. I have heard lots of stories from friends having problems selling thing and because they haven’t listed every little scratch on things or things been “damaged in the post” and one buyer who just lied. The buyers have been demanding massive refunds or they will raise a dispute.

One was a very small scratch to the bottom of the camera a friend swears wasn’t there when he posted. The camera sold on the cheap anyway and then because the postage to return it was £8 he refunded £15 and one week later the Camera was back for sale on email (Scratch listed).

The power is now too heavily with the buyer.

If the forks were in full working order and you stated that in the listing. Then either they have broken the forks, they aren’t using the forks right or the forks were broken in transit.

By chance it’s not a pair of Rock Shox with a Floodgate or similar?

Did you supply the manual with them?

I’d ask for what is exactly wrong with the forks and what repair is being carried out and by who (as previously suggested). Saying ‘it doesn’t work’ isn’t enough detail. I’ve had a guy claiming to be a professional bike mechanic want £40 off me to pay Evans to true a pair of used wheels he bought off me that were out by 0.5mm!

Then look through the dispute procedures of e-Bay and Paypal. Read them yourself, don’t rely on what people say on forums as to what happens. You maybe eligible for Paypal’s Seller Protection which is supposed to protect Sellers from malicious claimbacks so check that out too.