My Cooler ebook reader is broken, can I get a refund from Ebay?

In July this year I bought a new, box-sealed Cooler ebook reader from an Ebay seller. When the reader arrived, I registered the product with the manufacturer for warranty purposes.

Despite light use, less than three months later, the reader developed a fault that rendered it useless. The screen is not working properly and nothing can be read. I have tried contacting the Ebay seller by email but I have not received a reply.

John Fulton

Mr Fulton's contract is with the Ebay seller and not the manufacturer. It is also too late for him to apply for protection under Ebay's Buyer Protection Policy. A person has to lodge a complaint within 45 days of a sale to benefit from this cover.

The seller replied to Mr Fulton but took no responsibility. To see if Mr Fulton has any redress, we wanted to see if the seller was a private individual, sole trader or a company. So we took a look at this seller's profile and what is being sold. If he or she is a private individual then most consumer laws will not apply and Mr Fulton will have no comeback, apart from leaving bad feedback.

The seller has a wide range of goods for sale and is registered as a Power Seller, which means he or she has completed at least 100 transactions per year for a minimum total of £2,000. In our opinion, this makes them a sole trader, which means they have the same responsibility as a company to abide by statutory consumer laws such as the Distance Selling Regulations and Sale of Goods Act.

Sadly, a lot of sole traders fail to realise this and ignore emails about faulty goods or breach of contract. This is despite Ebay making it clear on the website that these sellers are not private individuals and should follow these laws.

In this case, since Mr Fulton has not had the product for more than six months, the seller should take back the ebook reader and examine it for faults. If it is not accidental damage, and it is hardly likely to be fair wear and tear, Mr Fulton should be offered a replacement, repair or, if these are not possible, a refund.

Getting this seller to reply is not going to be easy. We emailed the seller and contacted Ebay to see what it can do to help or advise Mr Fulton.

Case update
When the seller replied to our email she said she had contacted Mr Fulton and he was eventually asked to send the reader back for examination.

“I parcelled it up very carefully. The reader still looked brand new as it has not really been used,” Mr Fulton told us.

However, when the seller contacted him again, she said the screen of the reader was cracked. “Because of this, I believe it is not my responsibility to repair the item. I will therefore be returning the item to you as I have found it,” she wrote to him.

Mr Fulton was adamant there was no screen damage to the device when he sent it off: “If it had been damaged in my possession, I would never have tried to get it replaced or refunded,” he told us.

The only thing he could do now is sue for redress in the small claims court. But the outcome may not go in his favour. It is one person’s word against another’s.

In similar cases, we would recommend taking photos to prove the condition in which good are returned.