eBay buyer left without €150 skylight after missing refund deadline in France

A Connexion reader’s experience with eBay France is a cautionary tale for people buying online.

Keith Parker, 85, made his first-ever eBay purchase on March 28: a skylight window costing €150 from a private seller.

Mr Parker, who moved from the UK to the town of Saint-Fraimbault, Orne, in north-west France in 2019, paid upfront for the item.

He was told it would be delivered by hand on April 11, but nothing arrived.

“I tried to contact the seller. I asked when my window would arrive, but I had no reply,” Mr Parker said.

He then emailed eBay, but received no response.

Mr Parker tried to cancel his order, but this was refused.

“I would like to warn your readers about paying upfront on eBay. I have no refund and no window,” he said.

As can happen when using a website for the first time, it appears Mr Parker did not realise he needed to report the item as missing within a specific timeframe, rather than try to cancel the order.

eBay France said in an official statement: “The buyer requested the cancellation of the order after the deadline for doing so had expired. Furthermore, the eBay Buyer Protection scheme specifies a timeframe within which a buyer can report that an item has not been received.

“Based on the information available to us, this timeframe now appears to have passed, which limits eBay’s ability to intervene under this scheme.”

Under eBay’s Buyer Protection scheme, buyers must report that an item has not been received within 30 days of its expected delivery date. Mr Parker did not do this.

However, eBay encouraged Mr Parker to contact its teams via the help button or on social media “so that a further review of the case can be carried out”.

It added: “As with any situation of this kind, eBay analyses the available information in order to guide the user towards any remedies that might still be available.”