WHAT IF THE GOODS OR SERVICES YOU RECEIVE ARE NOT UP TO SCRATCH?
Sale of Goods Legislation
The most important piece of legislation relating to the sale of goods through eBay.co.uk is the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended).
The Act provides that wherever goods are bought they must “conform to contract”. This means that items sold through eBay by business sellers must be:
- of "satisfactory quality";
- "as described"; and
- "fit for purpose".
Therefore goods sold by business sellers must not be inherently faulty at the time of sale, must match any description given to them and, allowing for factors like price, they must be fit for their purpose, defect free, safe and durable.
Where the seller is a private individual, the goods must be “as described”. The goods are not legally required to be of “satisfactory quality” or “fit for purpose”.
The Sale of Goods Act applies to both new and used items. It's worth bearing in mind that second-hand goods are likely to be judged less rigorously new goods. For example, it's not reasonable to expect that used goods will be of the same quality as new goods. In any event, sellers of second hand goods remain under an obligation to ensure that the goods are as described.
When a business seller is selling an item to a consumer, any loss and damage to the goods that occur in transit are at the seller’s risk. Therefore, in these cases, a buyer should not have to pay for postal insurance.
For information on Sale of Goods legislation, we recommend that you read the brief description and facts sheet produced by BERR:
Supply of Services Legislation
Consumers are also protected in relation to their purchase of services. The most important law covering the supply of services is the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.
When it comes to the supply of services, tradesmen and professionals are required to carry out that service with reasonable care and skill and within a reasonable time. Similarly, any goods and materials supplied must be of satisfactory quality and at a reasonable cost.
For information on Supply of Services legislation, we recommend that you read the brief description and facts sheet produced by BERR:
Consumer Protection Act
The Consumer Protection Act 1987 gives people gives people the right to sue the producer, importer or own-brander of a defective product for damages in respect of death, injury, or damage to property caused by the product. The seller of the product will also be liable if they fail to identify the producer when asked to do so by the person suffering damage.
BERR has produced a helpful list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions, which explains the impact of this piece of legislation.
Trading Standards maintains a list of products recalled due to safety issues, which you can access by clicking here:
Trade Descriptions Act
The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 is a very important criminal consumer law. This makes it a criminal offence for a business or a tradesman to falsely describe goods on sale. It also makes it a criminal offence to falsely and recklessly describe services on offer. These offences may apply to descriptions of goods or services made in an eBay listing. We recommend that you read the summary and guidance produced by BERR.
In April 2008, the Trade Descriptions Act will be replaced by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007 implements the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and introduces a general prohibition on businesses not to treat consumers unfairly and obliges businesses not to use:
- aggressive practices (such as pressure selling); nor
- misleading practices (includes both acts and omissions).
One of the key tests in the directive is whether the commercial practice in question materially distorts the consumer’s economic behaviour (e.g. was the consumer persuaded to make a purchase they would not otherwise have made because of the commercial practice?). These rules apply to business sellers who list goods or services on eBay.co.uk.
A breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007, in most cases, a criminal offence.
For more information on the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, please look here.
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