Bought Item from US seller need advice pls!

Hi All,

I'm based in the uk and recently received some items from an amazon US based retailer. They have sent me a significantly inferior product to the one i purchased made by the same company. I'm aware of the uk trade laws but unsure of my next steps.

I have emailed the seller and explained the problem but my real question is - "under US law does a seller have to provide the goods that are advertised or are they within their rights to refund?"

The reason I ask - the goods were priced cheaply, which is why I bought them. I should still turn a profit if I need to but I really want the more expensive goods that they originally advertised. Can I insist that they supply the original order or will I have to go down the refund route? And Lastly as it is their mistake will I have to pay the return postage?

Thanks in advance - it's been almost a month to clear this up and I just want it finished with.

I believe it all has to be handled through amazon. You can't force someone to give you something they might not actually have. I would take the refund.

As far as the shipping costs, I thought amazon allowed returns on items that didn't match description and would send a label. Since this sounds like an international ship, you want to talk to someone from amazon.

They have a strict timeframe you have to abide by though. I tried getting my money back from a seller on amazon when my product stopped working after 45 days. I was told that I had only 30 days to dispute my order. They were nice enough to send me along to the manufacturer of the product, but did nothing to get my money back.

Get the claim started ASAP so that you can at least show that there is someone wrong. I wouldn't expect the better product, as you said yourself that it sounded a little too good of a price. Get the refund and buy from someone that has the item you want.

Just my 2 cents

They have to give you what was advertised. "As Advertised" laws are pretty pin-point boiler plate stuff in the U.S. - even if the buyer is located internationally, the purchase was technically made in the U.S. - If they can't and I'm not sure of Amazon TOS, but they only way they could get around it is if it the TOS says that if for some reason the seller is out of stock then they have the ability to give you a refund or replace your item of similar price and not similar item value.

You will need to read the terms of your contract but for the most part online sellers all have a clause that states the liability will never exceed the purchase price which allows them to toss you a refund and be done with it. Most of those TOS terms also state if the buyer is unhappy for any reason then they must return the item to the point of purchase.

I'm not sure about Amazon but eBay / PayPal always requires the item be returned at the buyer's expense before a refund is considered. This is a liability you accept when you do business online. It's the same liability you accept when you purchase offline.

If you purchase an item at the local store and get home and find out it was mispackaged or someone swapped the item in the box you can't just call the store and say give me a refund, or ship me the right item. You must spend your time and presumably transportation costs to return the item although it was no fault of yours. Again this is the liability you accept when you make a purchase.