Trading Standards weighing in, better late than never.

where you buy it from is irrelevant to the responsibilities you have as a seller.

only a crook wouldnt refund in full.

Buying tickets from un-authorized sources has risks (the same with buying any goods from un-authorized/un-regulated sources). eBay was an un-authorized source for MJ tickets and many of the sellers on eBay are un-regulated e.g. toys sellers from the far east. Unfortunately buying on eBay does involve more risk in many instances.

refund should always be the price paid.

by the way if someone sells socks are they a sock tout?

never understood why ticket sellers have a name all to themselves after all they just buy something and sell it on (hopefully) for a profit the same as a sock seller, maybe ebay should ban the sale of socks?

I totally agree. The funny thing is that is exactly what PayPal does to you when you receive a chargeback. At least that’s what they did to me last year on money they allowed me to hold for only a few minutes.

Plus it should be pointed out that If the concerts had been cancelled for any other reason than Jackson’s untimely death, there probably wouldn’t be any refund arrangements in place.

As far as I see it’s entirely right for sellers to refund the face value cost of the tickets that that were won by auction. But I can’t see how any seller can be legally responsible to refund any profit above that. The 45-day rule just obscures things further.

All of which leaves a pretty horrible taste in the mouth. eBay should learn and ban ticket touting full stop.

We’d all be up in arms if a high street shop said “we’ll only be refunding you what we actually paid for the goods you bought and trousering the profit.”

I have just requested my refund from ticketmaster. They say it could take upto 21 days to reach my account. This 21 days will run over the 17th July deadline from ebay (the deadline which allows sellers to recieve their ebay fees back in full) So now I’m expected to pay a full refund to the buyer without having the refund myself.

I fell that the ebay situation is greatly benefitting the buyer and not the seller.

My tickets were sold above the face value and as far as I’m concerened this price was down to the choice of the buyer to pay due to the hype and unavailability of the ticket. They cannot expect to recieve a full refund and there is no way anyone can make the sellers do this, not even the courts as ebay is not an official outlet for secondhand tickets, nor do they condone ‘touting’ which is essentially what every ticket seller on eay does.

> I HAVNT BROKEN MY END OF THE CONTRACT BECAUSE I CAN STILL PROVIDE THE TICKET

Yes, you have. Sorry.

What to do if you sold tickets
Please contact your buyer by 17th July if you haven’t already done so. We’ll credit all associated eBay fees once the buyer has been fully refunded. These will appear in your 30th July or 15th August invoice depending on your billing cycle.
All sellers who have sold tickets will receive an email from us shortly explaining how to contact the buyer and when you will receive a refund of eBay fees.

What to do if you bought tickets
If you have not already heard from your seller we recommend that you contact them by 13th July to ask for a refund. If you have already received the ticket and you get a full refund, you should return the physical ticket to your seller. We also ask that you be patient and allow sellers time to process refund requests.
All buyers affected by this issue will receive an email from us shortly explaining how to contact the seller and what to do if you are unable to make contact.

I think it is pretty poor ethics from AEG not to be offering these tickets for free in addition to the refund, but from a economic point of view it is pure genius. They give out a souvenir that will cost 10p to print, instead of paying back £75. Of course they probably won’t recoup all the money they have spent already, but it will help them to avoid bankruptcy.

I’ve written more about this situation and scenario at The London Insider

what now then as its either ticket or refund according to ticketmaster. on my listing i said micheal jackson ticket NOT micheal jackson PERFORMANCE!

i have the option to reopen my account with ebay within 180 days.

i do intend to refund my buyers.

If I was a games seller, and sold an upcoming release. But the games developer changed their mind and didn’t release the game then I would clearly have to refund everyone as I haven’t sold anything.

Forget about eBay rules or Paypal rules. If you don’t refund those ticket purchases then in my book (I’m sure I’m not alone) you are a thief and should be pursued through the legal system.

Sorry but people are too hung up on eBay rules etc. What about the law, never mind just being an honest person.

In fact if you have done what you say you have done at the end of your message, then eBay is a better place for it.

Ebay say they will refund all sellers their listing fees and charges after the seller has made a refund to the buyer.

Another thing is everybodey seems to be taking about the 45 day time limit. “Ebay have extended this to cover all michael jackson ticket purchases.”

I think that is unfair. It is to save the ebay reputation and is a PR move.

Why do I think its unfair? After recieving payment from my buyers I had to wait 28 days for the funds to clear in my pay pal, and on top of this I waited until the 45 days were over so I knew I was in the clear for spending my money.

In my opinion I have kept my end of the bargain, anything beyond the 45 days is ebays responsibility if they want still to refund buyers in unusual circumstances.

If I cannot be sure that I am in the clear to spend my own money after waiting the specified period of time, when can I be sure that my money is ever going to be mine to spend? Is it up to ebay to decide that they want to dip into my bank and take some money back?

I think this is wrong and ebay will make many enimies this way.

I have gone into my ebay settings, changed my name, my address, my user name, removed automatic paypal payments, and closed my acount. I also went into paypal, sent my funds to my bank, altered my details and also closed this account. Just to be on the safe side.