Q. I made a purchase on ebay and my order did not arrive on time. I submitted a complaint to ebay for not receiving my order and ebay gave me a full refund for not receiving my order. After one Month from submitting my complaint to ebay and receiving a full refund, my order arrived, delivered to me. Can I keep my order and my refund?
A. In a transaction of sale, if the seller fails to deliver the commodity of sale to the buyer after mutually agreeing upon such terms and conditions of the transaction of sale, the transaction of sale terminates automatically and the seller will have to reimburse the buyer in full for any amounts paid.
In an event, the commodity of sale arrives later than agreed upon; the commodity of sale will have to be returned to the original owner, the seller. However, the seller and buyer are at liberty to initiate a new transaction of sale on the commodity of sale, if they wish to do so. In such a case, the matter may be resolved between the buyer and seller. (Badaai-us-Sanaai 5/238)
The same ruling will apply to any sales conducted online, or on eBay.com.
Hence, in the enquired situation, you cannot keep the commodity of sale without resolving the matter with the seller on eBay.com.
N.B. We have contacted eBay.com on the above issue and they have informed us that the seller may be contacted on eBay.com and the issue may be resolved with the seller on eBay.com.
Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ismaeel Bassa