As a matter of interest, would it be the same case with a purchase on Ebay, paying through PayPal with a credit card?

I ask because last night I purchased an item from Ebay, and because it was over £100 I used my credit card to pay for the item, in this instance it's till a 4 cornered transaction, or 5 if you count Ebay & PayPal as separate entities Me - Bank - PayPal - Ebay - Seller

alan14

Don't worry. You are protected by the eBay Buyer Protection guarantee.

I have always found both Amazon and Ebay very reliable at resolving any "issues" that may arise. The only difference I've noticed is that Amazon tend to be a lot speedier. Ebay and Paypal insist on a fairly tortuous process, that you need to follow carefully, to get satisfaction. Ebay's customer service can be very frustrating, but they always get there in the end.

I am not convinced by the Amazon A-Z guarantee after my first experience of it in action. I bought an Epson Printer back in December last year and thought nothing of the fact that it had been supplied via marketplace. Initially, the printer worked fine, for 3 weeks, although my suspicions should have been raised when the black cartridge was showing as nearly empty on day one!

By early January the printer decided overnight that it didn't recognise most of the inks. Even when I replaced them all with a set of compatibles. The seller responded to my complaint by trying to say I was out of the 30 day period for claims when I was not and suggested I take it to an Epson Centre for repair or replacement. At this point I contacted Amazon under the A-Z guarantee and lodged a claim.

Initially Amazon said they would follow this up which could take 3 weeks. Good job I have other printers! In the meantime I contacted Epson UK who confirmed to me that the cartridges supplied with their printer weren't theirs. Apparently it is not unheard of for suppliers to remove the Epson Cartridges, substitute cheap compatibles and then presumably supply others with the Epson Originals that Epson sell for £10.99 (There are 4 in a set)

Armed with this information I told Amazon who replied to my e-mails that they wouldn't interfere stating "Amazon.co.uk Guarantee policy only covers situations in which the merchandise has not been received or is different from the item described on the product detail page."

Well it clearly was and I pointed this out again to no avail. The seller was now obviously aware of this and sent me a new set of Epson Branded inks but the quality of the prints were simply poor. They eventually agreed to collect the printer and refund my money.

Amazon - not at all interested even though I offered them proof that the inks were not Epson originals. As a result I have a disallowed claim on the A-Z and have only 4 more available to me. I bought a new Epson printer from the local supermarket which cost £12 less than previous and the cartridges are Epson Branded and work perfectly.