Received broken item; will need to be sent overseas for repair. Who's liable for the shipping costs?

[yeuk_kei]

I purchased a watch from an Ebay seller (watch was advertised as brand new and it came intact with original packaging), and received it in the mail a few days ago. I have worn the watch continuously since receipt, and the watch's movement is broken and doesn't work. I will have to send the watch overseas for repair under warranty (2 years from purchase date). 

I am not sure if I can send the watch back to the Ebay seller for an exchange, since I already threw away the box and instruction manual and everything else (except the warranty card). So I've decided I'll send the watch to the company's headquarters in the UK instead, for repair. 

My question is, who will be liable for the shipping costs in this case? The shipping costs in Canada are very expensive, and I do not think I should be on the hook for these expenses because I am not the one at fault (the Ebay seller is, for selling a defective item). Should I ask the Ebay seller to cover my shipping expenses (sending to and back from the UK), or does the company generally cover the shipping when one of their products are shipped to them under warranty?

(I have already notified the Ebay seller that I will be sending the watch for repair; however, I have not mentioned shipping to them yet.) 

[afantiques]

The name Thomas Earnshaw has no connection with the noted watchmaker of Georgian times.  It appears to be a marketing name for Chinese sourced  mechanical watches retailed by a watch repair company Mistal Time Services Ltd, started in 1984 and whose 20 employees occupy the second floor of a small frozen food warehouse. in Lancashire.

The watch repair company appears to be a small legitimate company but the Earnshaw brand is pure flim-flam and is not registered as a British company at Companies House.

The Earnshaw web address traces to a Hong Kong based company Solar Time Ltd of Kowloon. It was first registered in 2012.

I suspect that if I dug further I could find the same watches sold from Hong Kong at drastically lower prices.

Your only practical remedy would seem to be against the seller, as already suggested. The named retailer seems to be a smoke and mirrors operation.

[mcrlmn]

Smells like another knock-off  rip-off to me.

That would be my argument with PayPal.