eBay difficulties
 

I sold my old iPhone on eBay a week or so ago, with all the flaws listed in the description. The device was jailbroken and unlocked. After the purchaser got it, he sent me a message saying he wasn't satisfied with the condition of the item, which really didn't make sense being as how I included pictures. Before I could even respond, he sent two more messages, one about the condition again, and another that said it "didn't work properly." These exchanges have continued, with him demanding a refund, although I listed the iPhone "as-is". The money is already in my PayPal account, no hold on it or anything. What say ye, Chiefsplanet? Am I obligated to give this guy a refund, minus shipping, or should I just bite the bullet and take the negative feedback from an asshole buyer?

If he disputes it with paypal you may not have a choice but to refund the money. Sellers are not protected as well as the buyers.

That's what I was afraid of. He also said he tried to install his own jailbreaking software, which probably messed up the unlock, so it may not be working at all.

You're not going to have a choice. If he disputes it with paypal you lose. That's the way it goes. Make him send it back, and tell him it came back broken just to **** with him.

I was just gonna say, all he has to do is file a claim with paypal and then youre screwed. Sellers get the shaft on ebay. I would just take it back and resell it. Make sure in the listing you say 'SOLD AS IS BITCHES'. just like that.

This.

And then leave negative feedback on him for being a bitch.

Sellers can no longer leave negative for buyers.

I would say no. You said it was as-is, you're under no obligation to refund.

Paypal would take his side, since it's more important for their business to keep buyers happy than sellers.

ask if he voted for obama..chances are he did and hes reneging

I can't recall the last time I heard about someone being upset after a business transaction with a Jewish person, I would refund the purchase price immediately to keep the stellar business reputation of the Jewish community intact if I were you.

/joke

I would head for Mexico ASAP!

dispute
 

You're not gonna have much of a chance at not refunding his money. In situations like this I typically recommend that you ask the buyer to go ahead and file a PayPal dispute. Once the dispute is filed you can respond explaining your side of things (although, AS-IS doesn't really mean a whole lot eBay) and explain that even though you feel the buyer got exactly what he paid for you'd be happy to refund his money so long as he returns the merchandise in the same condition as originally shipped.

While rare, I have seen instances where PayPal actually sides with the seller on an AS-IS sale. Don't get your hopes up, though. The true reason behind filing the dispute is simply so PayPal knows you're willing to work with the buyer as long as you get your item back. This way they won't refund the money back to the buyer (although it will sit in holding after the dispute is filed) until he can show tracking information proving he's returned the item.

At that point it's probably worth it to just go ahead and refund the money and re-sell the item. You could attempt to say it wasn't returned in the same condition but that's probably more trouble than it's worth (especially if untrue) and will just delay things.

In my experience, a positive feedback explaining something like "seller refunded my money right away because I was not happy" goes a long way vs. a negative feedback of any kind. You'll get more money out of future sales...not to mention more future sales in general.

Also, I would recommend doing away with AS-IS auctions. It really doesn't do much of anything for you on eBay/PayPal these days and it can make you look like a BS seller to lots of buyers. Clearly describe the item as you would normally, and then in the returns area say something like "This item has been tested in excellent working condition and ships as described in the auction. I will offer a full refund should the item arrive DOA and an 85% refund should you wish to return it for any other reason."

Many times you'll get to keep your 15% because buyers are happy to abide by your return policy even if they aren't happy with the item. It's kind of funny the way it works out like that.

Of course, these comments are based on my own experience (I've developed eBay/PayPal solutions for sellers that do $500k/mo in sales volume on eBay) and you'll probably have instances where the buyer is simply an ass hole, but in most cases following these general rules will go a long way to making more money and maintaining a good rating on eBay.

Were the scratches and shit visible in the pictures?

Hmmm? From the way Paypal works, you're hosed. If it were me, here's what I would do to even the score with the prick.

Is the dickweed selling anything him himself? If his stuff is cheap, I would be calling friends all over the country to buy it up and pay them back. After that's done, have them neg rep his sorry ass back into the stone age and off of Ebay. Hey, but that's just me, I can be a little big ornery sometimes and don't deal with douche bags all that well. :evil: