Electronics eBay difficulties [Archive]

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Jewish Rabbi

11-16-2009, 02:43 PM

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?

BigCatDaddy

11-16-2009, 02:45 PM

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.

Jewish Rabbi

11-16-2009, 02:47 PM

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.

Mr. Flopnuts

11-16-2009, 02:47 PM

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 fuck with him.

L.A. Chieffan

11-16-2009, 02:47 PM

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.

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.

The Franchise

11-16-2009, 03:10 PM

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 fuck with him.

This.

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

Old Dog

11-16-2009, 03:17 PM

This.

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

Sellers can no longer leave negative for buyers.

wild1

11-16-2009, 03:24 PM

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.

Redrum_69

11-16-2009, 03:28 PM

COchief

11-16-2009, 03:30 PM

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

RustShack

11-16-2009, 04:04 PM

I would head for Mexico ASAP!

Simply Red

11-16-2009, 04:10 PM

Sellers can no longer leave negative for buyers.

CORRECT

DRU

11-16-2009, 04:18 PM

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.

RustShack

11-16-2009, 04:22 PM

Were the scratches and shit visible in the pictures?

Bwana

11-16-2009, 05:18 PM

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:

Simply Red

11-16-2009, 05:26 PM

some of you have no clue as to how reputation works on Ebay, this isn't CP. ROFLROFL

Bwana

11-16-2009, 05:29 PM

some of you have no clue as to how reputation works on Ebay, this isn't CP. ROFLROFL

Huh?

MOhillbilly

11-16-2009, 05:29 PM

send him a 'Love Letter'.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1173/545853610_a494275191.jpg?v=0

Simply Red

11-16-2009, 05:30 PM

send him a 'Love Letter'.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1173/545853610_a494275191.jpg?v=0

YOU KNOW WHAT A LOVE-LETTER IS, FUCKER!?!?

MOhillbilly

11-16-2009, 05:34 PM

YOU KNOW WHAT A LOVE-LETTER IS, ****ER!?!?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2342/1572158795_eb5fc4ed24_o.jpg

laser1972

11-16-2009, 05:44 PM

I would have him send it back and refund his money..

Sellers are always screwed thru Ebay, and mostly they will side with the Buyers..

Been on ebay for 9 years, had my share of problems...

A guy bought a PowerMac from me dual CPU's for $600, came back at me 3 weeks later saying it doesn't boot up anymore, etc.. Wanted his money back, even though he sent me emails when he got it saying it works great..

Had emails stating he stuck some RAM into it which caused it not to boot anymore.. I told him, either he jammed it in wrong, or didnt ground himself, whatever, was not DOA..

So he files a dispute with paypal, I sent paypal all the emails from him stating the fact after he stuck the memory in, stopped working, but when he got it, worked great, etc..

Paypal gave him his money back and I got a computer back which didn't boot up.. He lied, said it was DOA..

So after buying another logic board (which he damaged), It booted up and noticed the background was changed, prgs were installed... I contacted Paypal, told them the situation, him lying said it was DOA (3 weeks mind you)..

Isnt worth the hassle... I like how Paypal takes the money out of your account from day 1 of a dispute w/o hearing the sellers's side

it sucks, but ebay and paypal have ZERO competition... Amazon, Yahoo auctions etc all are small fish in the HUGE ebay POND

Johnny Vegas

11-16-2009, 06:09 PM

If you have the email of him admitting jailbreaking it then he fucked up and now its his. You won't get your phone back in the same condition as you sent it to him. Paypal will then side with you since it was his mistake and broke it. Sellers can leave negative feedback if the item is never paid for.

kstater

11-16-2009, 06:15 PM

You have is address? Go and burn his house down.

Kyle DeLexus

11-16-2009, 06:31 PM

If you have the email of him admitting jailbreaking it then he ****ed up and now its his. You won't get your phone back in the same condition as you sent it to him. Paypal will then side with you since it was his mistake and broke it. Sellers can leave negative feedback if the item is never paid for.

I'd at least let him take it to paypal disputing it, it's worth a shot since he did say this.

Kyle DeLexus

11-16-2009, 06:32 PM

Johnny Vegas

11-16-2009, 07:31 PM

Correction, looks like it was already that way when sold. Still worth going to paypal with and let them tell you to refund.

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.

looks like the buyer did try his own jailbreaking and now failed and wants to send it back.

Jewish Rabbi

11-16-2009, 11:37 PM

looks like the buyer did try his own jailbreaking and now failed and wants to send it back.

Yes, this is the case. He doesn't speak English from what I can gather, so that makes the process more difficult.

KcKing

11-17-2009, 12:03 AM

Yes, this is the case. He doesn't speak English from what I can gather, so that makes the process more difficult.

Nigerian?

Kyle DeLexus

11-17-2009, 01:20 AM

looks like the buyer did try his own jailbreaking and now failed and wants to send it back.

Thanks, I thought I had read that and then went back and re-read the OP and didn't see it.

Param

11-17-2009, 03:30 AM

because of this nonsense, I hardly ever use ebay anymore. I sold a couple of items on there this year, and that was about it. I hardly ever visit the site anymore.

CoMoChief

11-17-2009, 04:51 AM

I had some troubles with my account. For some reason it had a shipping address as my old house when I used to live with my parents.....like 7 years ago, and I've used Ebay since then and had shipped items elsewhere with no problem.

Bought a black Xbox 360 faceplate because I sent my xbox elite in to fix the RROD, they send it back to me....works fine, but the damn thing had a white faceplate on a black xbox. Are these ****ers out of their minds? I called and of course, they couldnt document or find any shit that would have or might have caused this error. I went and seacrched everywhere at malls, Best buy, Circuit City, Game Stop, and locally used game retailers. No one had black faceplates, everywhere I went I got the same answer, "Uhh well they just don't make them just black in color anymore". I mean there would be some gay ass Halo cover, Gears of War cover, or other covers that are cool for 8 yr olds, but if I wanna sell my xbox and get a PS3/blu ray player soon, I don't want to sell my xbox looking the way it does now with the White faceplate because I don't want someone to bitch and claim that I tried to mod it and something happens to it and everything gets blamed on me.

So anyways (after the back story), I go to check out. First my pay pal account for some reason wouldn't recognize my email address I registered with Ebay. That's weird I haven't changed it for a few years. I go to look in my account and it has my old school's email. I wouldnt ever do that. Called their cust service line and like all CS lines, you get to talk to some camel ****er overseas. He ensured that no one has been in my account, confirmed this with pay pal as well. Had to change everything in my profile almost. So hopefully this $25 I spent is worth it and I got this black faceplate (aftermarket) and I just hope the black color matches and fits. Otherwise Im gonna be pissed off.

Bwana

11-17-2009, 08:43 AM

Yes, this is the case. He doesn't speak English from what I can gather, so that makes the process more difficult.

Hmmm? Even the score time? 1,2,3

Get buds to neg rep it back to the stone age off "bad buys," Burn down it's house, call INS with "hot tip" and have it deported? :p

Jewish Rabbi

11-17-2009, 11:44 AM

Hmmm? Even the score time? 1,2,3

Get buds to neg rep it back to the stone age off "bad buys," Burn down it's house, call INS with "hot tip" and have it deported? :p

Wouldn't work... The guy isn't selling anything and his rep is only a 5 anyway.