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eBay Instant Sale Scam

dissdnt

dissdnt

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 3, 2007
1,489
5
So I went the route of selling my iPhone 4 with ebay instant sale with an offer of 200 bucks.

Well 10 days later after receiving it they finally got back to me with an offer of 43 bucks claiming the vibrate feature doesn't work.

I've used and handled that phone for over a year and at no time have I had any issue with the stupid vibrate feature.

It's clearly a scam to not pay out the initial offer. I did email them but I'm sure i'll get nothing but crickets and my phone back in 7-10 days.

I honestly plan to film the opening and testing of my phone once it's received to show what nonsense this company is that works with Ebay.

2 weeks is an eternity on the resell value market and by time I get this phone back, if they haven't broken it already, and try to sell it I'm sure i'll get crap for it.

So thanks ebay!

Anyone else have horror stories?
 
aphexacid

aphexacid

macrumors 6502a
Jul 31, 2007
936
22
Chicago
You're 100% correct about the market. I sold my iphone 4 black 16gb about 1 week after the iphone 5 came out.

its an at&t 4 16gb with a totally shattered screen, but everything worked perfect. i got $198 for it, ebay auction.

My friend sold his about 1 week after my auction ended. identical phone, except his was perfect condition. he got $251. He was furious lol
 
B

Brad02

macrumors regular
Apr 8, 2011
102
1
Had the same thing happen to me. Perfect iphone 4 $200 offered but then when they inspected they Said it had dead pixels and hot spots? Hah. The phone had zero stuff wrong with it besides the random home button not working. Was offered $105.. Wondering if they harvested parts from mine.
 
I

Iphone 2.2

macrumors member
Jul 2, 2010
55
0
make sure you receive your old phone and not another phone that they had that doesnt work, and has that problem claiming its yours. AKA the old switch a roo
 
sawah

sawah

macrumors 65816
Sep 13, 2010
1,126
686
I've never had a single problem with instant sale and I've sold 4-5 phones on there. I've always received what I've been quoted, and I've never had them tell me my phone wasn't in the condition that I said it was.
 
J

janita

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2010
36
0
I sold my black, 16gb, iPhone 4 to instant sale without any problems. They quoted me $200 and I had that amount in my bank account within a week of mailing the phone to them.
 
braddick

braddick

macrumors 68040
Jun 28, 2009
3,921
1,018
Encinitas, CA
Is there a slight chance to vibration is turned off? If so the company may not know to double check this in settings.

Either way you're right. A loss of a couple weeks could play havoc on resale value although I've noticed, interestingly enough, values for the 4 and 4S and increased ever so slightly after the onslaught of iPhones were sold with the iP5 release.

Perhaps a couple of extra weeks may work in your favor.
 
P

praetorx

macrumors regular
Apr 7, 2010
160
0
dissdnt said:
Anyone else have horror stories?
Click to expand...

As a seller you have zero fraud protection on eBay.

I was scammed a few years back by a guy who bought a $850 laptop from me, claimed it was not working, filed a dispute with PayPal and shipped it back with changed parts (battery he stole alone was worth $100).

PayPal deducted the full price from my bank account and put a hold on the $850 the buyer paid me. I was out $1700 that month. At least he sent something back so after one month I got my $850 back and was able to sell the remaining parts at a loss.

I had no recourse and PayPal wanted me to file a report with the police.

eBay and PayPal support fraud and their feedback system is in existent if you're the seller.
 
J

Jess2387

macrumors newbie
Oct 11, 2012
2
0
I recently sent my Blackberry torch to these people last Monday Oct 1st I checked the status and its been delivered then it said cexchange is waiting to receive your device and it's been saying that for a few days. I've emailed them and ebay and have yet to get a answer . I was quoted $140. I'm irritated that I have not heard back from these clowns! Anyone have the same issue?
 
S

StephenAndrew

macrumors member
Dec 12, 2009
93
2
Connecticut, USA
^^ I have a similar issue. I emailed my phone to them on Sept. 28th, it was delivered to them Oct. 4th. Haven't heard a peep from them, and haven't gotten a payment. Just today I emailed them to ask what's up, because it says in the confirmation that I would receive payment within two days after they get it. It's been seven now, and without any communication or explanation, it's a little annoying.
 
G

Gjwilly

macrumors 68040
May 1, 2011
3,216
701
SF Bay Area
Jess2387 said:
I recently sent my Blackberry torch to these people last Monday Oct 1st I checked the status and its been delivered then it said cexchange is waiting to receive your device and it's been saying that for a few days. I've emailed them and ebay and have yet to get a answer . I was quoted $140. I'm irritated that I have not heard back from these clowns! Anyone have the same issue?
Click to expand...

Mine was delivered on 10/3 and I finally got the email and the status update today that it was received and being evaluated.
Now lets see if they stick to their offer price.
 
dissdnt

dissdnt

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 3, 2007
1,489
5
praetorx said:
As a seller you have zero fraud protection on eBay.

I was scammed a few years back by a guy who bought a $850 laptop from me, claimed it was not working, filed a dispute with PayPal and shipped it back with changed parts (battery he stole alone was worth $100).

PayPal deducted the full price from my bank account and put a hold on the $850 the buyer paid me. I was out $1700 that month. At least he sent something back so after one month I got my $850 back and was able to sell the remaining parts at a loss.

I had no recourse and PayPal wanted me to file a report with the police.

eBay and PayPal support fraud and their feedback system is in existent if you're the seller.
Click to expand...

I understand about the fraud thing. I sell stuff online for a living and we get charge backs and other nonsense all the time. But this has nothing to do with me as a seller being fraudulent.

I sent a perfectly good working iPhone 4 in perfect working order and they hit me back with nonsense. That's fraud.
 
zea mays

zea mays

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2007
580
252
dissdnt said:
So I went the route of selling my iPhone 4 with ebay instant sale with an offer of 200 bucks.

2 weeks is an eternity on the resell value market and by time I get this phone back, if they haven't broken it already, and try to sell it I'm sure i'll get crap for it.

So thanks ebay!

Anyone else have horror stories?
Click to expand...

Brad02 said:
Had the same thing happen to me. Perfect iphone 4 $200 offered but then when they inspected they Said it had dead pixels and hot spots? Hah. The phone had zero stuff wrong with it besides the random home button not working. Was offered $105.. Wondering if they harvested parts from mine.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience. Got my quote of $200 each for 2 iPhone 4 16gb. Sent them in immediately after receiving my iPhone 5. One phone, they gave me the offered $200, but the other phone they said had "hot spots and at least one stuck pixel" and offered me $95 for it. I accepted the $200 and told them to send me back the $95 phone.

I got my phone back with no noticeable changes except a couple stickers on the box and phone. Cleaned it back up and sold it for $275 on craigslist a little less than a week later. There were zero dead pixels or "hotspots" that I could discern. The buyer was pleased and so was I, however, I will likely not use InstantSale again.
 
Last edited:
J

Jess2387

macrumors newbie
Oct 11, 2012
2
0
Well mine still says their waiting to receive my item although it said it was delivered the 4th! Really want to know if they even got it or not.. .
 
ECUalum03

ECUalum03

macrumors newbie
Sep 16, 2012
24
5
I sold 3 to them and got my full quoted price on all 3, 16g 4, 32 g 4, and 16g 4S. One I sent on the 28th and hadn't heard anything so I sent an email and they are backed up because of the large number they recently received.
 
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