I sell around $18k-$22k gross worth of collectibles and gear on eBay every year, including maybe two or three grand worth of Apple hardware, depending on what I've recently upgraded and need to sell off my previous version of. I have about 5000 feedback from 12 years of eBay being more or less a "side job" recouping some of the costs of my hobbies.
In general you might be able to stick to your guns on this one and win, but it might not be worth the hassle and you didn't set yourself up optimally for it, which is tough to do without eBay proficiency and practice (which it doesn't sound like you are likely to want to acquire, and that's completely understandable). But for your benefit and everyone else reading, here are my impressions of your scenario.
If I had been selling your unit, I probably would have just marked it used the same way you did, not refurb because that's really not relevant once a machine is used (because used is used regardless of the source). I don't think you did anything wrong where that is concerned because those drop boxes are optional anyway. The big difference is that I mark all my tech auctions descriptions with "Item is for sale AS-IS WHERE-IS. I guarantee that the item is tested and working out of the box, but aside from that, you are on your own." You might think that such a disclaimer hurts the closing price, but I have not seen such an effect. If anything, I suspect it attracts bidders who are technically inclined and who just want clarity on what it is they are getting: a computer that boots properly and may or may not need upgrades or customization depending on what they discover when they test it out for themselves.
The main thing is that a bidder doesn't want to receive something that isn't what they thought it was going to be, and that's true in your case as well as any other. You can't always help this because many buyers read what they want to read, but in general keeping your description basic and underpromising puts you in a position to overdeliver (or at the very least, to meet expectations) and then you don't tend to get returns or complaints. MANY eBay buyers are just as nervous about the whole thing as a novice seller, and just don't want to get scammed. Again, you can't satisfy everyone, but if you do like Apple and seek to satisfy the 80% side of the 80/20 divide, you will find that dealing with the complaints of the 20% is much less frustrating or frequent.
The last time I sold Apple gear and had a complaint, it was that an iPhone 4 had a pretty short battery charge retention, on the order of 7 or 8 hours with moderate usage. I pointed to the description where it said the phone had been (in bold) heavily used for 18 months, and that the buyer should expect a unit that performs consistent with that level of wear and has a shortened battery life compared to a new unit. I noted for the buyer that the going rate (at the time) for those phones was around $325 and I had posted buy-it-now at $275 in acknowledgment that this was not a phone in new or even like-new condition. The buyer complained, and eBay sided with me. I couldn't have been more clear. It was just a buyer who ignored the part of the description that he didn't want to be true, and had been hoping he could get a like-new iPhone 4 for fifty bucks less than fair market value for a like-new, which is not a realistic expectation in general, nor is it a reasonable expectation based on the plain language of my item description. eBay ruled that I had accurately described the item and dismissed the complaint. That's the kind of disclosure you have to make to succeed on eBay.
Whatever you decide, best of luck.
In general you might be able to stick to your guns on this one and win, but it might not be worth the hassle and you didn't set yourself up optimally for it, which is tough to do without eBay proficiency and practice (which it doesn't sound like you are likely to want to acquire, and that's completely understandable). But for your benefit and everyone else reading, here are my impressions of your scenario.
If I had been selling your unit, I probably would have just marked it used the same way you did, not refurb because that's really not relevant once a machine is used (because used is used regardless of the source). I don't think you did anything wrong where that is concerned because those drop boxes are optional anyway. The big difference is that I mark all my tech auctions descriptions with "Item is for sale AS-IS WHERE-IS. I guarantee that the item is tested and working out of the box, but aside from that, you are on your own." You might think that such a disclaimer hurts the closing price, but I have not seen such an effect. If anything, I suspect it attracts bidders who are technically inclined and who just want clarity on what it is they are getting: a computer that boots properly and may or may not need upgrades or customization depending on what they discover when they test it out for themselves.
The main thing is that a bidder doesn't want to receive something that isn't what they thought it was going to be, and that's true in your case as well as any other. You can't always help this because many buyers read what they want to read, but in general keeping your description basic and underpromising puts you in a position to overdeliver (or at the very least, to meet expectations) and then you don't tend to get returns or complaints. MANY eBay buyers are just as nervous about the whole thing as a novice seller, and just don't want to get scammed. Again, you can't satisfy everyone, but if you do like Apple and seek to satisfy the 80% side of the 80/20 divide, you will find that dealing with the complaints of the 20% is much less frustrating or frequent.
The last time I sold Apple gear and had a complaint, it was that an iPhone 4 had a pretty short battery charge retention, on the order of 7 or 8 hours with moderate usage. I pointed to the description where it said the phone had been (in bold) heavily used for 18 months, and that the buyer should expect a unit that performs consistent with that level of wear and has a shortened battery life compared to a new unit. I noted for the buyer that the going rate (at the time) for those phones was around $325 and I had posted buy-it-now at $275 in acknowledgment that this was not a phone in new or even like-new condition. The buyer complained, and eBay sided with me. I couldn't have been more clear. It was just a buyer who ignored the part of the description that he didn't want to be true, and had been hoping he could get a like-new iPhone 4 for fifty bucks less than fair market value for a like-new, which is not a realistic expectation in general, nor is it a reasonable expectation based on the plain language of my item description. eBay ruled that I had accurately described the item and dismissed the complaint. That's the kind of disclosure you have to make to succeed on eBay.
Whatever you decide, best of luck.