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Out of pure curiosity, why?

If I am buying, I am able to confirm that it is not on next/stolen. There are also tons of carrier stores around here and people are generally willing to meet there. The closest is about five minutes from home. Much safer than a dark alley behind pizza hut. :)
 
Take lots of good pictures
Be very descriptive
If the phone is not 100% in working order, list it as "for parts not working" or eBay will rule in buyer favor
Make sure you put insurance and signature on shipping
Cover your ass
Don't sell to >10 feedback or negative feedback buyers


If you do all the above you should be ok as long as you don't get a scammer
 
Make sure you put insurance and signature on shipping

Yes on signature confirmation but smart sellers don't purchase insurance. The buyer has ebay buyer protection and no incentive to cooperate with you. If you read the fine print on filing a claim it requires the buyer's cooperation so you'd have to be really lucky to get that and absolutely forget about it if you get a scammer.
 
Yes on signature confirmation but smart sellers don't purchase insurance. The buyer has ebay buyer protection and no incentive to cooperate with you. If you read the fine print on filing a claim it requires the buyer's cooperation so you'd have to be really lucky to get that and absolutely forget about it if you get a scammer.

That's true but sometimes the package never makes it at all and gets lost. Cases like that you won't need much help from the buyer if tracking shows it left but never arrived anywhere.
And by cooperating the buyer can get his refund way sooner than if he doesn't.
I think it's worth the $3-4 extra to get that peace of mind.
Years ago I had an expensive dvd recorder lost in the mail and with no insurance they just refunded me the shipping charges. Then I had to refund the buyer and my item gone.
 
That's true but sometimes the package never makes it at all and gets lost. Cases like that you won't need much help from the buyer if tracking shows it left but never arrived anywhere.
And by cooperating the buyer can get his refund way sooner than if he doesn't.
I think it's worth the $3-4 extra to get that peace of mind.
Years ago I had an expensive dvd recorder lost in the mail and with no insurance they just refunded me the shipping charges. Then I had to refund the buyer and my item gone.

That'd the the only scenario where a buyer's cooperation isn't required though. All other scenarios including damaged or tampered with packages that are actually delivered will require their cooperation and the buyer will have no incentive to provide that because of ebay buyer protection.
 
That'd the the only scenario where a buyer's cooperation isn't required though. All other scenarios including damaged or tampered with packages that are actually delivered will require their cooperation and the buyer will have no incentive to provide that because of ebay buyer protection.

But it's still worth the few extra dollars to protect against that scenario, no? Seems like that's the thing that smart sellers would do.

*shrugs*
 
But it's still worth the few extra dollars to protect against that scenario, no? Seems like that's the thing that smart sellers would do.

*shrugs*

The odd is highly stacked against you in that scenario, as it's not common at all for a package to be never delivered. If anything, it's more likely that the signature confirmation will show the package as delivered but the buyer may still claim they didn't get it and has no incentive to cooperate with you in filing a claim as they have buyer protection.

Do it for your own peace of mind if you like but you're wasting your money. If it's any consolation, priority mail come standard with $50 in insurance. Still won't help you with damaged and tampered with packages without the buyer's cooperation.
 
Create a new iTunes account that you can activation lock the phone. This way, buyer has to contact you when they receive it. No way they can claim they didn't receive the product in the box.
 
Add me to the list of people burned trying to sell a working phone on eBay. Won't be doing that again. Will only sell broken phones for parts clearly described in listing.
 
Phone sold. Great condition. I had/have 100% positive feedback. About three weeks later buyer claims phone does not work. Files petition. I lost. phone sent back to me in horrible condition. Out money. Was Stuck with phone in crappy condition. Unbelievably annoyed with eBay.

What happened with your case?
 
Create a new iTunes account that you can activation lock the phone. This way, buyer has to contact you when they receive it. No way they can claim they didn't receive the product in the box.

That still won't protect you against other types of fraud like returning an empty box or different iPhone and would only annoy serious buyers.
 
Phone sold. Great condition. I had/have 100% positive feedback. About three weeks later buyer claims phone does not work. Files petition. I lost. phone sent back to me in horrible condition. Out money. Was Stuck with phone in crappy condition. Unbelievably annoyed with eBay.

That sucks man.
Was it the same phone or he send you another one that was destroyed?
You didn't have pictures to show the condition when you sold it and the way he send it back?
What did he do to it? Cracked the screen?
If it came in broken how did it take them 3 weeks to notice it? And ebay still sided with them?
 
Phone sold. Great condition. I had/have 100% positive feedback. About three weeks later buyer claims phone does not work. Files petition. I lost. phone sent back to me in horrible condition. Out money. Was Stuck with phone in crappy condition. Unbelievably annoyed with eBay.

So the buyer scratched it up during the 3 weeks of use? Yeah, that's a drawback of ebay as you can't wash your hands off it like in CL but you'd be able to list it again for not much less especially if unlocked (which you should do anyway as you're more likely to get better buyers).

Had you received a different iPhone back you could've filed a counter dispute and sellers have won this with appropriate documentation.
 
I sold it offline. I was so mad at eBay. I refused to let them make any more money off me (fees) for that phone after they screwed me like that.

So the buyer scratched it up during the 3 weeks of use? Yeah, that's a drawback of ebay as you can't wash your hands off it like in CL but you'd be able to list it again for not much less especially if unlocked (which you should do anyway as you're more likely to get better buyers).



Had you received a different iPhone back you could've filed a counter dispute and sellers have won this with appropriate documentation.
 
So the buyer scratched it up during the 3 weeks of use? Yeah, that's a drawback of ebay as you can't wash your hands off it like in CL but you'd be able to list it again for not much less especially if unlocked (which you should do anyway as you're more likely to get better buyers).

Had you received a different iPhone back you could've filed a counter dispute and sellers have won this with appropriate documentation.

Yep, up to 6 months later they can file a dispute, use your item or do whatever they want and then return it and get their money back.
That doesn't make any sense.
Every retailer seems to have a 14 day return policy. With ebay used products you have 6 months?
That's like encouraging scams to happen. If there's something wrong you should be able to notice right away and return it but a half year later?
 
Yep, up to 6 months later they can file a dispute, use your item or do whatever they want and then return it and get their money back.
That doesn't make any sense.
Every retailer seems to have a 14 day return policy. With ebay used products you have 6 months?
That's like encouraging scams to happen. If there's something wrong you should be able to notice right away and return it but a half year later?

I agree. That's why I won't hesitate to allow my PayPal account to go into negative if they pull such a stunt. The money is long gone anyway even if your seller rating isn't good enough to get instant funds.
 
Someone point me to where it is documented on the eBay site that they have six months in which to file a dispute or make a return. I am only aware of the 45 day dispute period.
 
If you have a checking account associated, PayPal will dip into that to take funds. Just an fyi.

I agree. That's why I won't hesitate to allow my PayPal account to go into negative if they pull such a stunt. The money is long gone anyway even if your seller rating isn't good enough to get instant funds.
 
If you have a checking account associated, PayPal will dip into that to take funds. Just an fyi.

Also why I refuse to link my checking account. I can report my linked credit card lost or stolen and I'll just get a new card number, hence they can't dip into that either.

PayPal has a $10,000 lifetime spending limit before linking to a checking account is absolutely required. We hit that limit a few years ago and I simply closed it and opened a new PayPal account. Will do that again when we hit the next $10,000 limit assuming they still have that policy.
 
I actually have a question as a buyer on eBay. Recently (on December 31st to be precise) I bought an iPhone 6 from a seller and to this day I've had no contact with the guy. Tried multiple messages through the ebay messaging system, even sent out an email to his paypal address (the one I sent payment to after I bought the item) and still no answers from him.

What should I do? How long do I wait until I open a case? That is if the seller continues to ignore me. Tips and advice is welcome.
 
Also why I refuse to link my checking account. I can report my linked credit card lost or stolen and I'll just get a new card number, hence they can't dip into that either.

Closing checking account is also easy.

----------

I actually have a question as a buyer on eBay. Recently (on December 31st to be precise) I bought an iPhone 6 from a seller and to this day I've had no contact with the guy. Tried multiple messages through the ebay messaging system, even sent out an email to his paypal address (the one I sent payment to after I bought the item) and still no answers from him.

What should I do? How long do I wait until I open a case? That is if the seller continues to ignore me. Tips and advice is welcome.

Depends how many business days seller allowed in shipping description
 
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