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My iPhone 5C eBay story... For your entertainment...

P

POLBOSS

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 8, 2008
76
6
So... On the second week of December, AT&T contacted me... Asking me if I was happy with AT&T... I said, yes, very happy... The person asked me if I would be interested on a new device at a considerable discount... I said, of course, I would be interested...
At that time, I was using an iPhone 5C 16GB and I was happy with it, the AT&T person offered me a 5s 16Gb for $100 in exchange to sign a 2 year contract, I just had signed a 2 year contract on November... So I said, yes, I will take a 5s for $100...
So... The 5s arrived the next day... And I listed my 5c on eBay... Buy It Now for $349... It sold right away... I sent the 5c, by Priority Mail insured, right away the same day...
By next week, I had already forgotten about the 5c... When I received an eBay email about an open case... The buyer telling me that inside the box he had received a picture frame... I responded that I had sent an iPhone 5c...
I went to the Post Office the clerk told me that the buyer had to go to his post office and open an investigation... I was about to tell this to the buyer when he said that he had sent back the box that he had received inside another box... And he was expecting a refund as soon as I received the box...
(The buyer has perfect feedback and has been an eBayer since the 90's... I've been on eBay since 2001 with perfect feedback...)
I received the box... I called the post office and they told me to just file a claim online...
2 days later the claim was approved... 2 days later I received a check for the full amount...
I refunded the buyer...
eBay refunded all the fees...
PayPal returned the fees...
So I got $349 and no fees...
 
Last edited:
Thepoobear said:
And you let a buyer thief the system...

Nice ending.
Click to expand...

So all of those reports of postal workers stealing valuable items from packages must all be a lie? You are saying it will always be the buyer, especially one registered with ebay in the 90s with excellent feedback?
 
padrino121 said:
So all of those reports of postal workers stealing valuable items from packages must all be a lie? You are saying it will always be the buyer, especially one registered with ebay in the 90s with excellent feedback?
Click to expand...

Feedback is irrelevant. There was no mention of tampering or any questions asked, PERIOD. Just a quick exchange of money.

This ain't the first time a buyer has "claimed" this sort of thing.

I've had two buyers scam me before.

Edit: Buyers have 100% feedback by default since eBay will not allow the seller to neg them

Seller should leave feedback documenting this in some non negative manner.
 
OP was a little difficult to follow, but I take it you believe the buyer's story and some postal worker actually stole the iPhone?

If not, you're not doing anybody a favor by not filing a counterclaim with paypal or at least take advantage of ebay's Report a Buyer function and letting the buyer get away with it.
 
The buyer has been buying and selling in eBay with more than 400 positive feedback, no negatives... Ever...

I reported the IMEI to AT&T

I have a picture frame to remind me...

Probably I won't be selling on ebay anymore...
 
POLBOSS said:
So... On the second week of December, AT&T contacted me... Asking me if I was happy with AT&T... I said, yes, very happy... The person asked me if I would be interested on a new device at a considerable discount... I said, of course, I would be interested...
At that time, I was using an iPhone 5C 16GB and I was happy with it, the AT&T person offered me a 5s 16Gb for $100 in exchange to sign a 2 year contract, I just had signed a 2 year contract on November... So I said, yes, I will take a 5s for $100...
So... The 5s arrived the next day... And I listed my 5c on eBay... Buy It Now for $349... It sold right away... I sent the 5c, by Priority Mail insured, right away the same day...
By next week, I had already forgotten about the 5c... When I received an eBay email about an open case... The buyer telling me that inside the box he had received a picture frame... I responded that I had sent an iPhone 5c...
I went to the Post Office the clerk told me that the buyer had to go to his post office and open an investigation... I was about to tell this to the buyer when he said that he had sent back the box that he had received inside another box... And he was expecting a refund as soon as I received the box...
(The buyer has perfect feedback and has been an eBayer since the 90's... I've been on eBay since 2001 with perfect feedback...)
I received the box... I called the post office and they told me to just file a claim online...
2 days later the claim was approved... 2 days later I received a check for the full amount...
I refunded the buyer...
eBay refunded all the fees...
PayPal returned the fees...
So I got $349 and no fees...
Click to expand...

so your proud of this?
 
POLBOSS said:
The buyer has been buying and selling in eBay with more than 400 positive feedback, no negatives... Ever...
Click to expand...

That's moot. Buyers can't get negatives... Ever... But there are scammers with high feedbacks.

Not saying the buyer is or isn't a scammer, but it can happen.

If you believe the buyer, do nothing. If not, please do ebay a favor and report him via www.ebay.com/reportabuyer They do take preventing abuse by buyers seriously and have increased buyer account suspension by 900% since launching that feature.
 
braddick said:
I agree!
Only the chosen few: sign a two year agreement in November and get another brand new iPhone for a two year agreement signed in December.

Almost sounds like that never happened!
Click to expand...
But but.... I have an iPhone 4!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll give At&t a $100!!!!!
 
oldhifi said:
I would be worried the USPS inspector would be looking for me one day, but that's me.
Click to expand...

I'm... But, I didn't do anything wrong...
I'm some how prepare to prove what I have sent... The USPS receipt indicates the weight of what I sent... I can show that using the box that I sent and dropping an iPhone 5c and packaging peanuts weights exactly what the receipt shows...
I didn't ask ebay or paypal to return the fees, the protocol is for them to return them automatically...
 
I just had to go through a case where a buyer supposedly sent me a 15.4 early 2009 macbook pro and I actually got a early 2007 macbook pro with no battery ,ram,hard drive,ram cover or an optical drive and on top of all that it had the failing nvidia graphics card in it,I actually had to kinda fight the case I won by proving the laptop I was supposed to receive weighed 5.5lbs by itself alone and the box I got was only 4.5lbs with the parts laptop and everything..........................................................................................................................................................I also have had a few buyers lie about not receiving packages,one time I told the post office to put tracking on it and they forgot 1st time I didn't have tracking and the buyer opened a case this is how I learned usps tracks all packages regardless you just pay to view the info they see so they gave me a print out and let me pay for the tracking number to become valid and when I sent the buyer that while also pointing out he had already left good feedback on the phone he dropped the case.
 
g4manimac said:
I just had to go through a case where a buyer supposedly sent me a 15.4 early 2009 macbook pro and I actually got a early 2007 macbook pro with no battery ,ram,hard drive,ram cover or an optical drive and on top of all that it had the failing nvidia graphics card in it,I actually had to kinda fight the case I won by proving the laptop I was supposed to receive weighed 5.5lbs by itself alone and the box I got was only 4.5lbs with the parts laptop and everything.......................................
Click to expand...

Paypal doesn't normally consider weight of the package in a dispute so if you provided pics of the different MBPs, that probably carried more weight (pun intended). Anyone can stuff the package with something else to give an equivalent weight. Someone on here got a different iPhone back and won the dispute just from providing close-up pics comparing the different iPhones, so yes, paypal seller protection does work and it illustrates why it's important to take many good quality pics before shipping.


.............................................................I also have had a few buyers lie about not receiving packages,one time I told the post office to put tracking on it and they forgot 1st time I didn't have tracking and the buyer opened a case this is how I learned usps tracks all packages regardless you just pay to view the info they see so they gave me a print out and let me pay for the tracking number to become valid and when I sent the buyer that while also pointing out he had already left good feedback on the phone he dropped the case.
Click to expand...

You have to use signature confirmation anyway for high ticket items in order to fall under paypal seller protection. This is what protects against "package not received" (although them lying about different item received is another matter).

As an aside, smart sellers do not buy insurance for the simple reason that the buyer has ebay buyer protection and no incentive to cooperate in filing a claim. That's why the OP almost got screwed when the post office clerk told him to have the buyer go to the post office and open an investigation. Good thing they relented and told the OP to file the claim himself once he got the package.
 
First off, if your carrier calls you asking whether or not you're satisfied the correct answer is that you're extremely unsatisfied. They'll go a long way to keep you trapped in their contracts.
 
Am I the only one who doesn;t understand how the OP signed a contract for the 5C in November and then was offered a contract renewal for the 5S, at $100, no less, a few months later?
 
Tmelon said:
First off, if your carrier calls you asking whether or not you're satisfied the correct answer is that you're extremely unsatisfied. They'll go a long way to keep you trapped in their contracts.
Click to expand...

I literally lol'd... wise words
 
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