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PLEASE HELP ME! Ebay case........

A

acorntoy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
May 25, 2010
2,078
2,478
A little introduction, i'm 17, and as such I don't know much about laws and investigations and how all that crap works, but an ebay buyer has got my head in a spin.

I had a nexus 5 that drove me insane on t-mobile, so I bought an unlocked iPhone 5 on ebay and used it happily for a month or two until the new iPhones came out, I then re-sold it and happily upgraded to a 6+, however over a month (close to two?) had passed when the buyer of my iPhone 5 messaged me on ebay. They claimed they had gone to an apple store and had been told that the iPhone was not a apple product, they have demanded a refund and have threatened to report me to some online crime thing.

This seemed like total bullcrap to me, for several reasons. The iPhone ran IOS and I jailbroke it and restored it on iTunes multiple times, correct me if i'm wrong but i've seen plenty of fakes that may look like an iPhone but usually run android, it is in my experience IMPOSSIBLE to install IOS on a non iPhone. Much less have iTunes RESTORE a non-iPhone to stock IOS. Can I safely tell this person to screw off?
Also I'm hoping that somebody here knows ebay's policies better than I do, after the initial thirty day period ebay removes the option from the seller to refund a buyer, i'm I wrong to assume then that after that time the buyer forfeits the right to ask for a refund? If this is the case I would feel much more assured in denying them a refund.

(Which they have asked me to send to a paypal address or write a check and mail it, I have reported them to ebay over this as this is against ebay's rules on payment.)

TLDR; Young person who's easily scared by such threats (My OCD likes to kick me in the ass with "what ifs", didn't do anything wrong, want to avoid legal **** with a buyer
 
eBay gives buyers 45 days to file a claim and as of Nov 18, 2014 they now have 6 months. Has it been over 45 days since they received it or was it bought after Nov 18th? Do you have the IME and serial number from the phone that you sold? You can verify that it is a real iPhone from the IME and serial number through Apple or an IME checker. Plus, they are just trying to scare you with that online crime thing. All they can do is file a claim through eBay.
 
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Regardless of if their story is BS, if they file a "not as described" case, then unfortunately 99.9% of the time the buyer wins, as Ebay and PayPal always side with the buyer. It sucks, I had it happen too, that's why I refuse to sell on Ebay.

If they didn't submit a case, I would be very polite and ask them for more information, try to make them happy and not open a case.
 
If they didn't open a case then you're not obligated to do anything yet.

If they do open a case then you will likely have to allow them to return the device and possibly issue a refund if the device they return is in fact the one you sent.
 
You were right not to give your paypal address, what's odd, though is wouldn't they already have that from the purchase?

Could it be that buyer's account was hacked?

In any event, sit tight and wait for any possible dispute being filed, there's nothing else you can do or should do, until they decide to contact ebay/paypal.
 
Did you have record of serial number and imei of this phone? Ask the buyer to show you proof of "Apple's diagnosis", a document or a video.
 
Call Ebay and give them the story in your 1st post. Tell them you want your side on the record and note your account.

Only communicate with the buyer through ebay messages so ebay can see them if you need them in the future.
 
Do you have pictures of your phone? I know there are knock off apple products, but have never seen one that looks almost identical where you would not be able to tell if you have used it for a month or so.

I use eBay regularly and even sell my old phones on there and have never heard of this happening. Most likely the bidder is having remorse and is trying to get his money back, due to buying a phone that is 2 generations old already ( I have had this happen to me, never worked out for the bidder). Also word of advice, do not make contact with the bidder outside of eBay.
 
I hope the buyer doesn't try to send you his fake iPhone and keeps yours. If they do file a claim and eBay has them send it back to you. Check your IME and SN and make sure it is the one you actually sent to them. I have heard of scammers doing things like this. We haven't heard anything back from you OP. Have you heard anything further? Did they file a claim?
 
Stevessvt said:
Hey OP, its been 2 days now. Little update please?
Click to expand...

Don't you just hate that people come here for help. They ask a question. Posters then fall all over each other provide assistance.

But - the OP is long gone. Never to be heard from again.
 
geoff5093 said:
Regardless of if their story is BS, if they file a "not as described" case, then unfortunately 99.9% of the time the buyer wins, as Ebay and PayPal always side with the buyer. It sucks, I had it happen too, that's why I refuse to sell on Ebay.

If they didn't submit a case, I would be very polite and ask them for more information, try to make them happy and not open a case.
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I totally disagree.

They need to prove their case that the phone is fake. and since they didn't file a case I would ignore it.

This seems like a scam. If doesn't take a genius to figure out if the phone is a 'fake' or not.
 
KdParker said:
I totally disagree.

They need to prove their case that the phone is fake. and since they didn't file a case I would ignore it.

This seems like a scam. If doesn't take a genius to figure out if the phone is a 'fake' or not.
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No, they put it on the seller to prove that it's not fake. Since he bought it off eBay, he doesn't have that proof unless he can get it from the original seller. But, since iPhones have an IME and a SN, he might be able to prove that it is real if he had that info posted on his listing.
 
KdParker said:
I totally disagree.

They need to prove their case that the phone is fake. and since they didn't file a case I would ignore it.

This seems like a scam. If doesn't take a genius to figure out if the phone is a 'fake' or not.
Click to expand...
Disagree about what? If the buyer files a "not as described case", eBay will allow him to ship it back and the seller must refund them. They don't have to prove anything, it's up to the seller to prove it.

The buyer could have received a perfectly good phone, but he can say it didn't work, ship back a faulty phone, and unless the seller can provide irrefutable proof it was a swap, the seller is out of luck.
 
Nightmare with Amazon.com

I sold my iPhone 4S on Amazon.com. I had it shipped with tracking. I get a message saying the buyer claims he didn't get the phone and that I sent him an empty box. I couldn't prove it either way as. That was a no win situation. Long story short the buyer got my phone, his money back and I got screwed. I leaned to not sell over the internet and if I ever do to keep my receipt, the serial number and take photos. That way I can claim it was stolen and maybe have a way to possibly get it back and or prove the buyer did in fact receive the phone.
 
geoff5093 said:
Disagree about what? If the buyer files a "not as described case", eBay will allow him to ship it back and the seller must refund them. They don't have to prove anything, it's up to the seller to prove it.

The buyer could have received a perfectly good phone, but he can say it didn't work, ship back a faulty phone, and unless the seller can provide irrefutable proof it was a swap, the seller is out of luck.
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Yeah, that "not as described" excuse is a guaranteed return even if the item is exactly as described. 6 months window to file that is just asinine.
 
geoff5093 said:
Disagree about what? If the buyer files a "not as described case", eBay will allow him to ship it back and the seller must refund them. They don't have to prove anything, it's up to the seller to prove it.

The buyer could have received a perfectly good phone, but he can say it didn't work, ship back a faulty phone, and unless the seller can provide irrefutable proof it was a swap, the seller is out of luck.
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Not true. The seller will not file anything in this case with eBay this late, especially with such a weak story.

No need to fear the buyer if you aren't selling crap.
 
Everything this person says and does, and everything you say and do are part of the record in any Ebay dispute.

If this person is breaking all sorts of rules this is a sure indicator of deception on their part. In an arbitration this would help your case greatly.

I've found in arbitration and dispute (not just Ebay), that the less that you say they better off you are. It appears this person has said a lot, claimed a lot, and done a lot.

I would talk to an Ebay arbitrator and try to reason with them.

I've had a number of incidents where the person claiming that i've done something unethical in a marketplace was decided in their favor as they were smart about it. :D (alas, crooks though)

Not so in this case. This jerk sounds like a moron.


Then again, it's not exactly reassuring when your not 100% on it being genuine. ;)



Good luck
 
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thalazy said:
I sold my iPhone 4S on Amazon.com. I had it shipped with tracking. I get a message saying the buyer claims he didn't get the phone and that I sent him an empty box. I couldn't prove it either way as. That was a no win situation. Long story short the buyer got my phone, his money back and I got screwed. I leaned to not sell over the internet and if I ever do to keep my receipt, the serial number and take photos. That way I can claim it was stolen and maybe have a way to possibly get it back and or prove the buyer did in fact receive the phone.
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This happened to me too a couple of years ago, but on eBay. I've bought & sold actively on eBay since 2002 including many phones, and this was the first experience like that I had. Have since had a couple other scammers try stuff, so I think it's getting more common.
 
I sell a few phones a month on ebay. Only had one bad buyer who wanted to return a phone sold with bad esn. He filed a case but I won.
 
rgarjr said:
Yeah, that "not as described" excuse is a guaranteed return even if the item is exactly as described. 6 months window to file that is just asinine.
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I agree with that. eBay is all in this for themselves as 6 month return window is stupid as stupid gets. I have over 700 good sales and purchases with 100% feedback but it is getting harder and harder to please people and have moved to Craigs List and it has worked out great with zero fees!
 
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