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So my friend sold a iPhone on ebay

M

mirkonarkic

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 26, 2011
1
0
My friend sold a iphone 4s on ebay and the tracking code says it has arrived to the sellers adress. But the seller has opened a case about the item not arriving and my friend thinks it's a scam so he's affraid he might lose his phone and his money. What should he do? Can he somehow track the phone? It was brand new and factory sealed when he sent it. Can he disable it? Any help would be welcome.


Thank you very much!
 
Move the money out of the paypal account. Most likely he is being scammed, and he may not be able to do anything about it. Craigslist is much better because of this risk.
 
This is probably one of the main reasons why I avoid eBay like the plague when it comes to selling phones.

Nrwrit3r said:
Move the money out of the paypal account. Most likely he is being scammed, and he may not be able to do anything about it. Craigslist is much better because of this risk.
Click to expand...

AFAIK moving the money out of Pay Pal wouldn't make a difference.
 
If done via PayPal to a PayPal-confirmed address, and if a signature confirmation was obtained, the seller will have some protection against this claim. If not, PayPal would likely refund the buyer's money and your friend would be s.o.l..

I recently sold my iPhone 4 on Ebay. A local buyer purchased it, paid via PayPal, and wanted to meet to pick up. I didn't have a problem with that but told him he'd need to bring cash (I refunded his PayPal payment). Because I'd have only been protected if I had shipped to confirmed address with delivery confirmation and signature, I was worried about me handing it over to him in person, then claiming he never received.
 
if he has delivery confirmation, then it's the seller's responsibility to go thru the shipping company. Make sure he keeps that confirmation, and gives it to ebay when he gets the complaint.
 
I agree 100%. There is too much risk to selling these on ebay. I sold my 3GS in June of last year and was lucky to find an honorable buyer (in Indonesia of all places).

This year I want through CL and exchanged cash on the spot for the 4. A little more hassle to meet up, but much less risk.

I've read horror stories about PayPal, and some people are refusing to accept/use PayPal because they favor the buyer so much more than the seller. The seller has almost no rights unless they video themselves packing and shipping the product (with tracking number visible).
 
mirkonarkic said:
My friend sold a iphone 4s on ebay and the tracking code says it has arrived to the sellers adress. But the seller has opened a case about the item not arriving and my friend thinks it's a scam so he's affraid he might lose his phone and his money. What should he do? Can he somehow track the phone? It was brand new and factory sealed when he sent it. Can he disable it? Any help would be welcome.


Thank you very much!
Click to expand...

As much as I would have ordinarily said scam no questions asked, I had fallen victim to this myself previously, after buying a 3GS from America, 2 weeks later it arrived, everything was there, all accessories and boxed, but no phone. I spoke to the seller and paypal, completely honest about the fact I had received a box (I didn't have to...it wasn't recorded delivery) but it was empty. I was promptly reimbursed by payal....however, I do believe the seller was genuine and it was either UPS or Royal Mail employee who stole it. That is what I believe.

Your friend however, is in a very difficult position as I imagine paypal may side with the buyer in this case...even if you remove the money from the paypal account AND! block paypal from your bank account (You must also block paypal from your bank account else they can go in and just take it back) then they will pass on his details to a debt collection agency and his credit rating may be damaged.

This is why I stay away from eBay nowadays, because if this type of stuff happens you're 9 times out of 10 SOL.
 
I had the exact same thing happen to me with my iPhone 3GS. I sold it on eBay and sent it out with a tracking number. It said it had arrived, but the buyer contacted me a few days later to say he never got it. Working through eBay, I discovered that they would only reimburse the seller if the item is shipped with Signature Confirmation, not just a tracking number. It pays to read the seller agreement carefully.

So, sorry to say it, but there's a good chance he'll be without his phone and an empty wallet to show for it. With a number of recent changes, eBay has firmly landed on the side of the buyer, not the seller.

If he takes his money out of PayPal quickly, they'll just take him to a collection agency. No way around it.

Around the time I sold my 3GS, I also sold my mom's 3G. I jailbroke it and sent it out. The guy that got the phone gave me negative feedback because the phone wasn't unlocked (never said it was) and that I never told him that connecting it to his computer and doing a full restore would get rid of the jailbreak. And, guess what? eBay sided with the buyer and refused to take down the negative feedback. It hurt my auctions for months.

Finally, the guy got kicked off eBay and the feedback disappeared. But, it just shows how one-sided eBay is.

----------
neile45 said:
if he has delivery confirmation, then it's the seller's responsibility to go thru the shipping company. Make sure he keeps that confirmation, and gives it to ebay when he gets the complaint.
Click to expand...

Not true, unfortunately. The thinking is the phone could have been delivered to the wrong house. eBay and Paypal will side with the buyer every time. Signature confirmation is the only 100% foolproof way of winning a dispute.
 
Agrees he needs signature confirmation. Bummer. This is why this year I sold my iPhone 4 to Amazon for $301.
 
mirkonarkic said:
My friend sold a iphone 4s on ebay and the tracking code says it has arrived to the sellers adress. But the seller has opened a case about the item not arriving and my friend thinks it's a scam so he's affraid he might lose his phone and his money. What should he do? Can he somehow track the phone? It was brand new and factory sealed when he sent it. Can he disable it? Any help would be welcome.


Thank you very much!
Click to expand...

Post a link to the sale. I want to read feedback on the buyer and seller before commenting.
 
mirkonarkic said:
My friend sold a iphone 4s on ebay and the tracking code says it has arrived to the sellers adress. But the seller has opened a case about the item not arriving and my friend thinks it's a scam so he's affraid he might lose his phone and his money. What should he do? Can he somehow track the phone? It was brand new and factory sealed when he sent it. Can he disable it? Any help would be welcome.
Click to expand...

Did he follow the PayPal Seller Protection guidelines, specifically shipped to a PayPal confirmed address and (because it's over $250) he shipped with signature required? For his sake, I hope he also insured the shipment for full value, though that's not required by PayPal.

https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?...tent_ID=security/seller_protection_learn_more

Chances are high that he's out of luck. iPhones are a HUGE fraud item for both buyer and seller fraud.
 
Nrwrit3r said:
Move the money out of the paypal account. Most likely he is being scammed, and he may not be able to do anything about it. Craigslist is much better because of this risk.
Click to expand...

Wrong. They will get their money regardless.
 
jessica. said:
Wrong. They will get their money regardless.
Click to expand...

You can bet on that :p

Also he probably doesn't "have" the money yet, eBay/PayPal normally holds funds on high-risk categories. Funds get released after buyer leaves positive feedback, or automatically some number of days after delivery is confirmed.
 
I had this exact same thing happen to me on an old iPhone... delivery confirmation but no signature. The buyer said the box was empty.

At first I thought maybe the delivery company removed the phone so I was kinda believing them but I took matters into my own hands and called them on the phone. They were way surprised to hear from me and didn't have their story straight. I talked to the mother who said the daughter (buyer) received it then I talked to the daughter who said she didn't. Fishy. I started uploading evidence that supported my case to Paypal dispute resolution page for my case (once funds are disputed paypal holds them and opens a 30 day case). I was polite to the buyer the whole way even though I was very sceptic of their claim, but never accused them of anything since my only goal was to prevail now in the dispute. Every time they emailed outside of the paypal case I would recopy it into the paypal case tool (you're supposed to communicate via paypal so that they can review it all). It became evident that they were attempting to scam me and paypal ultimately sided with me in the end, but it was a big lesson learned.

My advice, be diligent in resolving the case even if you have to call them. It's possible they have a legitimate case so don't accuse them of theft since that'll will not help you in any way unless you have evidence (and unfortunately delivery confirmation is not evidence).

Another thought, do you still have the phone on "Find my iPhone" ? Did you try to track it? I'd track it and then upload a screen of the phone at their house to Paypal... it may help you.
 
Hopefully your friend purchased Signature confirmation. Ebay/Paypal Seller Protection requires Signature Confirmation for items over $300. If he didn't the claim will likely be decided in the buyers favor even with Delivery Confirmation/tracking. There really isn't much that can be done beyond that. Unfortunately, eBay makes it very easy for this to happen. I would suggest trying to communicate with the buyer to make sure he isn't just having buyers remorse and wants to return the item.
 
That sucks. Did he get it on an upgrade to his account? Might be able to get phone info from carrier or tell them it was stolen so that serial number can't be activated, just a thought.
I just sold an iPad to some ******* in NY. Was in perfect condition. He claimed the digitizer was bad and wanted me to send him $150 to fix it. Found him on Facebook selling a "mint condition iPad", same specs. Called him out on it, got positive feedback right after that. Funny thing is, somehow, Find My iPhone is still active on the iPad from when I set it up...That'll be interesting for somebody.
 
Paypal and Ebay are heavily in the buyers favor in any dispute. The seller has to jump through every hoop and check every box to even have a prayer of winning. Even then it may not be enough. Moving the money out of the paypal account will keep his money but they will turn it over to collections and wreck his credit. Moral of the story is don't sell anything on ebay that you can't live with losing.
 
Never, never and never ship your Apple Product without adding insurance!!
No matter signature or tracking.
Insurance is a must!

I believe he can't do anything in his paypal account now because the scammer already file a claim and PP has frozen his account already.
 
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