Sold iPhone 4 on eBay, buyer unhappy, can't activate

[spblat]

What a mess. Don't give him your last four or any of that. I think you should offer him his choice of these two options:

1) Return/refund. He pays return shipping. It was unopened before, now it's opened. I think that's the price you pay for not having the knowledge ahead of time that would have made this an easy experience for your customer.

2) Continue to work with him to find an answer. I'm not sure what that is. But This option includes a promise that you'll stay engaged with him until the problem is solved or you have to go back to option 1.

 

[Sergeiko]

so you are saying don't bother the buyer... you do know paypal has your bank info, and you do know they can take money out of your bank. If you have no money in your bank, they do have your info to leave u bad credit and you will have problem getting any thing done in your real life.

Back to the topic, if you do say you can take refund in your listing, the buyer then can request it. (minus the shipping cost)

If not, it's not your responsibility to get the phone work for him since he is not living in US, and he do know it's locked to AT&T. I don't see any point of fixing this for him.

Yes, "no refunds/returns" was indicated.

 

[Gator24765]

Since he opened the phone that dropped the value a bit.

But the buyer did purchase it as described.


My best solution for this case is for him to pay for shipping back to you.. you activate it and do what ever you need to do and then send it back to him.

 

[Doc750]

Too late. I wasn't anticipating any problems. My funds are suspended for the duration of the claim resolution.

Then your screwed, and you have to work with the guy. Get the phone back from him first. Then tell him your going to need $xx.xx to cover shipping charges, etc. + he has to drop the paypal claim before you ship the phone back.

If you don't I guarantee once you ship the phone back to him, 9/10 he will claim he never got it, or got an empty box or some other BS. He will get the phone, and the money from paypal, and you'll be stuck holding your johnson.

Why because the OP shipped him a brick? I'll sell ya a car, you just can't have the keys.

deal. Just make sure you list the car, as "no keys available" like the OP did in his listing

so you are saying don't bother the buyer... you do know paypal has your bank info, and you do know they can take money out of your bank. If you have no money in your bank, they do have your info to leave u bad credit and you will have problem getting any thing done in your real life.

Wrong. Please stop spreading misinformation. Paypal can not go into your bank account to collect on a claim. They can only freeze any funds you have in your paypal account, like they did with the OP.

Second, I have never heard of paypal posting to a credit agency. But in the off chance they do, you can always dispute it.

 

[TMar]

Since he opened the phone that dropped the value a bit.

But the buyer did purchase it as described.


My best solution for this case is for him to pay for shipping back to you.. you activate it and do what ever you need to do and then send it back to him.

Well I wouldn't say that. An unopened iphone 4 has no value to anybody other then the person who's account it's tied too. Unless the buyer plans to use it as a paperweight.

 

[esadb]

Just give him the last 3-4digits or whatever he needs of your SIN to activate it. And give him the zip code.

Get this over with. All this could have been resolved in 10minutes over 1 simple email..

You got no choice.. hes gonna screw you over by saying he received a empty box so your gonna lose 700$...

Give him the SIN then go tell them you lost your SIN and it will be changed in no time.. Done.

 

[GoCubsGo]

^ math tells us there will be about 10 million numbers to guess the rest of your social...

But only 4 are needed to access account info. That is my point. I said, ID theft risk or not ...

 

[poky]

Couldn't you use the phonebook sim card to bypass the emergency screen, then JB+unlock it? And use your own sim afterward?

 

[Sergeiko]

Then your screwed, and you have to work with the guy. Get the phone back from him first. Then tell him your going to need $xx.xx to cover shipping charges, etc. + he has to drop the paypal claim before you ship the phone back.

If you don't I guarantee once you ship the phone back to him, 9/10 he will claim he never got it, or got an empty box or some other BS. He will get the phone, and the money from paypal, and you'll be stuck holding your johnson.



deal. Just make sure you list the car, as "no keys available" like the OP did in his listing



Wrong. Please stop spreading misinformation. Paypal can not go into your bank account to collect on a claim. They can only freeze any funds you have in your paypal account, like they did with the OP.

Second, I have never heard of paypal posting to a credit agency. But in the off chance they do, you can always dispute it.

Thankfully (or not), I don't have bank account linked to my paypal. I was planning to spend it all on internet buys anyway.

 

[Sergeiko]

Couldn't you use the phonebook sim card to bypass the emergency screen, then JB+unlock it? And use your own sim afterward?

He claims that he tried this method and failed. I can't verify it though.

 

[RetiredInFl]

That's still not going to work. It doesn't matter what sim is in the phone. The IMEI is tied to the account the phone was bought under for initial activation. The first time the phone is activated it has to be under that account.

I don't understand that. I bought a "factory sealed" overpriced iPhone 4 off of eBay. Had no problem activating it in iTunes with an old expired AT&T SIM (cut down to size) that I had from an old long canceled account that belonged to someone else in my family. Then when I was ready I put an active SIM in it and that too worked fine. I did have to call AT&T when I put MY "real" SIM in it to get visual voice mail active since my sim came from an unlocked Android phone.

 

[m3coolpix]

The biggest thing you can do to keep your money is to work this out with the buyer. Everybody (mostly) has covered what you can and will need to do.

BUT, you also have to follow Paypal's guidelines for the dispute. Don't ignore putting in the information, and don't wait around. Do it now. Put in all of it (every email, everything). If you follow their guidelines, there is a very good chance of having the funds unsuspended at the end.

I've been through several of these, both as a seller and buyer, and big ticket items and small ticket items, all via eBay and Paypal. Rarely use them anymore for selling my stuff (but still receive daily for my business - now 10+ years).

First, did you ship to Buyer's verified Paypal address? Tracking number? Weight (to help somewhat prove that the box wasn't empty)?

 

[Block]

He's not going to get far trying to steal your identity with just your last four and zip code. The SIM doesn't care where the phone is and the phone doesn't care where it is as long as there is a sim in it from the provider it's locked to.

Why don't you give us your last four and zip code then if you're so confident?

 

[RetiredInFl]

Get a new sim for your current phone (tell AT&T you lost it) and send him the old inactive one cut down to mini and he'll have no problem activating it in iTunes. You can get a cutter for under $10 if you don't want to "wing it."

 

[silentsim]

Suprised this hasn't been mentioned yet. Buy him- just do it on your dime to end the hassle- this 5$ sim card, which is a universal activation sim. It will activate the phone.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.42595

 

[spblat]

Suprised this hasn't been mentioned yet. Buy him- just do it on your dime to end the hassle- this 5$ sim card, which is a universal activation sim. It will activate the phone.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.42595

Bravo. That sounds like pure win if it does what it claims.

 

[TMar]

I don't understand that. I bought a "factory sealed" overpriced iPhone 4 off of eBay. Had no problem activating it in iTunes with an old expired AT&T SIM (cut down to size) that I had from an old long canceled account that belonged to someone else in my family. Then when I was ready I put an active SIM in it and that too worked fine. I did have to call AT&T when I put MY "real" SIM in it to get visual voice mail active since my sim came from an unlocked Android phone.

Was it an AT&T phone?

Why don't you give us your last four and zip code then if you're so confident?

4235 & 42044 good luck.

 

[Atothendrew24]

Was it an AT&T phone?



4235 & 42044 good luck.

Confidence win.

 

[RetiredInFl]

I don't understand that. I bought a "factory sealed" overpriced iPhone 4 off of eBay. Had no problem activating it in iTunes with an old expired AT&T SIM (cut down to size) that I had from an old long canceled account that belonged to someone else in my family. Then when I was ready I put an active SIM in it and that too worked fine. I did have to call AT&T when I put MY "real" SIM in it to get visual voice mail active since my sim came from an unlocked Android phone.

Was it an AT&T phone?

Absolutely is. The seller got it directly from AT&T. He even shipped it to me in the box he got it in with the enclosed packing slip. I activated it with a 2yr old, dead, expired ATT sim from an old phone that is no longer used.

 

[Shanewilliams]

so you are saying don't bother the buyer... you do know paypal has your bank info, and you do know they can take money out of your bank. If you have no money in your bank, they do have your info to leave u bad credit and you will have problem getting any thing done in your real life.

Back to the topic, if you do say you can take refund in your listing, the buyer then can request it. (minus the shipping cost)

If not, it's not your responsibility to get the phone work for him since he is not living in US, and he do know it's locked to AT&T. I don't see any point of fixing this for him.

As far as I know paypal cannot take money from your bank account, no way no how!

 

[iPhone-power]

Why was the sim sent at all? Isn't it the sim that drives this train and in that case wouldn't the buyer just want to use their own sim?

ID Theft risk or not, no weirdo from eBay is getting the last 4 of my SSN. That gives them access to any possible account info ... yeah no.

I would have him return the phone, use insured trackable carriers, and then refund his money. Next time sell the phone without the SIM and say it's not under any AT&T contract but it is locked to AT&T's service.

The issue with this phone is not whether he sent the sim or not or any sim.
Seller bought the phone thru his AT&T account to get a discount.
Therefore the phone is attached to his SSN and zip code.
The sim, or whatever sim he sent, has nothing to do with it other than once the SSN and zip are entered, the buyer will need some kind , any kind of AT&T sim to complete the activation of the phone.

 

[iPhone-power]

Couldn't you use the phonebook sim card to bypass the emergency screen, then JB+unlock it? And use your own sim afterward?

Suprised this hasn't been mentioned yet. Buy him- just do it on your dime to end the hassle- this 5$ sim card, which is a universal activation sim. It will activate the phone.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.42595

Did you read all the posts here?
Because of the way the seller purchased the phone (tied to his AT&T account) no sim, phonebook sim or any sim alone will unlock the phone without the SSN and zip.

 

[iPhone-power]

I don't understand that. I bought a "factory sealed" overpriced iPhone 4 off of eBay. Had no problem activating it in iTunes with an old expired AT&T SIM (cut down to size) that I had from an old long canceled account that belonged to someone else in my family. Then when I was ready I put an active SIM in it and that too worked fine. I did have to call AT&T when I put MY "real" SIM in it to get visual voice mail active since my sim came from an unlocked Android phone.

That is becasue the seller did not buy the phone you got at a discount thru their AT&T account. That is the difference. If the phone is not tied to the buyers AT&T account any AT&T or phonebook sim will unlock it.

 

[m3coolpix]

As far as I know paypal cannot take money from your bank account, no way no how!

I've been a business level account with Paypal for 8+ years....I've not heard of this happening. BUT, when you tie your Paypal account to your bank account, they have your bank account number and bank routing number. Same thing if it's tied to a credit card.

The OP needs to fulfill the requests of Paypal for all the documentation on his side of the claim against his account (shipping, emails, etc.). If the OP does not follow up with Paypal, EVEN if he resolves the issue with the buyer, Paypal can still side with the buyer, if the buyer does not close the dispute. Then they buyer has his $ back, and the iPhone. Very hard to reverse. The seller's Paypal account is dry.....

If the OP is constantly updating the case against his account with how he is trying to correct the situation, then it REALLY helps get this claim in his favor, even if the buyer doesn't close the dispute and tries to pull a fast one.

I've been on both ends of these disputes with Paypal. Talked to many Paypal CS reps. It's a PITA. But, it's usually a fair outcome as long as it's documented.

There are seller protections, but you've got to follow the rules. There aren't many buyer rules.... Paypal has gotten so buyer biased that they are now charging the seller a fee(!) if you have a chargeback that you have to dispute. Makes bank chargebacks pale in comparison.

 

[iPhone-power]

Get a new sim for your current phone (tell AT&T you lost it) and send him the old inactive one cut down to mini and he'll have no problem activating it in iTunes. You can get a cutter for under $10 if you don't want to "wing it."

This won't work either. The phone is locked to the buyers AT&T account. No AT&T sim of any kind by itself will unlock the phone.