I don't agree. He says alltel because it does work on alltel. I think he is being kind to take the return. I think it is the right thing to do, but not required.
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Sold iPhone on Ebay - Buyer wants to return because they have Alltel - What to do?
- Thread starter BrittQ
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does not work on "alltel". if you have an alltel plan, you are CDMA only...just try and roam on that GSM network....(it wont work). so alltel is not supported, and it was (unintentionally) misleading to state "alltel" in the supported carriers section, regardless of the "GSM only" statement...
a bit of googling and you see that alltel must have acquired a GSM network as part of an acquisition, and kept it to make revenue from peeps like ATT and T-Mobile when they roam.
a bit of googling and you see that alltel must have acquired a GSM network as part of an acquisition, and kept it to make revenue from peeps like ATT and T-Mobile when they roam.
I'd say so, at least as a starting point. While having alltel in there was confusing, buyer should at least have confirmed--did he think he was going to be the first person ever to have an iPhone on alltel?
Um...Alltel DOES have a GSM network. But I agree that the seller should agree to a refund because the description was still deceiving. May have been worth noting that Alltel has 2 different networks.
Plus, what are the chances you wont be able to sell this again? XD
Plus, what are the chances you wont be able to sell this again? XD
Auctions are "where is, as is". In other words all you have to do is ship (at buyer's expense) the item as described. You do not have to even offer that you will take it back.
eBay is an auction site not a retail store. Many times buyers forget this and expect all the trimming of a retail store with a return period and warranty. No. It is an auction.
If you wanted to be nice and do more than is technically required you might offer to take the phone back and refund some of the money paid. But keep the eBay fees and shipping so that you don't loose anything on the transaction.
eBay is an auction site not a retail store. Many times buyers forget this and expect all the trimming of a retail store with a return period and warranty. No. It is an auction.
If you wanted to be nice and do more than is technically required you might offer to take the phone back and refund some of the money paid. But keep the eBay fees and shipping so that you don't loose anything on the transaction.
If an auction house represents a painting as being a Picasso, but it's actually a forgery, they will take it back.
eBay is not a free-for-all. Seller here inadvertently listed a network as working with the iPHone, but it didn't.
My parents have used "Midwest Wireless" for the last 10 years. It is very big in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, etc. Within the last year or so, their bills started coming stamped "alltel". Apparently they must have bought them out or something.
I am about 80% sure that they don't utilize a GSM type network, but I could be wrong.
Was that info with the carriers automatically filled in by EBay, based on the product? If so, I do sympathize for your plight.
That being the case, I don't think you did anything really wrong but agree that it is better to do the good thing and give him a refund.
Additionally, you don't have to charge him for Paypal or EBay fees. You can refund the payment in Paypal, and the Paypal transaction fee will be refunded as well. You can also get at least most of your listing fee back from EBay, you and the buyer can both indicate that you mutually decided to not complete the transaction, and I believe your final EBay sales fee (which is more than the original listing fee) will be refunded. You might also be able to re-list for free, I'm not sure.
Good luck-
As the buyer you can leave negative feedback, i have recently. You cannot leave negative as the seller anymore.
http://phonecabinet.blogspot.com/2007/10/alltel-wireless.html
The company mainly focuses on small to medium-sized cities, but has low-cost roaming agreements with the major national CDMA carriers, especially Verizon Wireless and Sprint-Nextel, in order to provide national service. Reciprocal agreements in turn provide those carriers with coverage in rural areas. When Alltel acquired Western Wireless in 2005, it gained a large GSM footprint as well. While it does not offer GSM service to its own customers, Alltel has indicated that it will continue to maintain the GSM footprint (and perhaps even expand it) to provide roaming service to GSM users of other wireless carriers.
The company mainly focuses on small to medium-sized cities, but has low-cost roaming agreements with the major national CDMA carriers, especially Verizon Wireless and Sprint-Nextel, in order to provide national service. Reciprocal agreements in turn provide those carriers with coverage in rural areas. When Alltel acquired Western Wireless in 2005, it gained a large GSM footprint as well. While it does not offer GSM service to its own customers, Alltel has indicated that it will continue to maintain the GSM footprint (and perhaps even expand it) to provide roaming service to GSM users of other wireless carriers.