eBay question.

[djjiz]

Sold a cell phone roughly 1 week ago today and the buyer couldn't get it in his name because the original owner needs to release the phone.
This is new to me and I'm not a sprint customer so I couldn't verify his claim.
What I can verify is the sites used to check esn or imei's say the phone is clear to use.

I'm going to offer a full refund if he returns the item but I'm wondering if I legally should?

Sales are final and I accept no returns and posted as such. The esn was in the description and pictures of the item.

 

[bob1961]

yeah tough call, I sold an old ATT phone without the sim card....stating he needed one from his contract holder at the time....never heard nothing so all is good with an ATT phone....

 

[djjiz]

This is my first return that I can't fix and it's frustrating to say the least.

 

[tapped-out]

I wouldn't refund the money. Unless you knew he would have this issue.

 

[djjiz]

I had zero knowledge of this. Only way I could prevent it is by being a sprint customer and trying to activate it myself.

 

[bob1961]

those dumb smart phones huh :roll: ....

 

[The Violator]

I have sold about 20 phones on ebay. ALWAYS list them as "broken for parts", then describe them as OK. No hassles on your end for anything. The ESN part can be tricky. I always called sprint with it and made sure it was clean. Otherwise, it might not be. Lots of people say they lost them, then have insurance buy them a new one and sell the used one. If it was listed as lost, its no good. If the bill was not paid, its no good. You will lose with ebay and paypal, if you listed the ESN as good, and it is not. A call to sprint with the esn will get you the info you need.

If the phone needs to be released, the ESN is not good.

 

[djjiz]

Noted.
I always have a very accurate description and encourage shoppers to double check for themselves. Lesson learned.

I told the customer to send the phone back and I'll refund shipping and the phone price. Waiting on a reply now.

 

[djjiz]

those dumb smart phones huh :roll: ....

They're only as smart as the user "thumbsup"

 

[bob1961]

there ya go ;-) ....

 

[The Violator]

Noted.
I always have a very accurate description and encourage shoppers to double check for themselves. Lesson learned.

I told the customer to send the phone back and I'll refund shipping and the phone price. Waiting on a reply now.

I believe ebay even facilitates the return shipping. I am not sure who pays for it, most likely the seller, but at least they make it as easy as it can be.

 

[THX_138]

I have sold about 20 phones on ebay. ALWAYS list them as "broken for parts", then describe them as OK. No hassles on your end for anything. The ESN part can be tricky. I always called sprint with it and made sure it was clean. Otherwise, it might not be. Lots of people say they lost them, then have insurance buy them a new one and sell the used one. If it was listed as lost, its no good. If the bill was not paid, its no good. You will lose with ebay and paypal, if you listed the ESN as good, and it is not. A call to sprint with the esn will get you the info you need.

If the phone needs to be released, the ESN is not good.

That's about the whole answer in a nutshell and good advice all in one"thumbsup"

My personal rule if I sell anything on eBay is... If I don't know 110% everything involved about the item I'm selling including it's quality I do the same as Violator and list it as broken or for parts.

 

[djjiz]

Got a notice from eBay stating the buyer requested a refund and there's some nice words about how the buyer is allowed to get a full refund AND keep my phone.

This was a hell of a way to throw $400 into the wind.

 

[wings_of_fire]

Got a notice from eBay stating the buyer requested a refund and there's some nice words about how the buyer is allowed to get a full refund AND keep my phone.

This was a hell of a way to throw $400 into the wind.

:shock::shock:

How can he be refunded and yet he can keep the phone? I can't believe it

 

[djjiz]

It was on the first screen before accepting the return. Since accepting the request I can't access that page anymore but if it pops up again I'll save it.
Showed the girlfriend and she helped setup an amazon account.
Regardless of the results I'm gonna try other outlets.

 

[wings_of_fire]

I ment to say...I can't believe ebay came to this conclusion of refunding and letting the buyer keep the phone.

 

[DickyT]

I ment to say...I can't believe ebay came to this conclusion of refunding and letting the buyer keep the phone.

Agreed. That is pure BS...

 

[dezrik]

This exact thing happened to me on eBay. I sold a old clod crawler and stated the issues with it and sold the item. The buyer turns around and makes a claim that I sold him a defective item. EBay/paypal forced a refund and he kept the crawler. I stopped selling on eBay because of that. And my paypal went into the red because I didn't have the credit card on file when they force refunded him so I never gave paypal any of that money back.

 

[bob1961]

if you had it's condition in the auction wording stating so, how the hell can they do that :shock: ....I think there was more to the story, I have never had any troubles with flea bay....

 

[djjiz]

Gave them a full refund after they put return tracking info into ebay. PayPal is linked to my savings so I'm stuck.