I sold my old Iphone 4 on EBay for $200, they have opened a complaint saying the item was not as described and that the battery runs out quick and charges slow.
I have an iPhone 4 that has been problematic and what they're describing is contradictory. If an iPhone is running down its battery very quickly, it also charges very quickly because the battery is simply not holding a very large charge anymore. If it charges slowly, that is on the charger they're using, not you. But a phone which has battery that drains too fast is also not going to take long to charge. Sounds a little bit like buyer's remorse to me, but that's not going to make eBay or PayPal force them to keep the phone.
I have no intention of giving them a refund since they got exactally what I listed and they got a pretty good deal on it too.
I have been a long time buyer and seller on eBay, and this sort of attitude is not helpful in creating an honest selling environment. If you stated your return policy on your listing as All Sales Final, No Returns, then you can stand your ground. However, if your return policy was not stated, then you need to be a bit more understanding. That said, did they buyer contact you before purchasing to discuss return policy? If not, that's also on them, too. But again, eBay/PayPal, will not back you up if you do not have a return policy stated clearly in your listing.
(And I went through the hassle to ship it and [paid for Fedex shipping accross the country...
Even if you allowed them to return it, you would not refund them the shipping charges you've already paid out of pocket. And they would have to pay to ship it back to you with some form of tracking so that they can PROVE you received it. It is quite a hassle on their part, too.
plus if I do get it back how do I know it hasn't been messed with or even switched with another phone)
I would worry about that too.
Anyway I transferred the money out of Paypal almost as soon as it went in. The resolution center e-mail says they will put a hold on my Paypal funds until this is resolved which is fine with me because there are no Paypal funds. Does anyone have experience with this? Any advice for me? I only sell occasionally on E-Bay and to be honest I don't care if I get one horrible rating from this person since I have so many good ones or even if I have to abandon the account all together. Also wondering if they can touch the money I have in the checking account that is linked to my Paypal account.
If the buyer escalates this to their credit card company, PayPal can go into your accounts and remove the funds, but my experience was from back around 2006: A person purchased $1400 worth of new designer clothing, paid, received and then claimed she never made the purchase. The same person then turned around and *SOLD THOSE VERY SAME ITEMS* on eBay under her SAME eBAY ID (!!!) and even then, eBay and PayPal did nothing but remove the money from my account because the credit card company did a chargeback. We had the local authorities in Australia involved, yada yada. So in the end, if you have a strong case, eBay and PayPal are not on your side.
Not saying that this is still how it works with eBay/PayPal, but you should be prepared to be flexible about the return and put the onus on the buyer to prove that the phone is "not as described". Did you say it was in perfect condition? If all your listing said was that is was used, then they should expect a little battery decline.
Why not do this:
Require them to take it to AT&T or Verizon store (whoever this phone's system carrier is) to have a store manager VERIFY IN WRITING that the battery is defective and then fax that letter to you. Then once they've provided that proof, they need to ship phone back with tracking.
And only once you've received your original phone in same condition as it was shipped, then will you offer to refund purchase price minus your cost of shipping to them.
Make sure to take photos of whatever they send back, so that if they try to pull a fast one, you can show what came in the box versus the photos of your phone shown in the listing.
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Hope that helps. I don't want to sound critical of you because I am on your side in this particular case, but while I want you to be prepared to do what's necessary to protect yourself from a possible scammer, I'd like you to consider also being open to the fact that the buyer may not be lying or knowledgable about iPhones. Asking them to go to a local B&M store to have the phone looked at might teach them a thing or two about the great deal they just got on their phone.
I also don't want to come off as condoning the "I don't care about one bad review" or "I don't care if I have to abandon this account" approach. We're all here because we love the magical experience that Disney tries to provide, and why not try to provide a good level of customer service, too. You don't need to be a push over or get taken advantage of, but to immediately respond by refusing to be helpful sounds a bit defensive, IMHO.
