[Q] eBay Buyer Protection Experiences? - General Questions and Answers

I recently bought a phone off of eBay and found that it is financed and the seller won’t be paying off the phone. This is going to be blocked and unusable on my carrier’s network. I have opened a case with eBay and they will likely side with me as the seller misinformed me on the status of the device.
Does anyone have experience returning devices through eBay’s buyer protection policy? Is there any chance that I will return the device to the seller after eBay has sided with me, only to have the seller not send me my money back? Or does eBay automatically send the money back?
If there’s any chance with me ending up phone-less and money-less, I’d rather play it safe and sell it on CL at a loss to someone who could use it for parts or unlock it for another carrier.
Thanks

bump?

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Refurb ripped on ebay

Hey guys
So I ended up buying off of ebay, made the huge mistake of buying from a "newer" seller. It came in the mail, and a few things wrong with it
a) no car charger like the ad said (altho he said he'd put it in the mail asap)
b) it was in a tattered ATT box that was not like the new box from the ebay ad
c) black marker on the box tries to cover the fact that it says "refurbished kit" (I can luckily read through the marker)
So paypal has withdrawn the funds for now (on the circumstance that they actually double charged my credit card and withdrew both funds again until this is resolved). So hopefully this means I got some leverage here.
I basically told him:
"I will credit payment back, however would
like to receive the car charger as per the ebay ad, and at least have
you admit that you did not send me a new phone but rather a
refurbished one, in a box that was not as shown in the ad. We can
then either agree upon a new fair price, or I will delay the payment
until the dispute is resolved through paypal."
What would you guys think is a fair price for a refurbished one? I paid 375USD$ (355 + 20 shipping) or 410$CAN
He is said to now make it 340$?
is it worth it to still be dealing with this guy at all?
?
how much would a refurbished go for in comparison to a used att tilt?
Who was the seller? Do you have a link to the completed auction?
I sold a buddy's old Tilt for about $400 locally, so I think a $375 shipped price for a factory refurb is still a good deal. I still remember selling a brand new one only opened for unlock for $650, but that was awhile ago, haha.
~Cheers~
hi
what are some things i should be cautious of refurb?
i wanna check and make sure everything is working before i continue negotiating/paying him
it seems that sometimes it does not read the touch screen (or is slow to detect)
does this happen normally?
Go90go said:
Who was the seller? Do you have a link to the completed auction?
I sold a buddy's old Tilt for about $400 locally, so I think a $375 shipped price for a factory refurb is still a good deal. I still remember selling a brand new one only opened for unlock for $650, but that was awhile ago, haha.
~Cheers~
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I can't imagine why someone would pay $650 for a Tilt, even when they were brand new they were $549.99 without contract.
it would help if you told us what kind of device you've bought (i've read AT&T and refurb. but no device name)
Xtreme XL said:
it would help if you told us what kind of device you've bought (i've read AT&T and refurb. but no device name)
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Click to collapse
It's a Tilt, he says it in 2nd post.
I'd go for between $320-$350 and no higher, non-negotiable! The ad is different from the actual product, your missing parts, and the other crap you have to deal with.
Refurbished should work just as well as a new device, sometimes a refurbished works better than a new. It's a gamble either way since you don't know what the seller has done with it. Pull up some system info on the device and see if it's stock info. Also, is there any physical damage?
TILT
yes its an HTC tilt
there is no physical damage and it looks good
"Pull up some system info on the device and see if it's stock info"
how is this done?
he also claims that their is still a one year warranty....if i send it back to ATT they will send me a new one. Is there a way to verify this?

Squaretrade warranties, seeking feedback

Who has or have directly known anyone that has purchased a third-party insurance/warranty from squaretrade? I ask because I read good things about their warranties but can not find "real" (actual people on this board or elsewhere) who can give testimony for either good or bad.
I purchased a Sprint branded Touch Pro (using it on Verizon) from ebay, and it came in immaculate condition and fully functional as the seller stated. At the time, I thought the squaretrade warranty offered by the seller on ebay was a scam, but for $48 I figured it was cheap insurance. I know sometimes parts fail and as luck has it, the USB charge/sync port failed. I am in no way blaming the seller and am not going to try to scam my money back from them. Verizon will not touch it as it is not a device they sell technically and Sprint won't touch it either as I do not have a line of service with them.
HTC will not warranty it for free as I am not the original purchaser, and offer repairs at an estimated cost at or above what I paid for the device off ebay.
I filed a claim with squaretrade as my warranty states I am entitled to, and they promptly approved my claim and emailed me a pre-paid UPS return shipping label and claim they will have it repaired "usually within five days of receiving the device". I boxed it up, filled out the simple form they required and shipped it off.
Now this being my first time using this company and their service, up to this point I am pleased with them. Their customer service seems to be on par with Asurion and other types of services I have used in the past. I will be more than happy to update this thread when I receive my device back in working order and give a rating here.
Thanks for reading this rather long post, and I ask anyone who has dealt with them in the past to chime in with any feedback, good or bad regarding Squaretrade and their services.
Have you received the phone back yet? If so/if not - remember to update us on this!
I was wondering if you got the phone back from squareTrade yet.
I would like to use them but like you would like to know that there are real people out there who are satisfied with them.

How reliable is Swappa.com?

Hey. I've been looking to sell a phone, and I've came across this site. How reliable is this site and are most sellers trustworthy?
bumpo
Swappa is really reliable. I haven't personally sold from it, but most of the sellers seem to be reliable and I've seen some who give their XDA usernames just in case the buyers have any questions.
Of course, there are some shoddy sellers, but that's a given with most sites.
fairly reliable....
most people use their facebooks or equiv. to log in so its rather easy to track. I've listed my previous devices there but to no luck. Its IMHO much easier to sell in forum MP's such as here or other android/computing/reddit forums.
stay away
i cant recommend it and will not buy another phone from it
bought a phone, it was delivered yesterday, seller who has a 7 day return policy, NFC feature doesnt work, and all she is doing is playing games, and hasnt sent me a return label yet
STAY WAY
for those of you who say buy from a seller with good history, i bought the phone from a seller who has 1500 sold listings, below is her reply regarding NFC not working:
"I just read about it. I'm not sure I see any good applications for it, but I'll send the label in the am"
am is over still no label from her and she did reply to my massage. amazing
Ive purchased from Swappa, and have had a good experience. As has been said before, make sure you are purchasing from a reliable seller. If you are making an international purchase, be sure to do your research on the customs laws in your location.
I purchased a Verizon LG G2 at a great price, knowing it works in international GSM markets and was not disappointed!
I just bought a note 3 through swappa. It is defective. Represented as Mint and like new.
Swappa is no help.
PayPal is probably going to be no help.
So it's a gamble.
I'd always buy NEW items and use my credit card on paypal if I ever do it again.
I'd rather use ebay, they at least do something on the buyer's behalf.
As it is I've got a phone that randomly boots about 10 times a day, and out hundreds of dollars.
Yeah, ebay is better for the buyer... and swappa charges the buyer for the privilege of getting shafted.
sent using mobile data only. no broadband in Rural America as was promised by both Presidents Bush & Obama.
I bought a RAZR HD Maxx (Unlocked BL) from swappa about 4 months ago and had a really great experience...the seller replied quickly to questions and shipped the device within a day or two. I cannot vouch for every seller on the site but FWIW I would use it again for sure.
Swappa is kind of hit or miss. There are lots of scams out there. It's actually pretty safe for the buyer as all you need to do is open a claim with paypal. If the buyer says the phone doesn't work but the seller says it does work paypal policy is to side with the buyer, pretty much no questions asked. The process takes time but you'll get your money back. Really not such a good deal for a seller, where you could sell a perfectly good device, the buyer tries to mod it, bricks the device then files a claim. The seller will be SOL with a broken device and no money.
BladeRunner said:
Swappa is kind of hit or miss. There are lots of scams out there. It's actually pretty safe for the buyer as all you need to do is open a claim with paypal. If the buyer says the phone doesn't work but the seller says it does work paypal policy is to side with the buyer, pretty much no questions asked. The process takes time but you'll get your money back. Really not such a good deal for a seller, where you could sell a perfectly good device, the buyer tries to mod it, bricks the device then files a claim. The seller will be SOL with a broken device and no money.
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Swappa is scamsite. I will never ever use it again. I was scammed by http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=3505755 He says that his identity been stolen and he didnt know that. Yeah sure. He was selling Nexus 6 but it is his current device somehow. Scum.
I don't know where to go but I recently bought a Samsung s5 paid 180$ but when I got it the phone was completely broken screen cracked to all hell and won't power on unlike the pictures submitted on swappa and I cant check the esn as it doesnt charge. Swappa told me to dispute it but seller insists he didn't send me that broken phone. Am I gonna be out all that money or what? Never had to dispute anything before
It's a definite risk. My first and only time trying to sell a phone resulted in the buyer getting a refund 3 or so weeks later. I believe he purchased the phone and swapped motherboard with a broken one and got a refund. Never again will I waste my time. I'll just let my phone die or give them away as it costs less.

U.S.: Blacklisting phones, blacklisted phones, and the shebang.

Okay here's the deal. I bought a "new" phone on ebay from a seller in U.S. shipped overseas to where I live. I bought this to use it in U.S. as well when I visit the country in a couple of months.
The seller agreed to include a printed sale receipt and a letter stating that he had sold this phone with this IMEI inside the box. I received the phone two weeks back and surprise, there was no receipt or sale letter inside. I was gutted.
Since then, I have tried to contact the seller at least ten times and he has not responded even once. He had responded to every single one of my emails in an hour before the purchase.
I am not going paranoid. Is there a chance the seller might be scamming me by reporting it stolen? How does it work in the US? Is it possible to report a phone stolen (to claim insurance) and get it blacklisted without the original phone box?
And, if it indeed had been blacklisted by all the networks in US and it fries my new sim, will having the original phone box be enough for a proof of purchase to "unblacklist" it? If so, how long does the process take considering I might be in US only for a few days at a time.
Thanks in advance!
I would just file a ticket with eBay, not because I necessarily believe they're trying to cheat you, but because they violated your agreement. Did you make sure the seller confirmed to you that the IMEI was good and would continue to be so - within eBay ?
There's always a chance they might be scamming you. The original box doesn't mean anything, to anyone, when it comes to reporting it stolen or an insurance claim or them bailing on a payment plan. Them not having it won't hurt them and won't help you. Lots of phones are stolen while still in the original packaging - and those phones do tend to get blacklisted. And like you have thought, they might be planning to report it stolen or stop paying for it (in which case, the carrier will blacklist).
Why not just buy a pre-paid SIM and use that in your normal phone while in the USA ? Or buy a cheap pre-paid phone while you are there if your current phone does not use SIM technology ? You can get one for $20 at places like WAL*MART and similar, which are all over the USA.
Not sure what you mean about "frying" a new SIM. It just wouldn't work if the IMEI was blacklisted, but it's not going to explode or anything. :silly:
If it's blacklisted, I wouldn't count on getting it "un-blacklisted". Carriers really don't like to do that, and you'd probably be looking at making multiple phone calls and facing the likelihood that they weren't going to do it no matter what you said. Normal reps tend to not even know what the IMEI blacklist is, you'd have to have your case brought to someone who did, and convince them to do it - which they usually flat-out will not. I've only really heard of success with having it "un-blacklisted" if you're a long-term customer with a retention/sob story, and it took multiple phone calls and a lot of time.
Thanks I actually did buy a GSM phone for use with a prepaid SIM in USA. I bought it mainly for 3G band inter-compatibility between that used in US and where I live.
Wouldn't opening a dispute with Ebay for this be a little too much? Also, if I open an Item Not As Described dispute, they would request me to get the phone checked with a local dealer and give them a report of exactly how it is not as described by the inspector right? The receipt being missing would be a minor thing that I am not sure they would even consider looking at.
I really don't know the process (but the stories I've heard didn't make the buyer do anything too complicated). Honestly, the sellers themselves have been screwed over because they'll often just take you on your word and people have been known to scam that way. *shrug*
It's up to you how worried you are and if you're prepared to take a loss. But if they're not responding to you, what else are you going to do it get eBay involved? Other than just sit on it and hope for the best - which might all turn out fine, might not.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
The seller is still being very dodgy. Is it true that the Social Security Number is printed on the phone bill when it is purchased from AT&T even if it was an outright purchase?
The seller is refusing to provide the original sales invoice on the grounds that it has his SSN and he would not want to disclose that. He is also refusing to provide a bill by himself saying that he does not know the IMEI of the phone he sold to me so he cannot take the liability of giving a bill for an IMEI he is not sure was sold by him! However, the phone is working fine otherwise.
Could someone clarify if this is right?

Sim unlocking T-Mobile Oneplus 8 5g?

Long story short: I bought a OP8 on Ebay a year ago. The seller didn't disclose that it was still under contract. T-Mobile refused to unlock the device told me to get a refund. Had to force a refund through Ebay and sent the phone back to the seller, the phone was returned to me as undeliverable as the address provided by the seller to Ebay wasn't a real address. T-Mobile told me I as the new owner but they refused to unlock it still and then blacklisted it. I took them to Arbitration and the Arbitrator railroaded me. So now I have a perfectly good near mint (no scratches dings, etc) cell phone that I can't use.
Is there a way to force a sim unlock and root on this phone? I'm willing to experiment since I really can't use it for anything else, and if I bork it or brick it well at least I'll have tried. I don't want T-Mobile to win this one.
LordRelentless said:
Long story short: I bought a OP8 on Ebay a year ago. The seller didn't disclose that it was still under contract. T-Mobile refused to unlock the device told me to get a refund. Had to force a refund through Ebay and sent the phone back to the seller, the phone was returned to me as undeliverable as the address provided by the seller to Ebay wasn't a real address. T-Mobile told me I as the new owner but they refused to unlock it still and then blacklisted it. I took them to Arbitration and the Arbitrator railroaded me. So now I have a perfectly good near mint (no scratches dings, etc) cell phone that I can't use.
Is there a way to force a sim unlock and root on this phone? I'm willing to experiment since I really can't use it for anything else, and if I bork it or brick it well at least I'll have tried. I don't want T-Mobile to win this one.
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You could pay to have it unlblacklisted and unlocked. I saw a few site that were around $50-$60. Dont know how legit they were but if you did some homework I'm sure you can find someone who can do it

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