Returning New In Box Cell Phone

[primemarkdowns]

Hi All,

I've had a few returns, but nothing major since starting on eBay. This is the first I've have for a new item.

Sold a pre-paid cell phone (that I've sold before without issues). Customer got it, and sent a message after a few days that the phone "freezes up lots when online runs slow ,app don't work have the time.gett booted off line alot.phone suckss".. You get the point.

My take is that a couple of things could have occurred.

1. Buyer bought the phone thinking it was going to perform like a higher quality phone, which is did not.

2. The phone actually has some technical issue or is defective.

I obviously don't know which of these is the case.

The buyer opened a returned request as "INAD", so if I accept (which I'm guessing I will have to), I'll now be holding an opened pre-paid phone.

Am I missing anything here? Anyone else have this experience? My only gripe is that the INAD bugs me because the item was accurately described, in that it was a new phone in a sealed box...

[donsdetour]

Yep you have your choice down well.

Return for refund. Note waiting for eBay to refund get you a strike.

I hope you get the original item back..

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@primemarkdowns wrote:

My only gripe is that the INAD bugs me because the item was accurately described, in that it was a new phone in a sealed box...

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 I've bought brand new, in the box items from physical stores that were DOA right out of the box. I take them back to the store and either get a refund or exchange the item

Accept the return and send the prepaid return label. The buyer will send something back. When you get that something back, you'll have to refund in full. If that something is not exactly what you sent, return here for advice.

The phone very well could be defective, or the buyer might have had higher expectations. It doesn't matter.  Once a case has been filed, you either have to accept the return, or at some point the buyer will escalate. If the buyer does that, Ebay will refund the buyer without a return and give you a very nasty non-performance strike. For a low volume seller it only takes TWO of those to end a selling career.

[bangordiscount]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

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@primemarkdowns wrote:

My only gripe is that the INAD bugs me because the item was accurately described, in that it was a new phone in a sealed box...

---

 I've bought brand new, in the box items from physical stores that were DOA right out of the box. I take them back to the store and either get a refund or exchange the item

Accept the return and send the prepaid return label. The buyer will send something back. When you get that something back, you'll have to refund in full. If that something is not exactly what you sent, return here for advice.

The phone very well could be defective, or the buyer might have had higher expectations. It doesn't matter.  Once a case has been filed, you either have to accept the return, or at some point the buyer will escalate. If the buyer does that, Ebay will refund the buyer without a return and give you a very nasty non-performance strike. For a low volume seller it only takes TWO of those to end a selling career.

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Many stores, major retailers like Best Buy ,Target, etc., have very strict return policies on open electronics. This includes shorter return periods (14 days at Best Buy for wearables (smart watches) and cell phones) even if unopened, restocking fees on open items, and of course they verify the contents and serial numbers prior to return.

It's eBay, so it doesn't matter, the seller is stuck with either accepting an opened item or giving it away and taking a defect/metric slam in the process, but the industry standard isn't necessarily a wide open 30 day no questions asked return policy on opened electronics.

In fact for things like video games and movies, I know Best Buy and other places will only do exchanges for the same item should it be opened and claimed as "defective".

If a buyer wanted to, they could use eBay as their free "blockbuster" membership where they open, watch, return for refund.

[primemarkdowns]

Thanks for the replies and advice all. I've accepted the return.