eBay

bryan0111 · ‎10-09-2019

I sold a samsung S8 advertised as locked to Vodafone. Some idiot in france bought the phone. I paid for this to be sent to france. The buyer then filed a complaint because it is a locked phone and does not work with his sim card (well it is a locked phone so obviously it wont work). Ebay closed the case in the buyers favour stating the item was not as described, despite the fact the phone was advertised as Locked to Vodafone.

This goes against ebay policy and is a complete disregard to me as a seller, they just do not care.

To make it worse i have to pay for the return postage.....when it was the buyers fault for buying a locked phone in the first place.

How is this acceptable???.......if this is how ebay wants to operate i cannot see me using this platform in future. Very disappointed.

frodobagginskennedy · ‎10-09-2019

IDK anything about phones being locked etc. I just have to ask you WHY would you even sell a "locked" phone if you knew it will NOT work?

This quest stands on the edge of a blade...stray but a little and you shall fail to the ruin of us all.
"The Lady Galadriel"

myangelandmyprincess · ‎10-09-2019

@frodobagginskennedy wrote:
IDK anything about phones being locked etc. I just have to ask you WHY would you even sell a "locked" phone if you knew it will NOT work?

A locked phone means it will only work with a certain cell phone company it can't just be used with any service. The phone works but it needs to be used with the phone provider it's locked to

“Birth certificates show that you were born. Death certificates show that you died. Photographs show that you have lived.” -Unknown

myangelandmyprincess · ‎10-09-2019

Op unfortunately eBay doesn't really seem to even review cases anymore they just decide them in the buyers favor. You actually got lucky because sometimes when a seller fights even for legit reasons eBay refunds the buyer without requiring a return. At least the buyer is having to return the phone

“Birth certificates show that you were born. Death certificates show that you died. Photographs show that you have lived.” -Unknown

thehonorabletrader · ‎10-09-2019

@bryan0111 wrote:
I sold a samsung S8 advertised as locked to Vodafone. Some idiot in france bought the phone. I paid for this to be sent to france. The buyer then filed a complaint because it is a locked phone and does not work with his sim card (well it is a locked phone so obviously it wont work). Ebay closed the case in the buyers favour stating the item was not as described, despite the fact the phone was advertised as Locked to Vodafone.

This goes against ebay policy and is a complete disregard to me as a seller, they just do not care.

To make it worse i have to pay for the return postage.....when it was the buyers fault for buying a locked phone in the first place.

How is this acceptable???.......if this is how ebay wants to operate i cannot see me using this platform in future. Very disappointed.

This is the eBay US site, so the policies for US may be different than UK (or wherever Vodafone is).

This is against eBay Policy

Not really. I mean it kind of is, but when you sell on eBay you agree to the eBay User Agreement and that means you accept the terms of the eBay Money Back Guarantee. The eBay Money Back Guarantee states that you as a seller will accept a return if the buyer claims an item was not as described. This doesn't mean it has to actually be not as described.

Why does eBay Do This?

eBay used to allow sellers to call in and show it was a remorse return and it would be closed. However, often that would result in a payment dispute. Either the buyer would be returning it with a PayPal payment dispute, or the buyer would file a charege-back against the seller and unless PayPal protected you, you would lose the item and the money.

eBay now states that the reason the buyer selects from the return menu is the policy that dictates the return regardless of what the buyer states in the message. The buyer could open a return for "item arrived damaged" and the buyer could state "Hey, this is fine, no issues, just wanted to return it". How the Money Back Guarantee is worded and how the user agreement is worded makes this a return the seller will accept. However, it doesn't mean the return is "valid". There is a different.

eBay just announced some new seller protections and one of them is an "Abusive Buyer Policy". So now buyers can get strikes or be denied returns if they are opening False Not as Described returns.

I know it's not the answer you are looking for, it's just how I understand the situation.

bluelinemetalsllc · ‎10-09-2019

In cases like these, yes ebay will almost always side with the buyer. In the future I would suggest reaching out to an international buyer to make sure they are aware they are buying a locked phone.....yes, they should read the description and know if they can use the phone or not. But I like to cover my bases *before* I ship, not rely on ebay to do the right thing *after* I've shipped. They rarely do.

m60driver · ‎10-09-2019

It was my impression that all phones can be unlocked. There are a number of videos on YouTube to unlock a Samsung S8. Unlikely you will get the original phone back. Frankly, I don't understand why anyone would sell a phone on EBay with all the scams, especially selling internationally.

damcl_9321 · ‎10-09-2019

This is why selling locked phones isn't a good idea

luckythewinner · ‎10-09-2019

@bryan0111 wrote:
This goes against ebay policy and is a complete disregard to me as a seller

It does show a disregard for the seller, but the user agreement says this:

"You agree to comply with the policy and permit us to make a final decision on any eBay Money Back Guarantee case."

Nothing in there says the final decision will be fair 🙂

cashvaluerecovery2011 · ‎10-09-2019

No but a new seller is mislead by words also in policies like "seller protection" and "false returns" and "abusive buyers".

There is a reason ebay does not set or warn sellers that every false reason return or inad case is default set to the seller losing. Why does your quoted sentence not just be strait forward honest?

"You agree to refund the buyer whether its abuse or not at your expense."

Then it wouldnt break policy.

corvettestainless · ‎10-09-2019

This is why buyers are protected:

A buyer that is out, say $200 for something that, in his world, is complete trash. A seller can resell and will be out $20 shipping. What is fair?

I don't know what the listing looked like- but for this particular case the word 'LOCKED' needed to be in the title. Then, explanation of what 'locked' means in the description.