Sold a phone for £29 on Ebay and got this mail earlier. Help.

Gina_of_course!

Hi received phone today it's got some problems. phones had a hard life. speaker is very quiet and crackled the front cam don't work. Went to my local phone shop to see about getting it fix was quoted £20 u can refund me the fixed price or will have to send have to send it back .
Andy


^^^^ I received this mail earlier, The last time I used the phone which was a couple of years ago both camera's worked and it has been in the box in a drawer ever since, I did not test the camera before I sent it. I did however listen to some music whilst deleting some ring tones I had on there and did not hear any crackle and the speaker was fine, albeit I did not turn it up as loud as it would go.

I obviously want to do the right thing but do not want to be taken advantage of. The buyer has good feedback and has bought quite a few mobiles recently.

Thank you in anticipation of any advice.

rrf494g

my suggestion would be to offer full refund for return of 'phone. If the 'phone is bad, you will get it back to reassess. If the buyer is a chancer he will not get away with it.
good luck

hermum

Offer a full refund on return of the phone.

pinkshoes

Did you note down the serial number of the phone?

I'd tell them you'll give them a full refund once you receive the phone back.

You really should test items before sending them, especially things like mobile phones.

The fact they took it to a shop to get a quote for repair makes me suspect a partial refund scam though, so make sure they send the correct phone back...

I'd send them a polite message saying:

"Hi Andy,
Sorry you found the phone (IMEI number XXXXXXXX) not to be to the quality you expected. I tested it before sending and it worked fine. Please return the phone to me and I'll give you a full refund."

RainbowDrops

pinkshoes wrote: »

The fact they took it to a shop to get a quote for repair makes me suspect a partial refund scam though, so make sure they send the correct phone back...

I think this is a bit of an unfair assuption to make considering the circumstances.
The seller has said the phone hadn't been used for 2 years, so who knows how old it is?
I find phones to be really tempramental when they haven't been used for a long time - I've had handsets that hadn't been used for a year that wont even charge.

I would just ask for the phone back & then send it to envirophone for some cash.

melliott1963

RainbowDrops wrote: »

I think this is a bit of an unfair assuption to make considering the circumstances.

But the OP also points out that the buyer has also bought "quite a few mobiles recently". This would suggest to me that they are buying phones with the hope of repairing them and selling them on for more. By pointing out faults not listed, he's obviously hoping for a partial refund of £20, so he gets the phone for only £9 and then makes a bigger profit when he sells it on.

OP - just ask for the phone back and say you'll refund once you've checked the IMEI number.

This way, if the buyer is hoping to rip you off, they'll have failed, but if the buyer is genuine, then they won't have lost out.

dt3887

i agree wit hthe above. i have had the same thing happen to me, and more often than not, this seems to be happening on cheaper phones, where they ask for most of the money back. i would simply reply saying that as far as you were aware teh phone worked fine, return it to you, and once you have checked the phone and proved it is or isnt broken, AND that it is the same phone you sent him, then refund..

Also, how did you word the listing, if there is anything like sold as seen or not sure if it works or anything like that, you should be alright if the buyer does decide to go down the case route.

RainbowDrops

So because the buyer has found a good buisness this makes them a potential scammer?

Brooker_Dave

RainbowDrops wrote: »

So because the buyer has found a good buisness this makes them a potential scammer?

This is ebay we're talking about.

RainbowDrops

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

This is ebay we're talking about.

From what I gather you sell, or have sold on ebay.
Are you a scammer?

pinkshoes

RainbowDrops wrote: »

So because the buyer has found a good buisness this makes them a potential scammer?

Who on earth takes a £29 second hand old phone to a repair shop rather than just contacting the seller to ask? And given they buy lots of phones, it hints of a scam i.e. They're just trying to get more money off, and there's nothing wrong with the phone.

I bet they reply giving an excuse why they don't want to send it back, and they'kll just keep it.

The above is very common, and it is a scam, as they're trying to find naïve sellers who will believe that this IS something wrong with it and just givve a partial refund rather than risk a neg.