iPhone on Ebay - problem with seller - how to ask for a partial refund?

klakierro

I bought a brand new iPhone 5S on Ebay which was meant to be unlocked. The seller had lots of good reviews so I thought I picked a good one. Unfortunately, the Phone is locked to a network and it would cost me £100 to unlocked. The seller keeps on telling me that as far as they knew, it was unlocked because they never used it and isn't very helpful. I'm trying to get a partial refund to unlock the phone but I don't know how to do it through the resolution centre - it is only allowing me to ask for a return... Any advice?

Captaincodpiece

I don't think you can demand a partial refund. You'll have to do an item not as described and then return the phone.

klakierro

I am also a seller and some time before I sold someone a book (advertised as a hardback but it was a paperback, I made a mistake) and I had to give them a £3 refund but not a full one.

pinkshoes

klakierro wrote: »

I am also a seller and some time before I sold someone a book (advertised as a hardback but it was a paperback, I made a mistake) and I had to give them a £3 refund but not a full one.

I am sure you also had the option of giving a full refund once the item had been returned to you?

The seller is refusing to pay for it to be unlocked, so you need to either suck up the cost, or open a dispute for not as described, and send it back tracked and insured.

(New) mobile phones are very risky items to buy on ebay. What if the seller reports it stolen in a few months and the handset gets blocked?

mandy44d

Most sealed iphone 5s' are 'unlocked' but will lock to the first SIM card put in them. Was the box opened, or did you put a different sim in before trying your network one?

All contract ones are now sold like that as it means Apple can send any return/stock to whatever network they want without the hassle of locking them to a network beforehand, only ones bought from Apple will truely be unlocked to all networks all the time. Plus it won't cost you £100 to unlock

pulliptears

As a seller my stance is always 'no partial refunds'. Far too many chancers out there I'm afraid.
I'd be asking you to return for a full refund.

klakierro

I didn't put a sim in and it was brand new. The seller claims they haven't put one in either but I don't believe them anymore.

Good point about it being reported as stolen, I will bear that in mind for the future.

Captaincodpiece

klakierro wrote: »

I didn't put a sim in and it was brand new. The seller claims they haven't put one in either but I don't believe them anymore.

Good point about it being reported as stolen, I will bear that in mind for the future.

Well the can't have done if it was still sealed when you got it.

But then they only opened the box to take photos of the phone, try it to see if it works and generally messed about with it before the sold it.

fishybusiness

As a seller I wouldn't offer a partial refund of £100 - why would any seller?

Seller can resell for more or less what you paid for it, so why drop £100 to keep you happy?

Send it back, don't be messing about, plenty more phones out there.

I'll tell you something else too, if the seller had agreed your £100 partial refund through the ebay process and the phone went faulty a week after it was unlocked you would be goosed.

You can't open another case after you have opened one, received your partial refund, and closed the case.

RMS2

klakierro wrote: »

it is only allowing me to ask for a return... Any advice?

Yep, return it, get your full refund and buy from somewhere else.


As a seller, I wouldn't be wanting to mess around with partial refunds and the problems that entails. We're not talking about £3 here.

in_the_Cotswolds

If it's bought from Apple then it is unlocked and won't "lock" to the first sim you/they put in it.