EBay buyer flashed phone

avantra

Hello,

I need a bit of advise regarding a cheap android phone I sold on ebay recently.
The phone was in very good condition when sent.

Few days after the delivery the buyer reported that the handset only shows a boot screen.
As it was not sent with out the original charger I asked if the handset was fully charged.

Took him a few days to respond in a very broken English and he said he took it to a shop where they checked the handset and said they couldn't fix it.

I asked him to send it back.
While I wait for the phone to come back the buyer opened a dispute demanding a refund.
I responded with the details above saying I'll consider a refund only after I received the handset examined it.

When the phone arrived I checked it and immediately noticed that Android was removed and an attempt to put a different Rom on was made at some point. The cache partition wasn't there either.

I offered a partial refund which he declined.

I logged a complaint with eBay which they never came back to me and all that happened was that they refunded the buyer and charged my PayPal account.
Is there anything I can do?

Dox

Not sure why you offered a partial refund - it does rather suggest something was amiss, even though it is clear from what you've said that the buyer didn't exactly play straight.

Report to Action Fraud: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/about-us/who-we-are

You've said it is a cheap phone. Write it off to experience and don't waste time and emotional energy on a case you won't win, however infuriated you may be.

Moogles44

You can challenge eBay’s decision but I wouldn’t be that hopeful. I’d go to PayPal personally and ring them and explain .

I agree with above that it may be worth just writing it off as bad sale if they can’t do anything. Make sure you report buyer though.

theonlywayisup

Moogles44 wrote: »

You can challenge eBay’s decision but I wouldn’t be that hopeful. I’d go to PayPal personally and ring them and explain .

I agree with above that it may be worth just writing it off as bad sale if they can’t do anything. Make sure you report buyer though.

Paypal haven't been involved with this in what I can see. It's a decision eBay made. Any appeal needs to be with them, or as Dox says, write it off and learn.

Moogles44

Ebay haven’t backed me up before in the past and so I went to PayPal and they immediately were on my side when explained and fully refunded me. They do get a hell of a lot of money from me each month so maybe that’s why they 99% of the time back me up.
If you don’t ask you don’t get so if you are going round in circles with ebay just go ring PayPal. Works for me

avantra

Thanks for the info, I'll try with PayPal, I did not offer partial refund at first but eBay kept sending me emails asking me to sort it out before a certain date as the buyer simply kept quiet. I thought that a partial refund will close the case and at least I will not loose everything. Not much of a seller protection TBH even for the £43 it costed plus the fees taken by eBay even though the sale collapsed.

theonlywayisup

Moogles44 wrote: »

Ebay haven’t backed me up before in the past and so I went to PayPal and they immediately were on my side when explained and fully refunded me. They do get a hell of a lot of money from me each month so maybe that’s why they 99% of the time back me up.
If you don’t ask you don’t get so if you are going round in circles with ebay just go ring PayPal. Works for me

Paypal back you over their own protection policies?

Like others there are some of us here on very acute Merchant rates and aren't afforded anything other than their published policies. How do you do it?

avantra

I followed your advice and allowed ebay to close the case, I then appealed via their 0800 number and they agreed the buyer was trying it on and gave me a full refund.

Thanks again