eBay Problem. Buyer returned a damaged item, tried to blackmail for a partial refund. ebay no help

noodles73

Hi I recently sold an iPhone on eBay.

The buyer claimed that the battery life differed to what was in the listing and tried to black mail me for a £70 discount. I refused as I knew my phone had 82% battery life, as advertised. The buyer became agitated and unpleasant and returned the item, taking the longest time to do so allowed. He sent me my phone back but I strongly suspect he's changed the battery for a damaged one, showing 77%. This buyer is an iPhone trader on eBay and has access to many phones/parts. I have involved eBay at every step of the issue and they've now told me that they have no protection for me as a seller as I can't prove that the phone I sent him did have 82% )photo's are not proof apparantly as it could be any phone). I stand to lose £350 and be left with a faulty phone that is now plummeted in value due to the battery being below 80% and 'requiring replacement'

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do? eBay say if I don't refund by end of today, they will take sanctions against me. It's utterly ridiculous.

williamgriffin

noodles73 said:

Hi I recently sold an iPhone on eBay.

The buyer claimed that the battery life differed to what was in the listing and tried to black mail me for a £70 discount. I refused as I knew my phone had 82% battery life, as advertised. The buyer became agitated and unpleasant and returned the item, taking the longest time to do so allowed. He sent me my phone back but I strongly suspect he's changed the battery for a damaged one, showing 77%. This buyer is an iPhone trader on eBay and has access to many phones/parts. I have involved eBay at every step of the issue and they've now told me that they have no protection for me as a seller as I can't prove that the phone I sent him did have 82% )photo's are not proof apparantly as it could be any phone). I stand to lose £350 and be left with a faulty phone that is now plummeted in value due to the battery being below 80% and 'requiring replacement'

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do? eBay say if I don't refund by end of today, they will take sanctions against me. It's utterly ridiculous.

Save ebay the trouble and refund your buyer.

theonlywayisup

noodles73 said:

Hi I recently sold an iPhone on eBay.

The buyer claimed that the battery life differed to what was in the listing and tried to black mail me for a £70 discount. I refused as I knew my phone had 82% battery life, as advertised. The buyer became agitated and unpleasant and returned the item, taking the longest time to do so allowed. He sent me my phone back but I strongly suspect he's changed the battery for a damaged one, showing 77%. This buyer is an iPhone trader on eBay and has access to many phones/parts. I have involved eBay at every step of the issue and they've now told me that they have no protection for me as a seller as I can't prove that the phone I sent him did have 82% )photo's are not proof apparantly as it could be any phone). I stand to lose £350 and be left with a faulty phone that is now plummeted in value due to the battery being below 80% and 'requiring replacement'

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do? eBay say if I don't refund by end of today, they will take sanctions against me. It's utterly ridiculous.

How have you lost (or stand to lose) £350.  You have the phone back, you need to refund or eBay will do it for you and if they do you will lose out on fee reimbursement.   How is the returned phone faulty? 

Aylesbury_Duck

I don't understand the problem.  You have the phone back, so refund the buyer.  If you have proof that they've deliberately tampered with it or swapped parts, then show that to ebay.  If you're just speculating that's what they've done, without evidence, then I'm afraid it's just that: speculation.

born_again

You want proof it's been tampered with then you would need to get Apple to check the phone. It would be pretty clear that the phone has been opened and battery replaced.

bris

born_again said:

You want proof it's been tampered with then you would need to get Apple to check the phone. It would be pretty clear that the phone has been opened and battery replaced.

Yes but who opened it and replaced the battery? It's impossible to win this case as its all he said she said now.

It's Ebay, sellers don't stand a chance with a case like this

finalfantasist

noodles73 said:

 He sent me my phone back but I strongly suspect he's changed the battery for a damaged one, showing 77%.

Why would he even bother doing this? What does he stand to gain from swapping out an 82% battery for a 77% one?

I suspect there is little difference in value between a phone with a 77% capacity battery and one with 82%.  One "requires replacement" now, and the other will in about a month, many be even less, so any smart buyer would treat the 82% one as "requiring replacement" too.

Just refund him and either relist it as is or get the battery replaced and relist it.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

finalfantasist said:

noodles73 said:

 He sent me my phone back but I strongly suspect he's changed the battery for a damaged one, showing 77%.

Why would he even bother doing this? What does he stand to gain from swapping out an 82% battery for a 77% one?

I suspect there is little difference in value between a phone with a 77% capacity battery and one with 82%.  One "requires replacement" now, and the other will in about a month, many be even less, so any smart buyer would treat the 82% one as "requiring replacement" too.

Just refund him and either relist it as is or get the battery replaced and relist it.

Presumably that works both ways, why would someone wo resells phones care?

I'd hazard a guess the £70 part refund request is how they make their money. 

OP unfortunately even if you prove the phone has been opened I don't see how that would show the buyer did so, if you can get the battery replaced easily by a local repair company might be best to do this and then sell the phone again. 

finalfantasist

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

finalfantasist said:

noodles73 said:

 He sent me my phone back but I strongly suspect he's changed the battery for a damaged one, showing 77%.

Why would he even bother doing this? What does he stand to gain from swapping out an 82% battery for a 77% one?

I suspect there is little difference in value between a phone with a 77% capacity battery and one with 82%.  One "requires replacement" now, and the other will in about a month, many be even less, so any smart buyer would treat the 82% one as "requiring replacement" too.

Just refund him and either relist it as is or get the battery replaced and relist it.

Presumably that works both ways, why would someone wo resells phones care?

I'd hazard a guess the £70 part refund request is how they make their money. 

OP unfortunately even if you prove the phone has been opened I don't see how that would show the buyer did so, if you can get the battery replaced easily by a local repair company might be best to do this and then sell the phone again. 

Oh, I absolutely think the buyer was trying it on with the part refund thing, especially as they're basically asking full Apple retail price for a replacement battery, which is an absurd request.

What I don't believe is that the buyer bothered switching out the battery. There's just no reason to do so.  They could just as easily falsely claim the battery showed as x% and send it back when it shows 82% as the OP has claimed. eBay won't give two hoots about it as long as it's returned they'll issue a refund.

mattyprice4004

Batteries cost around £3 at wholesale rates for most iPhones, so it won't be that.

Also they can't be swapped without 'coding' into the phone on most recent iPhones, and I'm guessing that being worth £350 it's one of those - my XS (from memory) was one of the phones that did indeed need the new battery coding to the phone by Apple.

No idea why, but that's just Apple for you... yet here I am with another iPhone!