Sold an item on eBay, worried I am going to run into some issues

wizzywig27

Evening all

So I sold some genuine Airpod Pros on ebay for £120 ish. Buy received them today and claims he cannot connect them to his account (it wants to link them to mine and I will be able to track them). He sent screenshots so I guess I have no reason to disbelieve him (at the start anyway)

I 100% removed them from my apple account and they do not show on the 'Find My' app or iCloud.

I then contact Apple who give me instructions on what to do to remove from my account (which I already did). I arrange for Apple to contact the buyer and they do so. He then says they called and they need to speak to me. I contact Apple again who advised they need to speak to the person who is in possession of the Airpods.

What worries me is he made reference almost immediately to a partial refund, saying he doesn't need to 'Find My' function and he will just stick an airtag to it. He also mentioned he is about to go away in a couple of days and wants to take them with him, so keeping them with a partial refund would suit him. He asked for £20 which I politely declined and asked him to request a return. I said I might consider a £10 partial refund and he said no. I then said its ok, send them back and I will fully refund you and he then accepted £10.

What do I do here? I am not saying he is lying to me, but at the same time something sounds a bit 'off'. Is he trying to get them for cheaper (ultimately I will never know if they wont connect until I get them back), but at the same time £10 refund isnt too bad I guess. But then he could just use them on holiday and return them saying they are faulty. What if he later says they wont pair when I have already offered a partial refund.

Sorry for the questions but I just dont know what to do.

tacpot12

If he has sent you screenshots of the software reporting that it was still connected to your device, you have to accept that you have not done everything required to allow them to be sold as fully functioning. I think you should accept their reasonable offer, or pay for them to be returned and take the risk of negative feedback. 

If you ask for them back, and you still want to sell them, get someone else to connect then, and then disconnect them account, reconnect to your own account and then disconnect again and reconnect to theirs, and finally disconnect one time. This ensures that you know the steps to disconnect from the second account reliably. You could offer the original buyer first refusal on the sale.  

wizzywig27

Hello, thank you for your reply, it is much appreciated.

To clarify, I have offered a full refund (I did state this in my original post). I have also done everything Apple have suggested I do (I did this before the item was sent).

The apple website also states that it can take some time for them to 'unpair' but there are no timescales on how long this could be.

Thank you again.

soolin

wizzywig27 said:

Hello, thank you for your reply, it is much appreciated.

To clarify, I have offered a full refund (I did state this in my original post). I have also done everything Apple have suggested I do (I did this before the item was sent).

The apple website also states that it can take some time for them to 'unpair' but there are no timescales on how long this could be.

Thank you again.

Your only option is to either give a partial refund or just reiterate to buyer that you will refund on return, make it sound positive, suggest it then gives them a chance to buy new in a shop and get them paired immediately. However be firm, if you don’t want to give a partial then just keep telling them to open a SNAD case on eBay so you can provide a return label.

Do not refund until a case is properly opened on eBay, a label sent and the item received back safely. 

Sagham

Never had that problem before with AirPods used them multiple times in different iPhones on different iCloud’s (gfs) I just opened them and they popped up and was good to go 

GadgetGuru

When you remove it from Find My, you still need to reset the actual device. Otherwise it will reconnect to your Find My as soon as the device is powered.
You should have removed from Find My, then press and hold the setup button on the back of the case for about 15 seconds, until the status light on the front of the case flashes amber, then white.
This resets the airpods completely. 

In fact, as long as you have removed them from your Find My, the buyer just needs to do the above, and that will reset the device back to factory. There really isn't any need for any refund or return. 

If he persists ask him to open a case on eBay.
Within the case you will get the option to offer a partial refund - select this and proceed. 
The buyer then agrees to the partial refund and the case is closed - the buyer can then not open another case etc again. 

Do not refund the buyer directly, as the buyer can then open a case via eBay for a return etc! Everything should be done via the eBay system. 

wizzywig27

So I have asked the buyer to open a case and he claims it won’t let him.

again, I don’t want to accuse anyone of trying to be a little shifty, but this does seem extremely odd to me.

soolin

wizzywig27 said:

So I have asked the buyer to open a case and he claims it won’t let him.

again, I don’t want to accuse anyone of trying to be a little shifty, but this does seem extremely odd to me.

Assuming this is within 30 days of the last estimated delivery date the. Just make sure your emails get nicer and nicer, express concern and suggest he needs to contact eBay for help. Do nothing else, don’t let him lead you into refunds or returns without eBay getting involved , stick to the ‘contact eBay for help’. 

wizzywig27

It’s within 30 days, he has said he is going to take them on holiday with him as eBay have given him two weeks to post them. This here is total manipulation of eBay rules 

Spoonie_Turtle

wizzywig27 said:

It’s within 30 days, he has said he is going to take them on holiday with him as eBay have given him two weeks to post them. This here is total manipulation of eBay rules 

I don't know if it will do anything but I'd be inclined to phone eBay and see what they say.  If he's taking them on holiday then clearly they work well enough for whatever he wants and a SNAD claim would be false.

Debbie9009

Has he put that he is going to take them on holiday in a message? If so I would definitely ring eBay, make sure you speak to someone in the Ireland call centre, and ask them to look at your messages.  I did this when I had an issue and they were able to read the messages and sort the issue for me.  

It’s definitely worth a go, as this buyer really is trying it on in my opinion.