Facebook marketplace sale - buyer being annoying

FTB_property

Hi there,
I sold an old Iphone 6 64gb unlocked phone for £35 a few weeks ago via marketplace. I deliberately listed it as 'good' instead of 'like new' as many people list items as 'like new' when they are blatantly old so I wanted to give a more accurate impression and described it to the best I could. I tested the phone to the best of my ability before listing and it seemed to be working fine including typing functionality. I recieved a message from the buyer on boxing day (2.5 weeks after she had bought) saying that she had bought a phone from me for her daughter for Christmas and the screen is so sensitive that it can't type or someting like that. That's all she said. I've found this quite intensely annoying, it seems strange to be messaging about this a few weeks after you've bought something used, any ideas how I should respond? 

FTB_property

By the way I'm not a facebook marketplace shop or anything like that, just a normal person who very occasionally will sell 2nd hand items online

Newbie_John

I understand "good" as fully functional, maybe with some cosmetic scratches etc.
"Like new", fully functional, no scratches, all boxes, maybe dust/fingerprints somewhere.

If it doesn't work well - and that's what you and buyer agree on - I would refund the buyer and ask for item back - or settle somewhere - pay them £15 and ask to keep it.

GrumpyDil

I would point out it is a very old iphone sold for 35.00 by a private buyer and end of. 

One person's good is another person's poor and as this was a private sale there is no comeback. 

soolin

I would apologise and say unfortunately it was sold as a used phone and that you believe the description was accurate.  Private sale between private individuals and as long as your description was accurate that is the end of it. 

Newbie_John

FTB_property said:

Although the phone was working fine when I tested I used it for work tasks functionally a lot in the past I do remember it being a bit tempramental sometimes yet it still did serve me well

In my opinion the key thing is in this sentence - there were some known issue that weren't mentioned in the description. Buyer discovered them and is not happy.

Yes, we only talk about £35 - so to close the topic you can ask for the phone back and refund (minus postage if it was there?). But now it depends on customer - some people can make a big problem out of it.

FTB_property

Newbie_John said:

FTB_property said:

Although the phone was working fine when I tested I used it for work tasks functionally a lot in the past I do remember it being a bit tempramental sometimes yet it still did serve me well

In my opinion the key thing is in this sentence - there were some known issue that weren't mentioned in the description. Buyer discovered them and is not happy.

Yes, we only talk about £35 - so to close the topic you can ask for the phone back and refund (minus postage if it was there?). But now it depends on customer - some people can make a big problem out of it.

To be fair I had tested the phone for a few weeks before listing and it all seemed fine and even though I had some vague memory of something being a bit tempramental at times I couldn't even remember what it was as I hadn't used it in so long, which is why I tested it to find out if there was anything. I also stated it had just been sitting in my drawer unused for years which was true, it was a cash in hand sale, I will probably offer a refund even though there is no legal obligation too, I've just found this whole process a big timewaste 

Vectis

'I do remember it being a bit tempramental sometimes'

I, as a buyer, wouldn't expect a phone, or anything else, described as being 'good' to be temperamental, in other words not always working correctly.

If you bought a car which was described to you as being a good runner, and it turned out to be temperamental, you'd probably be questioning the description, wouldn't you?

If it had faults, which it obviously did as you've mentioned it here, then you should have stated that when selling.

You've sold an item which you knew to be faulty, and most people would do the right thing and refund it.

Yes, £35 is cheap for a phone. But, for a phone which doesn't always work correctly, possibly not?

FTB_property

Vectis said:

'I do remember it being a bit tempramental sometimes'

I, as a buyer, wouldn't expect a phone, or anything else, described as being 'good' to be temperamental, in other words not always working correctly.

If you bought a car which was described to you as being a good runner, and it turned out to be temperamental, you'd probably be questioning the description, wouldn't you?

If it had faults, which it obviously did as you've mentioned it here, then you should have stated that when selling.

You've sold an item which you knew to be faulty, and most people would do the right thing and refund it.

Yes, £35 is cheap for a phone. But, for a phone which doesn't always work correctly, possibly not?

Thank you for your honest opinion. I have personally bought items both on facebook marketplace and ebay that have been wildly exaggerated in terms of quality and have had faults that were not listed and I did not make a fuss about them as used good does seem to mean quite different things to different people. I was genuinely trying to be as honest as possible and there were no discernable faults that I could detect in the 3 week period I had the phone up and running. 

EssexGirl

I'm going to put a different spin on this. Say I bought your "good" iPhone for my daughter for Christmas. It's the best I could afford and my daughter knows things are tight at the moment and is pleased just to get an older phone. Her joy turns to sadness as her favourite Christmas present turns out to be a dud. 
Or the phone she needs for communication with her mum on her school runs doesn't work, so she can't call home if she needs to. 
I'm going to be thinking I had been scammed. And you have pointed out you knew "something" was wrong with it. 
Offer the last back her money so that she can get something else for her daughter. 

FTB_property

Update - refund offered and given now. Arduous lesson learned . Although if I thought the phone was unusable/not useful I never would have listed it