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Possible Scam from buyer
 

I sold my iPhone to this Nigerian name for $310. he sent me a note right away saying he wanted a refund if the phone wasn't how I described it in the auction. I knew he could be trouble after I saw that message about possibly wanting a refund. I normally give my buyers a positive review right after they pay but I had a bad feeling this one. Seriously, if he emailed me before I would have told me to stay away from my auction.
He subsequently emailed me to say he wanted a refund because the item was slow booting up and there was an App store login he was not familiar with. Well two things:
1) iPhones and iPod users know that these device do take a bit of time to bootup and shutdown, that's why people don't power down their devices. I send him a link to a forum where people had discussions about that.

2) App Store login = iTune login! I told him that but he wouldn't listen.

He sent me an email back saying he has an iphone and it's not like that an dI'm not being reasonable. Well, if he really has an iphone, he would know to put his own itune login in!

I gave him free shipping that cost me almost $10 including signature confirmation to make sure it got to you safely. Check out other iPhone auctions and see how many people give free shipping! He mentioned he was a "reputable buyer". Well... I did not get 35 100% positive reviews here for ripping people off!!

I'm so angry right now that I'm sure what to do. He already paid thru paypal and payment is still pending. I think he's trying to report me to paypal and get his money returned to him. This buyer has 62 postive feedback as a buyer but he's trying me out

tell him to send the phone back in its original condition and the refund will follow immediately. thats what i would do.

Remember to add him to your blocked list.
I am sorry this is happening to you

I had a few buyers like this in Germany, all i would do is get him to return the phone and refund upon your receipt after making sure the phone is in the same condition as you sent it.

@dibley69, so the buyers returned the goodies to Monaco or Thailand ( where you really are). Wondering, like :spy:

Flag is to be for country of registration, not where you might go to the casinos :nono:

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. I going to ask him to sent back the phone in its original state too and issue him the refund right afterward. What a pain. My auction clearly state "no refund accepted" but I guess I should get just go thru with it. I'll keep you posted.

For future reference, even if your auction says No Refund Accepted that will not hold water with eb ay or pa yp al =(

Last time I heard from a Nigerian he was a prince offering me $ all I had to do was give him my banking info!:doh:

Payment is still pending yet you sent him the phone already??? So the payment never cleared and you mailed it anyway?

Aren't you familiar with the rule? YOu have to mail the item as soon as payment is made, whether cleared or not.

Aren't YOU familiar with the rule? PP advises people NOT to send the item when payment is NOT yet cleared.

Okay you need to clarify on if you are on the 21 day hold with Paypal. If that is the case, then yes you send the product. If it's not and the buyer sent an uncleared echeck, then you're screwed.

Well hello don't sell to nigeria:pop2:

Agree, too much trouble selling to Nigeria
Just be careful, almost all scam from there :spy:

lordt78: please keep update the progress and do you mind sharing this buyer ebay id for my block list? :ranger:

It seems like I'm on a 14 day rule. Paypal advised me to ship it. I'm not an idiot. lol

Correction: This guy is from the U.S. He has an African name so I assumed it was Nigerian because of all the Nigerian scammers online. The truth is I don't know what he is.

Well, he hasn't replied to my last email asking him to mail back the device. It's been 2 days. I wonder what he's up to.

Who cares what hes up to, wait it out. I just had a guy mail back an item of mine DESTROYED missing a ridiculous amount of parts! He fished through it and took what he needed and sent back the broken rest of it. Problem is he didn't get a tracking number for the return he sent. I am not going to issue him a refund and I could care less if he leaves me negative feedback. I'm going to try my best to stick it to him.

SOrry that happened to you. That sucks. SOme people are just a pain to deal with. Question, was his payment cleared after he sent back the item? That is if you were using paypal.

Why would you ever sell to somebody from Nigeria?

I hope you copied the S/N of the phone. Some of these scammers will take your phone, and pull a switcharoo, and send back another, perhaps phoney item in its place.

When I sold ipods/itouch, I always wrote on the packing slip the serial number so they knew I had a record of it, I also sent the serial number in the tracking email i sent, plus I would take a picture of the item with the serial number clearly showing, and send that along too. They would then think twice about pulling something. Never had a problem.

The words "iPhone" and "Nigerian" in the same sentence regarding an Ebay sale means trouble. Almost never a happy ending.

No, the OP said a Nigerian name.... not that the user was there or in fact Nigerian. The nationality of the buyer may well have been an assumption.
Bottom line is it's a buyer sounding strange....:suspicious:

I create seal sticker, I won't refund if I receive the seal broken

Like this
http://s4.postimage.org/sq1npqdhf/Sa...al_Sticker.jpg

If your auction states no re turns and your auction is a detailed description of the product.

Then you should not pay for his inexperienced knowledge.
If he doesnt know how to use an I-Phone why the hell would you buy it.

Seems to me like he just decided to back out and is finding an excuse to use against you

or he will keep the phone, send you an empty box as the return, paypal will refund him, he has a free phone, and buyer lives happily ever after.

Ouch i never knew people do that LOL
BEWARE!!!

(sarcasm noted) Unfortunately, they do. Many sellers on these boards and others can tell you first hand.

Well, I have not heard from the guy in a week and I have 9 days until they release the hold on my money. (fingers crossed)

Well that may be good news, the release of the of the Hold on the Money is one thing,,,,the ability for the Buyer to file a "not as Described" dispute with Paypal is another,,,That I Believe is 45 Days and I Know that Paypal allows buyers an extra "Grace Period" to that 45 days Simply by asking,

I do not know how much Grace period time they allow but I know they do,,it happened to me a Few years ago,,,,so you still have a Bit of time before you are truly done with this sale.

The ONLY True Advice I can offer is to Document as much as possible especially all the Tracking information

Good luck Slapped

See he won it and paid for it and the payment cleared. He then contacting me demanding a refund. He filed a claim with paypal, and I emailed him and told him to mail it back in the same condition, with ALL the accessories and I would issue him a refund. I got this ratted box back a week later, with my item destroyed, with no accessories, and missing parts. He didn't get a tracking number for the return he just mailed it back. So I am going to claim I never got it, I hope he loses his money.

If that is truly the case Paypal will Normally rule in your Favor,,If the Buyer Cannot Prove that you recieved the Item Back Paypal normally will not refund the buyer, unless there is something else you forgot to mention

slapped I might be in the same position as you. The good thing is he sent it back with no tracking. Wait to near the grace time and claim you never got it. Hopefully eBay will be in favour of you. If not, cancel all your credit cards associated on ebay and paypal, and open a new account. Do not allow ebay and the Nigerian to rob you.

As a follow-up to this statement, I wanted to add that buyer chargebacks can happen up to 6 months after the purchase is made, if the buyer pays with a credit card. If a buyer pays with a credit card they are protected by the CC's bylaws and guarantees etc etc, much like insurance.

Several years ago I had a buyer open a dispute on an item they won 5 months before.

It should also be noted that if this happens, the credit card charges PP an "investigation fee" of about $100, and this charge is passed on to you the seller. In this case I never got the item back, I was out the cost of shipping, and PP charged me a total of $150 ($100 CC investigation fee & a $50 PP chargeback fee). This was several years ago, so the prices and policies may have changed, but if they did then I doubt it'd be in our favor.

This is the reason behind the 180 day hold on your money when PP freezes your account. It is the CC industry standard to offer guarantees on items for up to 6 months after they are purchased. AMEX is longer, I think a year.

Thats what I'm hoping for. I could care less about feedback at this point, it seems as though nowadays negative feedback is the norm. People expect it. Just don't get enough to get limited and stuff

Well...my hold has been released.