Let me share my bitter experience while buying a high valued Nokia Lumia 520 from ebay. The item was placed for sale by seller Anuwar Rofi of Web Tradition, Morigaon, Assam with description that the item is brand new item with one year manufacturer warranty. Since the price was about Rs.200-300/- less than other sellers, I placed an order and paid full with my HDFC credit card. But after receipt, I found the item seal was broken and probably refurbished or used and not brand new.
An Airtel offer was printed on the box, raising doubt of unlocked Airtel scheme phone. First I contacted the seller over email. He accepted that the item seal was broken at his end, but denied it was used or an airtel unlocked phone. But I was not convinced and want to return it and want my money back so I raised Claim ID: 417792 of PaisaPay ID: 35728721767. Since the seller accepted about seal broken condition which was not mentioned in item description, as per ebay claim rule this should be enough for the money back claim. But I was surprised when a ebay claim settler, a Muslim like the seller, called me and tried to force me to accept the phone.
When I protested he wants me to take the phone to Nokia service centre to get it evaluated and certified by them that it was earlier used. He even has sent a mail to submit the certificate within 48 hours otherwise he will reject my claim. This shows hollowness of ebay guarantee system which they proudly advertise to draw the buyers to buy from ebay.
For on-line shopping since buyer cannot see the item in real time, decision of purchase is solely taken on the basis of item description. It is responsibility of seller to describe the item as closely as possible to avoid any future dispute. Since in this case, seller has neither mentioned about seal broken condition and Airtel offer condition in the item description, as per ebay claim rule, no further proof is required and this claim should be decided in my favour without any further proof. I doubt the claim settler is taking side of seller because seller is also his same religion brother.
After the above review published here, ebay has approved my money-back claim under ebay guarantee system and asked me to re-ship the item back to seller. When I did that ebay has not only refunded my full payment but also paid the reshipment charge through ebay coupon. This has proved why ebay is the leader among on-line ebusiness sites worldwide.
THANK YOU EBAY, KEEP THIS GOING.