Sold BlackBerry Q10 on eBay. Buyer bid several times over 3 day period. Won auction and claimed he did not know the device was locked to Bell Mobility and wanted to cancel the transaction. I rightfully apologized and pointed out where the notes were clearly made that the device was locked to Bell Mobility (the notes were there before he made his first bid). Buyer whined and complained and refused to pay. I opened an unpaid item case, buyer frantically apologized, asked me to work with him.

I offered to split the cost of unlocking the device with him as a gesture of good faith. I said you can either send me $20 USD and I will get the device unlocked by a company I trust who has been successful with me in the past, or I can refund $20 USD and you are completely on your own for an unlock. He took the latter option. I refunded $20 USD. He requested the IMEI and Carrier, I obliged before sending the package (even though I had already packaged it up and it was sealed ready to go).

He replies back, stating he's tried to unlock the phone 5 times (the limit for these phones, it is now permanently locked to Bell Mobility) and he is throwing accusations that I gave him the wrong carrier, as the auction showed Videotron. The eBay "Item Specifics" listed Videotron, as eBay forces auctions in this item category to have "Item Specifics" - hence why, later in the auction description, in several places, I listed it was locked to Bell Mobility. The buyer now claims I told him it was locked to Bell incorrectly when it was in fact locked to Videotron, and that it was "Not As Described" and wants a full refund with return shipping at my expense.

eBay emails me, I reply back with proof (I have the purchase order for this exact phone and IMEI from Bell, as well as over 2 years of bills from Bell for this phone). eBay closes the case in the buyers favour and forces me to refund.

I think this is an absolute scam - the item was exactly as described (locked to Bell Mobility) and I provided proof (2 years of service and the original purchase order showing it's IMEI) and yet still eBay closed the case in the buyers favour.

I am out of sending and returning shipping, and now the entire cost of the device, as I won't be able to get it unlocked any more since the buyer exhausted the attempts to unlock the device incorrectly and has now permanently locked it to Bell Mobility. To add insult to injury, eBay was having a promotion that week and gave me a $100 coupon for selling items during that week, that they have now denied me due to this forced fraudulent refund.