What I would do (and actually did many times) contact the buyer and excuse you're self for him and offer him a refund in exchange for a positive feedback. Most of the times it works. Good luck!
Once a case was opened the buyer cant leave negative feedback.
But as a seller you do not want the buyer to open a case since if you have too many cases opened you will not be able to reach the top rated seller status.
Also in this case it seems like isrealsuits's doenst want to loose a lot of money, as he sold a new phone and now for him to resell it there will be a loss.
My opinion - firstly contact eBay and speak to a rep - they will usually guide you thru what to do in this case.
Also - even to resell this phone, the price of used is also going pretty high now, you could Sell it as "New other" and put in the description that it was returned by the buyer, never activated....
i received the item back and he sent it back with an after market charger, peeled off the plastic on the phone, and put in the battery.
(I called the carrier and they said the phone was never activated.) If you look at ebay's policy they say for a refund on returns it needs to be given back the same way it was received. How do I prove that he did these things with the phone or any other ideas?
Speak with ebay about this, I do not know how you could prove your side... But call them