Ot: Ebay issue. what would you do, if you were me?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimAnsell
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JimAnsell

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I sold my beloved 1974 gibson les paul deluxe on ebay about a month ago. The guitar itself was highly modded, had alot of scratches, including a few finish cracks, but no headstock breaks. There was small hairline crack about 1.75" long on the side of the body, near the neck joint. It was literally a hairline sized line that when you ran your thumb nail over it, didn't even catch. it just looked like a finish check. unfortunatly i don't have any photos of it to post.

I listed it to be shipped in the lower 48 as i always do. The guy who hit buy it now (who did not email me first to ask if it was ok) lives in germany. He assured me i would be shipping it to his nephew in atlanta, so i agreed.
I ship the guitar, he emailed me to confirm his nephew got it and was shipping it to him.
So today i get an email from him and he, in broken english, is basicly saying that its a neckjoint crack that has been reglued and its going to effect the resale value. He loved the guitar otherwise, wants to keep it, but "he pay alot", so he thinks i should give him a partial refund for that, but didn't give me any amount or anything.

Now this guitar, like i said, has plenty of scratches, finsh cracks that were clearly pictured (not this one apparantly), and tons of mods, the most notable being the $500 micheal tuttle bestfrets.com ss refret. The only thing stock on this guitar is literally the wood and the tone pots, and hes worried about RESALE VALUE??

so i told him, honestly i didn't and still don't think it was a neck reset job because the crack is so small and clean, so reminencent of your typical finish checking. I also said that the only reason i didn't cancel the transaction and relist is because i was shipping it to a guy in atlanta. I feel like it was his nephew in atlantas job to look over the guitar, communicate with the buyer and make sure they were happy with it before shipping it off to germany. I offered a full refund minus shipping if he sends it back, but i'm not giving you some made up amount for a partial refund because hes worried about reselling it.
Plus since a third party was involved and handled the guitar first, you'd think ebay would be on my side on this one, but i know i can't trust that.

apart from telling them both to fuck off :D what would you guys do?
i really really really can't afford to refund him anything, and if he calls my bluff on sending the guitar back, i'm gunna have to refund him from a credit card somehow, and its gunna fuck me big time until i can resell it, but to me that makes more sense than giving this guy x amount of money to keep my guitar and go away.

I pride myself on being a good seller, (1441 100% feedback rating) but i feel like hes trying to fuck me here.
 
Yeah, this seems to be the new strategy lately. Really sucks. You did the right thing.
Either send back/refund or keep it and be happy!! Good luck. I'm really cutting back on my buying and selling cause of all this crap lately.
 
I would not pay him anything.

I would offer refund after I rcvd the guitar back in the same condition as it was sent.
 
maddnotez":267np4ij said:
I would not pay him anything.

I would offer refund after I rcvd the guitar back in the same condition as it was sent.
Click to expand...

This.
 
Thanks.
I just contacted ebay, and laid everything out for them regarding this issue.
I thought contacting them first might help my case somewhat.
Since the third party was involved, shouldn't that basicly screw his chances of filing a claim on me?

I can't seem to find any ebay policy about that, but i'll keep looking.
i'm so broke right now, this shit is worrying me a bit. even if i end up with the guitar back, i'm fucked financially.
 
I'm not sure what eBay's policy is on the third party thing. Was the address you shipped it to the confirmed address on the buyer's PayPal account? That could make a difference.

Also, was the auction itself limited to U.S. bidders only via eBay controls, or just in your description? The eBay settings will prevent anyone outside the U.S. from bidding or using buy-it-now. I'm asking because if he registered his eBay account in the U.S. but really lives overseas, I don't see how eBay could hold you responsible for something that was shipped again outside of the U.S.

If eBay is not going to back you, I'd have him send it back. Smart money says he'll drop the whole thing at that point.
 
The address he gave me was not on his paypal account. The one on his account is in germany.
However, all the messages between us including the one with the address to send it to are logged on ebay.
 
JimAnsell":34recwrv said:
The address he gave me was not on his paypal account. The one on his account is in germany.
However, all the messages between us including the one with the address to send it to are logged on ebay.
Click to expand...

There will be an issue here, should anything become of it. This is one of their big sticking points. Cheers, Lucius
 
Just a side note: instead of saying lower 48 only, you can select in your profile US bids only. This disallows anyone from bidding outside your preferenced area.
 
I was caught in the same exact thing when selling an effects processor on ebay. I said lower 48 only but a guy in india purchased it with buy it now and paid in full, but the address to ship it to was on the coast.

He claimed it arrived DOA and said send extra cash to get it fixed or get negative repped. I filed the complaint with ebay, and he refused to send proof it was fucked. Basically ebay ruled in my favor because of the third party involved - you dont know if the package was opened, dropped, lost, replaced, or what happened after it left your possession.

Ebay will hear the case out and rule in your favor due to a third party.
 
thanks for your responses guys, i feel a bit better about the situation.
i guess we'll see how it plays out.
lesson learned for sure. i can't believe i didn't know to disable international bidders :o

if he leaves me negative feedback, i couldn't care less.
i have 1500ish positives to offset it.
 
You can always use the comments section in response to a negative feedback. If someone overseas is legit when they see you're shipping only to lower 48 they should pay their friend/relative stateside and that person would buy it. You ship it to them. Done. He fucked himself buy not emailing you first if it was OK and working out the details. Unfortunately the door is left open for him to return it but with cost of shipping from Germany I doubt he will. Plus I'm sure if the guitar was beat and a player it was probably a pretty good price and would be so much cheaper than if he were to try and get one in Europe.
 
Yep, this seems to be the norm with a lot of dishonest Ebay buyers these days. Had the exact same thing happen to me on my last guitar sell on Ebay. Buyers are fleecing sellers right and left every since the policy changes that basically screws sellers if a dispute is opened. In my case I refunded the dude a few hundred bucks, took the loss as a life lesson and closed my EBay & Paypal accounts.
 
Im on the other end of the same thing right now,....bought a guitar that was incorrectly described...it sucks for both partys...I sold a lp on ebay years ago the buyer said he didnt like the finish and disputed it...I had to take it back..unreal....DO NOT SELL GUITARS ON EBAY! youve been warned..
 
OK,,I'll be the ass here , If I am reading this correctly, you had a 2" crack that was not photo'd or discussed until he received the guitar and can't believe there is a problem?? :doh: And everyone here is backing you?
He deserves his money back. :gethim: Please correct me if I am wrong in this finding.
 
I was relieved of a Squier Tele last year!

Guy won the auction, I shipped it and I thought that was the end of it - bar Paypal insisting that as my sale was high value, they would hold my money. Whatever.

So, the guy pipes up and says that the guitar arrived severely damaged; apparently he thinks it had been run over by something. I apologise, tell him that I'll get him refunded and have the courier pick it up. Call logged to courier who stated that if there is a major incident with a package, rather than deliver it they would have called the sender back and started the insurance claim automatically. However, they will put a claim in anyway and emailed me the form to do. This would enable them to go and get the package back.

Meanwhile, the guy promised pictures of the damaged guitar, but later claimed his camera failed to get the pictures out properly "but that's beside the point, you need to correct this!". No worries, the insurance claim form has no need for pics, the buyer offered them in the first place. So I submit the claim anyway. The buyer opens an eBay dispute, saying that I'm refusing a refund. Of course, this is bollocks and there's mails in the eBay system to prove exactly what steps I'm taking. Paypal even still have the money! I call and email eBay to tell them I have no problem with the refund and that the courier will pick up the package as-is, all the buyer has to do is make it available. The Ebay guy was happy and said he would relay this to the buyer.

Well, five days later, the courier calls to tell me that they had attempted to pick up the damaged package three times and were consistently unsuccessful. The third time, they had even agreed with the buyer a 30 minute window on Saturday morning which they claim to have kept to, however the buyer simply refused to answer the door. They went one last time on Saturday at my insistence and the person who answered the door insisted that the person they wanted was "out".

The buyer kept giving me the run around and eventually my courier simply said if they can't pick up the package, there is no claim and hence cancelled it. eBay meanwhile settled in favour of the buyer and handed him back the money, despite there not being a single shred of evidence, be it picture, video, or allowing my courier to retrieve it. And lo and behold a few months later, the buyer is no longer a registered user!

Looks like stealing off eBay is very easy. Sadly, there's not much option besides eBay, but I now specify local pickup only! Not doing this shit again. I'm glad it was a £130 Squier and not an expensive Gibson, though!
 
PayPal doesn't hold money when I sell stuff. It's immediately available to me. I have insisted on this & after checking my history of selling, they don't give me a hassle. I have never sold a guitar that is less than $700 & most are between $1000-$2000.

I've bought & sold lots of guitars on eBay & I've never had a problem or complaint.

I choose to sell only in the lower 48 states, & block all international sales even including Canada.

I block all buyers that have no PayPal account & that have had any disputes/issues.

As a buyer I only buy from sellers that have detailed pictures & descriptions & great feedback history as a seller.

I only ship to the confirmed PayPal address. I pack things great & also always ship & provide track # no later than the very next business day after payment. Many times I ship the same day if possible.

eBay is by far the quickest, safest, easiest most hassle free way to sell stuff in my experience! As long as you're not clueless with your pricing, you have quality stuff and you block potential red flag buyers by choosing the most hardline options to weed them out!
 
:doh: Ya,I dont think thats going to turn out to good for you,sorry.
 
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