Reverb Buyer Tried Screw Me!

[4406cuda]

I posted an Apogee Quartet 4x8 USB Audio Interface on Reverb for $680. It was in Mint condition and barely used.

The buyer offered me $600 and I countered with $640. He countered with $600 again and included a message, that that is the best he can do. I countered with $630 and a message, that is the best I can do. He declined my counter offer. Less than 10 minutes later, he messaged me that he would like to purchase it for $630, if the offer is still available. I accepted and he paid right away.

I shipped it the next day with priority 2nd day delivery. He contacted me after he received it and said he loved and asked me to give him a 5 star rating. He then contacted me two days later and let me know he gave me a 5 star rating and asked if I would do the same for him. I did.

Then, early this morning, 3:30AM pacific time, I am woken by a reverb alert on my phone. I do not check till 6:30AM after my wife asks me, who the f#ck is messaging me in the middle of the night. It is the seller wanting a partial refund. He says, after further inspection he would like $75 dollars refunded because it is not in mint condition. He also says, that if I do not refund him the $75 that he will request a full refund. He also tells me that Reverb will take his side in the dispute. I declined to refund him the $75. Then he messages me agin and says verbatim, "Last chance for a $75 refund, otherwise I'm getting Paypal involved and they will give me a return label.

He then, requests a full refund and I decline it.

Has anyone ever dealt with something like this?

 

[ClintN667]

I sold an amp once that had cosmetic damage that I disclosed and took many pictures. I bought the amp in that condition for $1200 and I really enjoyed the amp but had to sell it cause I had another amp that was being built that I had to pay the balance on. I put the amp for sale for $800 plus a set of new EL34's. The buyer emailed me and asked if I would do $700 and asked me if the amp worked without issue which it did. So I accepted and shipped the amp and I sent the tubes seperately. The guy sent me a bunch of bitchy messages saying that the amp wasnt in the condition described and he actually pulled the tolex back to make the cosmetic damage look worse than it was. He then asked me to take off more of the price to "make it right." I listed the amp as good condition which means it has cosmetic issues but works without issue. I knocked off $100 and threw in a set of tubes. Every issue had pictures posted documenting it. So I told him to just send it back because I wasnt going to knock off any more off the price and that I would rather keep it. He then preceeded to send me a bunch of bitchy messages about having to ship it back. I ended up having to contact Reverb to block him from messaging me. He never sent back the tubes either. Since then I have been extremely nervous about selling stuff online. I've actually only made one sell since online since then and the rest have been on craigslist. I try to sell stuff for what I would want to pay not exactly what I could get. Kind of a golden rule type attitude. Some guys just want a steal and try to screw you over to get it.

 

[Mailman1971]

Damn. Sounds crazy I only buy and sell off my inner circle of guys I know from here.
I got a ton of things I wanna sell.
But really do not want To deal with things like this.
Hope it pans out man.

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

Keep all messages and hopefully reverb should be able to see his message timeline to you. He shoulda been able to inspect within the given frame. Keep all offers and inform them you think this is a baited attempt at getting more money off the item

 

[Metlupass2]

Take it back and be done with him.

Link to your add to see this "damage"?

 

[Ventura]

I've had to deal with this a couple times on Reverb - which isn't bad over the course of time and items sold (gotta say, sales and purchases here off Classifieds has been smooth runnin' 100%), but anyway...

In the instances where I sensed a "good smooth deal about to turn problematic" I immediatey got "ahead" of the narrative by sending in a report to Reverb with all details of what was being sold, pics, description, and my authorization for them to check my messages. Every time it was met with "why are you sending this if there isn't a problem" and I told Reverb "I think the Buyer is going to try and squirm for reasons unbeknownst to me, and I just want to alert you to EXACTLY what's happened to date". Sure as shit, the Buyer starts kicking up a fuss, embellishing on what was *actually* said and the like. I just let them run at the mouth, and finally when they threaten "Reverb intervention" I state "I already alerted them to this sale as soon as you first post-payment message came in regarding [enter bullshit pre-complaint here] so they know what's up".

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I had a feeling you'd do this"

"Oh, no man, no, it was just a silly question - hahahahaha - leaving five stars for you RIGHT now, sorry for any misunderstanding".



(nice try asshole)

Crux of the biscuit? Just get ahead of the story if you sense a dodgy narrative is gonna happen. Use your spidey senses.

Sorry about the above stories - fucking assholes abound!!

 

[mooncobra]

man, I hate hearing this tuff, people are horrible. For some reason, it seems extra bad because these are fellow guitarists.

 

[4406cuda]

Update: I spoke to a rep from reverb and they looked at all of his messages and they agree the buyer doesn’t have a legitimate reason for a refund. I also contacted PayPal and they said the buyer has a right to a refund if he feels the item is not in the condition as described and as he sends the item back.

 

[Red_Label]

My bad story isn't as a seller, but as a buyer... and it was on ebay. It wasn't a guitar either, it was a rifle scope that was purchased at the request of a close friend. When the scope arrived, it had a serious chip on one of the inside lenses. That wasn't disclosed and likely didn't happen in shipping. I respectfully brought that to the seller'scattention. He freaked out and said "all sales final, no exceptions". I countered with "there sure is an exception in the case of a damaged scope that wasn't described truthfully. All my friend wanted was the shipping cost to ship it to the manufacturer, since it had a lifetime vwarranty. The seller refused and then stated "ya know, I'm an OTR trucker and could easily pay you a personal visit". LOL! I countered with "Please do! You have my work (shipping) address. I work just down the hall from 150 law enforcement officers". (Which I do.) Dude refunded the shipping cost and clammed-up after that. Even after his threat, I didn't leave negative feedback... just didn't leave any at all. Needless to say, my friend won't likely put me through something like that again.

 

[Red_Label]

Update: I spoke to a rep from reverb and they looked at all of his messages and they agree the buyer doesn’t have a legitimate reason for a refund. I also contacted PayPal and they said the buyer has a right to a refund if he feels the item is not in the condition as described and as he sends the item back.

PayPal sucks.

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

PayPal is slim. I use it still, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hate it.

 

[scottosan]

Update: I spoke to a rep from reverb and they looked at all of his messages and they agree the buyer doesn’t have a legitimate reason for a refund. I also contacted PayPal and they said the buyer has a right to a refund if he feels the item is not in the condition as described and as he sends the item back.

Was the paypal transaction direct to you or through Reverb?

 

[4406cuda]

He used PayPal as his payment method. That is now my concern.

 

[GOHOINC]

He used PayPal as his payment method. That is now my concern.

I believe that if you set your acct to use reverb payments, even if they use paypal, you deal with reverb and they deal with paypal. Not sure if that can help you now but might be handy in the future if you keep selling on reverb.

 

[the rossness]

I had something similar happen a while ago when I sold my Markbass bass combo amp. The thing sat in my bass in my basement and I was glad when someone bought it because all it did was take up space. I finally sold it and shipped it across the country and shipping cost over 200 bucks. Buyer did the same thing your guy did. rather than deal with the headache, I ended up losing money on the deal- and I was broke, and jobless and sold the amp to because A) it got no use and B) I really needed the money. Some people are chumps. Pure and simple. chumps.

 

[4406cuda]

He used PayPal as his payment method. That is now my concern.

I believe that if you set your acct to use reverb payments, even if they use paypal, you deal with reverb and they deal with paypal. Not sure if that can help you now but might be handy in the future if you keep selling on reverb.

I will be using this option in the future.

 

[155]

FYI , never say MINT even if it is...this is how you get screwed, they will side with him if he finds the slightest blem..ive been there trust me..

 

[stratjacket]

I had this one time (very recent) where I bought an Apogee Quartet 4x8 described as mint and after paying more than I wanted, it...just joking dude, probably too soon. Not to make light of your situation but I couldn’t help myself with the bad jokes.

That is messed up. I don’t see how people do that shit, especially to another musician. I think Reverb should charge a 10% restocking fee to take away the incentive. I mean the guy bought it, he had the ability to ask questions, etc...he should have skin in the game for taking part in the transaction.
Want to try it and return? OK, but it’ll cost $63.

 

[Speeddemon]

I feel for you dude. That's douchey stuff.

And what really grinds my gears (insert P. Griffin image) is the fact that while Paypal is known to side with buyers more than sellers, the few times I needed their help as a buyer, when I was getting scammed (vintage MXR Micro Chorus never shipped from Canada; FUCK YOU, Scott Brignell, may you drown in the spit of a 1000 camels! / getting sent a fake SD card for a camera ) they let me down, even when all the evidence pointed in my favor.

 

[glpg80]

I’ve learned two things:

Document absolutely everything including how you unpackage something. I take lots of photos and even ask if the buyer wants specific photos ahead of time.

If the value of the item is $500 or more, I refuse to play games and only accept wire transfer - I eat the fee. It scares away the scam artists because theirs no mommy to cry to and forced all questions to be asked up front - as it should be for a private transaction not involving a business. It also eliminates buyers remorse returns or theft attempts like items returned with missing components.

I require shipping companies to package items and require they be insured. I don’t play the self package item and insurance coverage dance anymore. Buyers pay that fee as is.

I’ve done a lot of business over the 15 years of playing and I’ve been scammed every which way you can imagine. I even had a buyer in Canada threaten to return an ADA MP1 only to find out it was user error from not reading the users manual. I never got a thank you or anything after what he put me through.

Communication is key - and I don’t give a review sold or received until well after the return period on reverb or the likes.

I do agree with the above - a restocking fee of 20% should exist for reverb to bank charged return items.