buyers and sellers beware

[mystixboi]

I’m not going to say who the person was that I experienced this with… this is more of a warning to both buyers and sellers.

For the record, while I am knew to this website, I’ve been online and dealing positively for over 15 years on the following forums: Harmony Central, Birds and Moons, The Gear Page, Rig Talk, Sevenstring.org, Jemsite and ebay. I’ve bought and sold over 25 guitars valued over $1,500 each over the past year alone. I’ve never had one problem.

I recently purchased a guitar with a built in Fernandes Sustainer. I communicated with the seller a few times via email through here and once on the phone. After I sent the money, the seller emailed me saying that he assumed I would have sent it Paypal gift. Even though we never discussed Paypal gift, I sent him extra money to cover a portion of the Paypal fees.

The day I received the guitar, I noticed the sustainer wasn’t working. I emailed the seller letting him know. I tried changing the batteries… no change. I spoke to the seller on the phone the next day. He said that he didn’t test the guitar before shipping, but he never had any problems with it in the past. I told him that I was going away on vacation for a week so I wouldn’t be able to take it to a tech until I got back.

I took the guitar to a tech yesterday and he wasn’t able to determine the problem with the sustainer… but only because he’s never worked on a sustainer before. I’m taking the guitar to an Authorized Jackson dealer tonight… hopefully his tech will be able to sort this out.

I contacted the seller last night proposing one of two options:

1. He allows me to return the defective guitar and get a refund. I would pay shipping to return the guitar to him.
2. I keep the guitar, but he helps pay for the costs of repair. I would, of course, provide all documentation on the cost of repair as incurred.

He responded by telling me that he isn’t in a position to help me because he already spent the cash. So now, I’m stuck with having to get this guitar fixed… I don’t know how much it will cost, nor do I know how long this will take.

That being said, I’m not going to blame the seller 100% for this. He might be honest about the whole thing, but then again, he said that he didn’t check the guitar out before he shipped it… so he can’t say for sure if the guitar was in 100% working order before he shipped it.

Lesson learned… no matter how much experience you have with buying and selling gear, make sure you have all of the facts on the instrument and who you are dealing with….

[toejam]

Who are we supposed to beware of? Why bother posting if you're not going to tell us who the person is? Also, while Paypal Gift used to be free, they now charge fees for it to the person sending the money.

[SausageofPower]

Honestly, if it were me, I would file with Paypal. In the latter part of this past year, they began to cover non-eBay purchases, so if you opened a case and submitted documentation they would help you resolve it from a financial standpoint. Or, if you used a credit card, you could contact the issuer.

If a seller says that a part/guitar/etc is in working order and it arrives otherwise, unless it was damaged in transit then it's their problem. I'm always willing to work with someone to resolve things amicably (I purchased an effects pedal with a damaged power cord, and offered to split the difference on a new one), but if this guy isn't willing to work with you and only says, "Derp, I spent that cash son," then I'd go to the next level.

That's just me though.

[DonP]

I refuse to send paypal gift.

[Dave Rocks]

Who are we supposed to beware of? Why bother posting if you're not going to tell us who the person is? Also, while Paypal Gift used to be free, they now charge fees for it to the person sending the money.

Hey Joe,

That's not entirley true...I just did a paypal gift the other night with no fees.

Here is the story:

I friend bought a Wayne Guitar and needed to pay the final balance but he was not able to send a gift to Wayne without a fee, but I could and he could send me a gift payment with no fee. So, he sent me the money and I sent it to Wayne for him - go figure...

[Hellraiser6502]

The real beware should be PAYPAL!! You can feel very secure as a buyer...but as a SELLER you are screwed. PayPal plays god with every claims transaction and if you are seller YOU WILL LOSE THE CLAIM DISPUTE every time.

REcent case in point....guitar is shipped,meets UPS shipping guidelines...and is still broken in transit. Typical headstock partial break. PayPal does their 'investigation' and finds in favor of the buyer, giving a full refund...never mind that The item is insured and UPS is liable for the damage and there is an open claim.

PayPal is a scam....if you sell items and you take PayPay.....sooner or later you will be burned.

[Rich#6]

The money from a ups claim goes to the seller not the buyer so paypal is correct in refunding the buyer. paypal sucks but just because they didn't side with you doesn't mean they're wrong.

[Larz]

Knowing zero percent of the truth in this case (i.e., I should probably stay out of it before inserting foot in mouth) the buyer should be able to assume the guitar and electronics are in working order and not have to ask the seller to test drive it right before shipping just to be sure (unless it is sold "as is" with a disclosure that it needs some specific repair work).

Seller should at least be willing to chip in on repair cost. If you can't afford $25 or $50 bucks on that how you gonna eat the rest of the month?

[toejam]

Hey Joe,

That's not entirley true...I just did a paypal gift the other night with no fees.

Here is the story:

I friend bought a Wayne Guitar and needed to pay the final balance but he was not able to send a gift to Wayne without a fee, but I could and he could send me a gift payment with no fee. So, he sent me the money and I sent it to Wayne for him - go figure...

I just bought a Carvin V3M off somebody yesterday... I tried to use Paypal Gift, but it was trying to charge me a fee for like $14 and change. When I just sent it regular Paypal, it charged the seller. I could not figure a way around it. I've used the Gift option in the past with no problem, just figured it was something new they were doing to make up for losing money on that feature.

[Rich#6]

I think it depends on weather or not you use a credit card.

[SausageofPower]

I just bought a Carvin V3M off somebody yesterday... I tried to use Paypal Gift, but it was trying to charge me a fee for like $14 and change. When I just sent it regular Paypal, it charged the seller.

Were you using your bank or a card? I think they charge for using cards but not debiting your account.

[toejam]

Ah, that explains it. I normally use my bank account but decided to use a credit card for this purchase.

[Corpsegrinder88]

The real beware should be PAYPAL!! You can feel very secure as a buyer...but as a SELLER you are screwed. PayPal plays god with every claims transaction and if you are seller YOU WILL LOSE THE CLAIM DISPUTE every time.

REcent case in point....guitar is shipped,meets UPS shipping guidelines...and is still broken in transit. Typical headstock partial break. PayPal does their 'investigation' and finds in favor of the buyer, giving a full refund...never mind that The item is insured and UPS is liable for the damage and there is an open claim.

PayPal is a scam....if you sell items and you take PayPay.....sooner or later you will be burned.

100% on the money!

BUt really whats the point of this if we dunno who to look out for? :think:

[Dave Rocks]

Ah, that explains it. I normally use my bank account but decided to use a credit card for this purchase.

Yep, in that case the credit card company will hit them with a fee so they are jsut passing it along..

[toejam]

Makes sense. Thanks.


So come on mystixboi, let us know who we've got to beware of!