The Electra Forums

Steve, darn, what a hassle - I wish I hadn't told the guy how to ship it !!! It's a shame he ignored reasonable ways to resolve this...I hope you are going to leave negative feedback. Personally, I'll gladly refund, either full or partial, and pay return shipping also if I missed something. It's kinda sad, but I'd rather give a partial refund even if not deserved than risk having a case opened or getting low DSR's for item as described - many sellers don't realize how mush these can hurt their performance ratings - so -- negative feedback with 1's for item as described and communication for this seller !!!! (I just gave a partial refund on the Electra body/neck I had listed despite the fact the buyer's complaints weren't evident in the photos - oh, well)

Jeez, this rips my undies.... The seller clearly misrepresented the guitar and is now digging his toes in, and worse, bloody eBay seems to be siding with him by putting the cost of return on Steve before he gets refunded?! WTF?!

I still burn over a guitar that never arrived from LA a year or three ago. One of the guys from the Matt forum was acting as agent and he never got it, and the seller swore blind that he sent it. The correspondence between jb and the seller got pretty willing, and in the end I just said thanks to jb and walked away from it as it was only a matter of 50 bux but it was, I'm sure, a matter that he realised that he had undersold it... Bastid!

I say stick to yer guns, boy!! I know Jead and the other lads are seeing both sides of this deal, but, sod it; there's far too much of this junk going on on the anonymity that is eBay...

Slightly OT rant over.... Normal transmission is resumed...

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"... and on the eighth day, God created New Zealanders.

Because even the Australians need heroes."

I apoligize, Ice....I didn't mean to insinuate that you were a nit pickin person. I was just relating to you the kind of seller that I've become over time. I have little patience anymore for the NP's who should be buying from their local shop where they can actually hold a guitar and argue about the finger prints and pick scratching on the spot.

Sorry again that I came across that way.

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JD's Electras

I firmly believe the seller misrepresented and therefore Ice overpaid. I think we all can agree that when buying sight unseen we're taking on an element of risk. Caveat Emptor should always be the rule.

To me, this emphasizes yet another weakness in the ebay model - at present it's an all or nothing resolution. There's no middle ground for price adjustment - ebay wants you to work that out with the seller. If the seller won't listen to reason you're pretty much out of luck - you can either return for a full refund or keep it at a "misrepresented" price. If a dispute or case is opened in ebay, I believe that nearly always ebay will come down on the buyers side (usually the buyer would be reimbursed for all fees including return shipping).

Unfortunately, I don't think this is a unique situation at all. I've experienced many sellers who strongly play up the good and neglect to mention the bad. It seems they are willing to take a calculated risk, and if there are complaints they will offer a partial refund just to avoid the return and feedback hassles. As i see it there's no arbiter in the deal. For a resolution in a case like this ebay would need to impose an escrow or hold say 50% of the selling price for 45 days or until the buyer signs off as the item being OK. If it's not OK do we really want ebay to decide a dollar amount of how not OK it is?? As a seller - I want my funds. As a buyer I want what I paid for. Ultimately this isn't about winning or losing - it's about right and wrong - and right does not always prevail.

I agree that many people will buy a guitar (or anything) listed as mint quality, and then demand a refund citing a couple of small scratches that obviously don't matter.

That is being ignorant.

When you list an item as unused, flawless, museum quality, put away new and never touched again, etc.
and it shows up with a number of scratches, fret wear, some dings and tiny scuffs....

The seller is clearly IGNORANT and should bend over backwards to rectify the situation-including offering a FAIR partial refund- the buyer can curse and swear and insult all they want as well as demanding refunds when they've been intentionally ripped off. I would neuter the seller with angry feedback as unless the situation was 100% repaired.

I've worked retail enough years to know that you can't put a TV (or anything) that's been scratched up and visibly used back in the box and sell it as new- unless it really is "like new" without owning up once caught. Otherwise you deserve horrible word-of-mouth negative advertising from angry consumers; and in my experience it soon follows. It doesn't pay in the long term to trick people..

Imagine buying a new in box TV from Best Buy with a used, dim bulb and the screen is scratched by someone's cat. It happens and when it does Best Buy has the egg on their face. If corporate gets wind of a manager trying to argue with customers over something like that, decisive action is almost always taken quickly.

If a seller wants to overcharge people that's their business.

It's completely unethical business practice to overcharge by blatant misrepresentation.

Sorry to rant but I've been on both sides of the fence and in this type of situation the buyer is always RIGHTEOUS! It makes me mad when other retailers and professional vendors aren't ethical. Offering to meet you halfway is a joke in this case. Would a reputable vendor only meet you halfway after blatantly misrepresenting their product? Yeah right.