Buyer wants a return and requesting full refund. Help!

[rsm]

Thanks all you fine folks for your input and advice!

I reached out to the buyer and offered a partial refund of $400 for him to keep the guitar, and he accepted! So now I'm only out $400 instead of 800. I am happy with that!

I did that ( seller refunded my full price; I paid him half what I paid since the insurance was giving him a hard time) as I mentioned before, on the Randall RG1503 2x12 combo UPS destroyed.

I got my money back on it though, I recently traded it in at a local music store for a few hundred off a new-in-the-factory-sealed-box Mesa recto 2x12 compact cab. I did show them the damage areas, but as I said other than the shipping damage, the amp worked and looked mint except for the frame breaks.

 

[grrr_me_scary]

Thanks all you fine folks for your input and advice!

I reached out to the buyer and offered a partial refund of $400 for him to keep the guitar, and he accepted! So now I'm only out $400 instead of 800. I am happy with that!

I'm glad to hear you only lost half of the money and not the full amount plus it would have been a lot of headaches and extra time on your part trying to sell it later with it being damaged.

You should also contact the shippers and see if they can cover some of the loss but I wouldn't let them know you did get $400 from the buyer since they might use that against you.

One time I had sent a friend a Music Man JPX guitar inside a case and packed within the original shipping box.

He said that one of the 3-way toggle switches was completely ripped out of the guitar when he opened the case.

I don't even see how that would have been possible but it happened

 

[hammered]

Ebay doesn't use PayPal anymore. You link your bank account directly to them now.

I haven’t sold on Ebay in years but I still buy things all the time using PayPal. Those funds are sent directly to the seller’s bank account now ?

 

[acceptance]

Just wanna say for the record that Paypal sux. They are taking political sides and even your money if you don’t align. Fuckem.

 

[Metalhex]

I haven’t sold on Ebay in years but I still buy things all the time using PayPal. Those funds are sent directly to the seller’s bank account now ?

I think it is just that you cannot use PayPal to receive payments anymore. It was news to me too as I haven't sold anything in many years on there

 

[Metalhex]

Just wanna say for the record that Paypal sux. They are taking political sides and even your money if you don’t align. Fuckem.

Wait what??

Seperate question, will I have to write this off on my taxes because the initial sale was over 800 even though I ended up with only 400 after the refund?

 

[VonBonfire]

Wait what??

Seperate question, will I have to write this off on my taxes because the initial sale was over 800 even though I ended up with only 400 after the refund?

You're off the hook for this year on the tax deal. Next year you will be required to report profit over $600 unless they remove or delay the requirement again. Glad things sort of worked out.

 

[GOHOINC]

So guys, what are you doing when you ship a 50 lb amp head? Are you just dropping the amp off at UPS/Fed Ex and saying here - pack this and ship?

I ask because it seems even they would not be able to do the best job. But I get that then it is 100% insured I guess. I also ask because I see a lot of positive transaction feedback on RT with folks saying things like: "He packed it to survive a nuclear bomb" OR "@ABC always packs well" etc.

So would it be wise to pack the amp yourself the way you would want it, and then take the box to UPS/Fed Ex and have them put your box in one of their boxes and have them ship? That seems like a doubly good way of making sure it is done right.


Thanks for sharing your story @Metalhex. If anything, show this thread to the buyer. Maybe he will see/feel that you made an honest mistake and only accept the cost value of getting the guitar fixed (which could be $400 I guess, but I doubt it).

Also, sounds like a $400 mistake but if 1 or 2 other brothers here learn something and it saves their ass in the future then maybe you can consider it all worth it. Paid forward if you will. That's how I look at life anyway

The only time I have ever had to file a claim was when I paid the UPS store to pack a Soldano SL-60 head, they thought it would be fine for a 60lb amp head to float around in a box full of packing peanuts alone...

I believe the major carriers list their packaging specs on their sites, or at least they used to. As long as you are meeting their stated specs for packaging they should pay. I know there are people on here who will tell you that wasnt enough for them and I believe they have refused pay out legit claims that met specs. Based on those horror stories though I adopted the policy of double / triple packing depending on the item and its value. Hardcase packed in a box, packed in another box is well beyond their stated packaging requirements and should get you paid...

 

[harddriver]

The only time I have ever had to file a claim was when I paid the UPS store to pack a Soldano SL-60 head, they thought it would be fine for a 60lb amp head to float around in a box full of packing peanuts alone...

I believe the major carriers list their packaging specs on their sites, or at least they used to. As long as you are meeting their stated specs for packaging they should pay. I know there are people on here who will tell you that wasnt enough for them and I believe they have refused pay out legit claims that met specs. Based on those horror stories though I adopted the policy of double / triple packing depending on the item and its value. Hardcase packed in a box, packed in another box is well beyond their stated packaging requirements and should get you paid...

I was just at a FedEx store to get a quote on shipping a 45 lb Randall RG100ES amp and the guy there quoted me a price of $130.00 to single box pack the amp and ship it from the midwest to Texas and if I packed it they would not honor the insurance. I asked him how much to double box the amp correctly so it would survive the trip and he said, "Well I don't even have boxes that big and I'm going to have to fabricate a box so it will be wrapped in bubblewrap about two inches thick then single boxed. "

We all know here that isn't even close to enough overpack to protect the amp in shipping! I promptly walked out and contacted the guy who inquired about shipping and I had to tell him it wasn't worth it to me to ship the amp and risk getting a working amp damaged then we would both be out of money...working equipment and both of us unhappy.

 

[Tone Monster]

I paid for packing at The UPS store once. They crushed the combo of course and initially DENIED the claim even though they packed it. Can't make it up! I regret how mean I was to the employees that day.

 

[GOHOINC]

I was just at a FedEx store to get a quote on shipping a 45 lb Randall RG100ES amp and the guy there quoted me a price of $130.00 to single box pack the amp and ship it from the midwest to Texas and if I packed it they would not honor the insurance. I asked him how much to double box the amp correctly so it would survive the trip and he said, "Well I don't even have boxes that big and I'm going to have to fabricate a box so it will be wrapped in bubblewrap about two inches thick then single boxed. "

We all know here that isn't even close to enough overpack to protect the amp in shipping! I promptly walked out and contacted the guy who inquired about shipping and I had to tell him it wasn't worth it to me to ship the amp and risk getting a working amp damaged then we would both be out of money...working equipment and both of us unhappy.

That's crazy. My local FedEx is way more helpful than that. Ain't cheap, it cost me 130 each to ship my last three guitars fully insured. I haven't shipped an amp in a number of years and want to say it still cost me 100 or more back then to ship it.

 

[LP Freak]

I just shipped a $2k head with Pirate ship insured for $40

 

[DanTravis62]

Shit happens.

Glad to hear you're only out half the money

But you HAVE to have a case with pointy guitars or this is going to happen every single time next time just order a cheap one off reverb

Honestly, if it was bubble wrapped over a gig bag this probably wouldn't have happened

But I would still put foam inserts strategically in, and around, the box and gig bag - on top of the bubble wrap

 

[Metalhex]

Shit happens.

Glad to hear you're only out half the money

But you HAVE to have a case with pointy guitars or this is going to happen every single time next time just order a cheap one off reverb

Honestly, if it was bubble wrapped over a gig bag this probably wouldn't have happened

But I would still put foam inserts strategically in, and around, the box and gig bag - on top of the bubble wrap

Lesson learned believe me!

 

[7704A]

I paid for packing at The UPS store once. They crushed the combo of course and initially DENIED the claim even though they packed it. Can't make it up! I regret how mean I was to the employees that day.

You're not the only person I've heard this story from. I don't have the links handy, it might have been in one of the "how do I ship x" threads, but I've seen this story enough times that I personally wouldn't count on them (UPS or FedEx) honoring the insurance on officially-packed stuff.