I told Reverb to f#ck off today, put my money where my mouth is.

  • Thread starter Thread starter GJgo
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GJgo

GJgo

Well-known member
...And it's not about the fees! It's about censorship, unequal treatment and unwillingness to have a conversation with a long time customer who is a "preferred seller". So much for artistic expression- apparently they are only "fully inclusive" of people who agree with their views. I've made a lot of money & had a lot of great experiences on Reverb over the last 10 or so years, and they recently did something that pissed me off. They suspended my ad for my ESP Hanneman- with the current PC logo mind you- and refused to have a conversation about it. I even demanded that my complaint move up the ladder and the rep told me no! I know, there's nothing useful from this post but I wanted to vent about it & let others know for posterity that you can't expect fair or equal treatment there if you have a complaint. Lately I had been favoring Reverb despite the higher fees. I don't need them though so screw 'em. For anyone who cares here's the transcript, following through with my word..

Reverb-
"Reverb Customer Support here. The following listing from your shop was flagged for issues related to Reverb’s Listing Guidelines:
Our team has permanently suspended this listing to address the following:
  • Explicit / Offensive Imagery: The gear contains offensive references or imagery. Reverb is a fully inclusive international marketplace. We do our best to make sure all content on the site is accessible and appropriate for all audiences. Items containing references or imagery deemed offensive or inappropriate may not be listed or sold on Reverb.
This item may not be sold on Reverb. The decision is final, and no further action is needed at this time.

Please do not create a new listing for this item, as this action is prohibited and may result in account review or suspension."

Me-
"I’m sorry, but I do not understand. There is no offensive imagery in my listing- this is a high end instrument that’s still being sold new by ESP. I’m going to need you to explain & review your position."

Reverb-
"This is Mike at Reverb. Really appreciate the response here. I have your ESP Jeff Hanneman Urban Camo listing pulled up.

Symbols on these guitars have been publicly associated with and/or resemble Nazi iconography. Reverb does not allow items or listings that promote or glorify current or historical hate groups, including their iconography.

This removal is permanent, but you may review our Prohibited Items Policy for more information."

Me-
"Mr. Hanneman did have older signature models that had Nazi iconography on them- and ESP discontinued all of those models due to social pressure. My guitar has the current inlays which they’ve been using on his guitars since 2008 & still sell new today. It’s the letter H, for his last name, and a knife. Last I checked every home in the country has knives in it so that’s hardly offensive. Doing a search on Reverb now for “knife” brings up 121 results, some of them actual knives.

If this particular logo was an issue the PC police surely would have flagged it in the last 12 years & pressured ESP to discontinue. You’re confusing some other “not PC” logos on older models with my guitar. Which, I might add, I bought on Reverb.

Looking at sold Hanneman guitar listings here are 161 of them, with the majority being the same logo as mine- and many being older versions.

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=ESP hanneman&show_only_sold=true

As a preferred seller who buys & sells a lot of gear this is upsetting to me. I’m not sure what your position is in the organization, and I am requesting that this conversation moves up the ladder to someone with appropriate authority because as a customer I’m quite unhappy with the situation."

Reverb-
"This listing suspension is permanent and we have already provided our reasoning for suspension. We will be providing no additional responses regarding this listing moving forward."

Me-
"As an e-commerce business owner, if I had an upset customer I’d want to have a conversation with them to work it out. Considering my ad is being singled out here when you allow & sell hundreds of the same thing by others, I’ve made a compelling case for my position & and Reverb is not even interested in having a discussion about it with someone who has been a customer for years and is a preferred seller, you have lost my business and created bad will. Please close, cancel & delete my account effective immediately.

Also since Reverb desires to squash freedom of artistic expression and people’s ability to choose for themselves you may want to also ban the other things that hurt your feelings like the actual current ESP Hanneman guitar with the Nazi S&Key logo that’s been listed for months, any Hanneman guitar with fret inlays since apparently even the PC ones scare you, any Slayer merch with mean & evil pictures, and black metal gear in general, all blood splatter guitars, Any Guns N’ Roses merch since it says the word GUN, as well as all KISS merchandise which of course has the SS script & font right there in the logo. If you’re going to be the thought police the least you can do is be consistent about it."

Reverb-
"If you would like to cancel your account, please confirm that once canceled, you will not be able to recover your account in future and if you decide to return to the site, you will have to start your account from scratch. If you agree, please confirm and I will remove your account."

Me-
"I am not interested in doing business with a company that has your values, and will happily share my story. Please cancel & remove my account."
 
Reverb has pushed me back to eBay. They aren’t perfect either but no way do I go back to Reverb. Such bullshit from them.
 
WOW! I've been getting ready to pull the plug on them and PP once I move a few final pieces of gear, but this makes me want to do it sooner than later. Their fees are one thing, their lack of customer interaction/support is another, but this sounds ludicrous.
 
Madness!
Funny what we are being reduced to as a society !
It should not be called pc but lc for liberally correct !
 
That's horrible dude, especially since it isn't even one of the ones with the eagle on it. Woke nonsense.

All the best selling it elsewhere!
 
Nicely done!

Looks like Mike at Reverb "Really appreciate the response here" is so genuine.

What a crock....seriously. Ridiculous.
 
Sounds like Reverb since ETSY bought them out has become a WOKE wonderland for some but a nightmare for the logical thinkers.

Your response completely shut down any argument for their position, which is why they will not debate anything if they subscribe to the hard left totalitarian viewpoint.

What used to be politically correct is now morphing into complete Orwellian thought control.

Unfortunately left wing owned businesses could care less about making money, it's movement... not a business.

I would imagine most reasonable people will jump ship as you did. I'm still on Ebay and even they are a pain in the ass but overall still functions as business model, but I would imagine they will eventually ban the guitar due to minority of Karen bots masquerading as a majority demanding it to be so.
 
I didn’t read the rest of the responses however I agree with your sentiment wholeheartedly.

I believe the company changed hands in the last 12 to 24 months. No longer can you actually speak to a person on the telephone and that is terrible customer support. And that is always my first priority after tone when modifying amplifiers.

They are big enough now apparently they no longer care about any one individual. Ebay I know for a fact has abused purchasers by shutting down their accounts due to returning items twice in a row. Not going to get too deep into it but if it’s covered by Ebay and a dispute is filed they will not even go to the individual that sold the item they will simply send the purchaser a USPS return shipping label for a multi thousand dollar guitar or amplifier. After two of these they shut your account down with no ability to appeal. One becomes ladeled as an “abusive purchaser”.

David
 
Thanks guys for letting me know I'm not the crazy one here.. I told my wife it's probably for the best. All this time stuck at home I've been on a buying tear.

Regarding eBay, I got a notice from them the other day that "payments are changing". Sounds like going to a direct-pay model like Reverb did. Reading into it, I gleaned something about potentially requiring your SSN for payments- and the only reason I see for this is to they can report "earnings" to The Man. If that happens, I'm out. I'm not paying 20+% income tax on selling used gear.

Guess I'll have to depend on the RT classifieds. ;)
 
and if you covered up the frets? offer to privately send interested buyers pics?
either way that sucks dude
 
He should not have to cover any fretboard because it's just the letter H and a knife. Nothing racist about it.
 
Stopped using Reverb around 7 months ago. Haven't bought or sold anything there. People complain a lot about them but then just go right back to using them because it's convenient. That's a personal choice. But I decided that I will buy and sell elsewhere. I honestly don't miss that site at all. Overpriced listings to cover the ridiculous fees ands taxes.
 
NewReligion said:
I didn’t read the rest of the responses however I agree with your sentiment wholeheartedly.

I believe the company changed hands in the last 12 to 24 months. No longer can you actually speak to a person on the telephone and that is terrible customer support. And that is always my first priority after tone when modifying amplifiers.

They are big enough now apparently they no longer care about any one individual. Ebay I know for a fact has abused purchasers by shutting down their accounts due to returning items twice in a row. Not going to get too deep into it but if it’s covered by Ebay and a dispute is filed they will not even go to the individual that sold the item they will simply send the purchaser a USPS return shipping label for a multi thousand dollar guitar or amplifier. After two of these they shut your account down with no ability to appeal. One becomes ladeled as an “abusive purchaser”.

David
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Interesting. Well, at least from what it sounds like they’ll actually go to bat for the seller...which is better than what happened to me 10 yrs ago where 2 buyers were clearly trying to scam me.
 
I thought about covering the logos and playing the game, but at the end of the day I decided to put up a fight instead. I don't "need" to sell the guitar, and I don't need them. Personally I'm sick of the emasculation of our culture.
 
Good for you - to hell with Reverb and the PC crap which should have never taken root in the first place. The pendulum is going to swing hard and when it does, these businesses and people who embraced this crap can rot for all I care. Hanneman would put a big middle finger up to all of this b.s. were he still alive.
 
Reverb is awful. Always side with the buyers, even when executing the partial refund scam. Just the worst business EVER!!

sorry you have to deal with these losers.
 
I dont even understand what the problem was./// whats a PC logo?
 
GJgo said:
"Politically Correct" (aka bullshit).

Hanneman was fascinated with German / Nazi history & a lot of his inlays were "offensive".

Personally I'm offended by people who get easily offended.
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that is a hot button issue though...may be a hard sell these days..surprised they picked it up
 
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