Was this seller trying to pull a fast one?

[Bass Viking]

I'd like to get you folks' opinion on an incident.

Recently, I was selling a bass and a person contacted me with an offer to trade one of his basses for mine. I was interested and he came over. He auditioned mine through my amp while I played his unplugged (I liked the way it played). Before I had a chance to hear his bass through the amp, he said he liked mine and asked if I wanted to do the trade. Naturally, I plugged his bass into the amp before announcing my decision but when I did, I noticed that the electronics produced a very noticeable, constant background noise. That was a deal breaker for me but he said he would fix the issue and then we could complete the transaction. A few days later he informed me that he had decided to keep his bass after all, so the trade never happened.

He seemed like a nice guy and I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt but something just doesn't smell right. If I was selling a bass with electronics problems I would either fix the problem beforehand or inform a potential buyer of the issue. I also wouldn't expect someone to decide whether or not they want the bass before hearing it through an amp. What do you guys think? Am I being overly suspicious or does this seem fishy to you?


Thanks in advance.

[Baryonyx]

It does seem like he was trying to to get away with your bass before you got to try it out with an amp. Obviously, not the worst kind of scammer but underhand all the same.

[Trevorus]

Seems a bit shifty. It's good that you got away from the deal, though. No money out of your pocket, which is good.

[invader3k]

My guess is he already knew about the noise from the bass.