That neck is far closer to "mint" than this transaction is to "terrible" (and bear in mind the actual listing was excellent not mint). I'd suggest asking for a full set of pics next time to avoid this kind of hassle, or avoid online purchasing.
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If you decide to keep the bass, you might try using a bone to deal with the dents. It's an old trick that has been used forever on finished wood surfaces like a bass neck. You usually use either a pork or beef rib bone, (in a pinch you could use a chicken thigh bone). Just make sure that it's clean and dried out. Use the smoothest surface of the bone that you can find and start rubbing on the dent applying light pressure at first to see how it works. Increase the pressure as needed and take your time and you can basically make most small dents like the ones in your pic disappear. You can follow this up with Imperial Hand Glaze or Mirror Glaze to bring back any lost shine. If there is no finish or a tung oil finish, you'd want to try steaming the dent out. For that you'd use either a household iron on the highest setting, or a soldering iron. Wet the dent slightly, then wet a clean piece of cloth. put the cloth over the dent and briefly apply heat from the iron to the dent. Repeat until dent disappears. After it has dried thoroughly, use 0000 steel wool to polish out any raised wood grain.
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Two things;
The issue is not whether a "refund" is granted, but which party is responsible for shipping costs. The return shipping, the initial shipping, or both.
Feedback...Reverb is not ebay. Reverb will remove negative feedbacks from seller's feedback histories. No one knows how often that happens (except the Reverb folks), but it definitely happens. Without a reliably honest feedback system, how can buyers possibly determine the integrity of sellers?
Agreed. However, some important things cannot be shown in pics. Like whether the truss rod is working correctly, or is max'd out. And whether the neck is truly straight, free of humps, dips, or twists. For that info you'll have to "ask" the seller those questions. If the seller lies about it, and you go ahead and buy it, you'll end up with a problem.
At that point the buyer is presented with a fait accompli. The best one can hope for is a return/refund including all shipping costs. At least with that outcome, the victim is only out some angst and wasted time, not dollars and cents. Cheers.
I like a battle worn instrument. Bought a 1978 Gretsch TK300 - finish missing from parts of the body - the thing has been used a lot. The seller though did disclose but he said it was Very Good Condition - as a player he was correct - as a wall hanger not so much. Bought a 63 Gretsch 6070 and it was listed as excellent - but knowing those necks I talked him down for the cost of a neck reset he never disclosed. When I got it - I had guessed right. It was cosmetically beautiful but needed a neck reset. Reverb prices are too high - most sellers will come down in price.
Maybe. I'm not sure the seller "lied" though. Depending on what definition of mint he used and given a lower level of OCD, he may have used that description without the intent to deceive.
I haven't had an issue with reverb.com specifically, but if it was completed through paypal, you could raise the case with them. I've had one bad experience buying and selling online and it was actually here on Talkbass with payment through Paypal. I sold an Ampeg head to a new user (no Feedback). The whole time prebuy, the buyer expressed how much he hated Ampeg and the Ampeg tone and was buying it only because it was required in his area to be considered a professional bassist.(How dumb.) I sold it to him after expressing reservations. He busts my balls to ship it out ASAP. I jump through hoops to get it out same day. He gets it, and essentially tells me it isn't what he wanted although it was a fully functioning head and files a claim to paypal to get his refund. (Here's where it could pertain to your situation.) Paypal, which belongs to eBay, immediately issued the full refund because it claimed that transactions completed outside of eBay have no burden of proof from the buyer to prove foul before issuing a refund. They do not consider any non eBay related messages, because it has no way of cleanly proving authenticity of communication. It is easier to provide refund then actually investigate fraud. In the end Paypal issued him a full refund & me a credit for the cost of shipping, because of my good standing history with Paypal. If they hadn't, I would have been out the cost of shipping all because he bought an amp he knew going into it he didn't like.
You probably won't need to go to the extent of going to Paypal, but if Reverb.com doesn't take care of you, as the buyer Paypal will. (Sellers beware.)
(Side note: I ended up selling the Ampeg to be used as a backline for a bluegrass festival. Performed flawlessly as I'm sure it continues to. What a douche.)
You probably won't need to go to the extent of going to Paypal, but if Reverb.com doesn't take care of you, as the buyer Paypal will. (Sellers beware.)
(Side note: I ended up selling the Ampeg to be used as a backline for a bluegrass festival. Performed flawlessly as I'm sure it continues to. What a douche.)
Right. But regardless of intent, the result is the same....a misrepresented item.
Going beyond the OP's willingness to accept whatever little dings there are on the neck of the bass he received, and which posters within this thread consider them acceptable or not, this experience should serve as a cautionary tale for those who may be less experienced with buying stuff online. It's not for the faint of heart. Cheers.
My two cents worth, I'd keep the bass and buff out the dents (those don't like like nicks to, the surface looks intact), they look pretty small to me and that is a decent price for the bass.
Pete
Pete
I was going to add that a satin finish on the neck below the headstock is usually a good feature on finished necks. Seems like others caught that already. It should be uniform or you'll have slow spots that catch when your hands are dry. As for the dings, they aren't that bad imo. Not mint though. I agree with some posters. If the bass plays and sounds correct, maybe you should just ask for a minor discount based on the dings and keep moving forward. 
This is my pet peeve. Colloquial use of terms by the seller and acceptance of those terms by the buyer. This is a business deal and there has to be more accuracy since one only has pictures and descriptions to judge the purchase.
"Mint" is a specific term for coin collecting meaning uncirculated and sealed up. It's also used in stamps and cards, but should not be used in music. The closest term to this in the music industry is "New Old Stock" which is an unplayed, factory sealed product. Break the seal, it's excellent at best. When someone uses "Mint" to describe an item to me, I reply with "Oh, so it's still factory sealed, unplayed? I should expect it to be factory new?" The seller realizes their mistake and gets much more accurate in the description.
I believe in full disclosure and under representing while over delivering, even more so when it's an impersonal transaction done over the interweb without hands on inspections before the money changes hands. You don't get in sticky situations with this, unless the other party is a nut job. That said, the seller used poor terms, but if the buyer didn't ask for specifics and clairify, he's on the hook for accepting a loose description. I would eat the $50 and take it as a learning experience.
It's not thumb wear. All Sterling Ray 34 and 35 basses come that way. The gloss finish is delineated at the nut and covers the headstock.
I know the seller misrepresented the guitar, but other than the few little dings and such, does it play good? Does it sound good? Dings and cosmetic issues aren't usually that expensive to fix, and you can fix a lot of them yourself, with minimal trouble. You've already bought the guitar. If it plays and sounds good, it may be easier just to consider it a lesson learned, and fix the flaws yourself, then burn the seller with bad feedback. You could also report him for fraudulent Listing Practices.
I've gotten burned a time or two on eBay myself, and I just fixed them, and wound up with ones even better than if they were mint, because since I was working on them anyway, I went ahead and tweaked them to my personal tastes. Not too long ago, I got and Ibanez AEG 10N Classical from an eBay seller that was supposed to be in 'perfect' condition, for my winning bid of $130.00. They retail for between $250.00 to $299.00, and up. When it arrived, the truss rod was all the way tight, but the neck was still bowed to an unacceptable degree. Rather than argue with the seller, I just burned them on feedback, and reported them to EBay (who promptly suspended their account). All it took to fix it was a few wood blocks, a clamp, and around 4 days setting time. While the neck was re-setting, I went ahead and oiled and tightened the tuners, shaved the bridge a bit, polished the frets, and removed a cool little Matchbox toy car from inside the body. Now, it looks and plays better than my $1200.00 Cordoba.
Just a suggestion.....
I've gotten burned a time or two on eBay myself, and I just fixed them, and wound up with ones even better than if they were mint, because since I was working on them anyway, I went ahead and tweaked them to my personal tastes. Not too long ago, I got and Ibanez AEG 10N Classical from an eBay seller that was supposed to be in 'perfect' condition, for my winning bid of $130.00. They retail for between $250.00 to $299.00, and up. When it arrived, the truss rod was all the way tight, but the neck was still bowed to an unacceptable degree. Rather than argue with the seller, I just burned them on feedback, and reported them to EBay (who promptly suspended their account). All it took to fix it was a few wood blocks, a clamp, and around 4 days setting time. While the neck was re-setting, I went ahead and oiled and tightened the tuners, shaved the bridge a bit, polished the frets, and removed a cool little Matchbox toy car from inside the body. Now, it looks and plays better than my $1200.00 Cordoba.
Just a suggestion.....
I dont know about in the US but Ive used ebay here in Oz to buy a couple of guitars in the past that have had similar issues to this, I opened a dispute with ebay and the seller has to pay return shipping, both times the seller argued it but when I upgraded it to a dispute ebay made them cover the whole cost.
