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Arrh...my first Reverb.com purchase is terrible

#141
Fergie Fulton said:
Keep the bass and take the marks out...it is an easy and cheap job to do.
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No offense, but I have to agree with Fergie Fulton. I've bought several items on Reverb since 2014 and only had a problem once due to blatant misrepresentation. For your situation the seller listed the item as mint, which is not new. I do not know what the rest of the bass looked like, but those (2?) very small dents on the back of the neck that don't appear to penetrate the finish of the bass are barely visible/extremely minor in my opinion and are only visible to the player and only under scrutiny. Mint is not new. It is hardly 'terrible'. Did you pay close to new MSRP?

The problem I had on Reverb is where the seller substituted a soft case for a stated hard shell case. After the sale the seller contacted me and said he couldn't ship the bass in the hard shell case made by the manufacturer that he stated in the Ad so I replied 'no big deal as long as it is still a hard shell case, I don't care who it is made by'. When I got it I told him I wanted a refund and immediately contacted REVERB. I got my entire money back, including shipping.
 
#144
40Hz said:
Based on what I’ve seen, Paypal invariably sides with the buyer. Makes sense because it’s the buyers who use their services rather than the sellers who accept Paypal that drives their business model. Sometimes Reverb will do something for the seller after the fact. But I’ve never seen a buyer file a claim through Paypal and not get their money back as long as they’re within Paypal’s terms of service for making a claim. Credit cards are the same way. The cardholder is their real customer. So that’s who they back when push comes to shove. And with them it’s virtually always too.
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Agreed, because buyers must be protected.

While not a perfect system, it's still light years better than the early days when ebay was riddled with ripoff sellers.

The flip side now, is that honest ebay sellers have to guard against dishonest buyers. There are proactive ways to fend off bad buyers simply by properly executing a listing. It takes a little time and effort, but it's not hard. Failing to do so opens the door to all sorts of potential problems. And ebay takes that into consideration if/when a dispute is filed, as they will review the listing content.

If the seller is lax in the spirit of "full disclosure", ebay has no way to determine if the seller is honest, or if he is deliberately avoiding disclosing important details. In which case, the buyer almost certainly wins the dispute, almost by default.

Even so, I rarely see a well executed ebay listing where the seller guards against potential chiselers.
 
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#146
Iridescentone said:
Agreed, because buyers must be protected.

While not a perfect system, it's still light years better than the early days when ebay was riddled with ripoff sellers.

The flip side now, is that honest ebay sellers have to guard against dishonest buyers. There are proactive ways to fend off bad buyers simply by properly executing a listing. It takes a little time and effort, but it's not hard. Failing to do so opens the door to all sorts of potential problems. And ebay takes that into consideration if/when a dispute is filed, as they will review the listing content.

If the seller is lax in the spirit of "full disclosure", ebay has no way to determine if the seller is honest, or if he is deliberately avoiding disclosing important details. In which case, the buyer almost certainly wins the dispute, almost by default.

Even so, I rarely see a well executed ebay listing where the seller guards against potential chiselers.
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Very true that. Which is unfortunate considering how EBay spells out pretty cleary what constitutes acceptable practices and a properly worded listing.

I guess most people don’t bother to read that info page and just wing it.
 
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#147
That's has nothing to do with reverb. It's has to do with the seller and yourself. It's your responsibility to research the seller, his feedback and history for starts. B. You need to be real thorough sometimes because one persons " mint " may not be your mint. I always ask for extra pictures and really annoy the seller sometimes but idc cause I have the right. It's your $$ being spent. Reverb website on other hand has been excellent to me. I have bought numerous things from guitars and basses, to pedals and and amps and they have all been 100 % accurate.
 
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#149
descendent22 said:
That's has nothing to do with reverb. It's has to do with the seller and yourself. It's your responsibility to research the seller, his feedback and history for starts. B. You need to be real thorough sometimes because one persons " mint " may not be your mint. I always ask for extra pictures and really annoy the seller sometimes but idc cause I have the right. It's your $$ being spent. Reverb website on other hand has been excellent to me. I have bought numerous things from guitars and basses, to pedals and and amps and they have all been 100 % accurate.
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You make good points, and buyer beware! I also check out a sellers other current listings and previous listings and actually read the feedback. If something looks too good to be true, it very well may not be, but it's not worth the risk for me given the hassle of dealign with the hoops you have to jump through and hopefully get all of your money back. Researching the seller isn't a 100% guarantee of course, but it can expose some red flags and may help you avoid potential "terrible" experiences.
 
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#152
Vinnie Boombatz said:
From where to where, and with how much insurance? Have a receipt to prove that?
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FedEx Ground from west coast to east coast, for a bass about that expensive, fully insured, runs around $50.

Go use their shipping calculator if you're interested: asking for a photo of a receipt as "proof" is both pretty silly and a derail of the OP's thread :thumbsup:
 
#153
MDBass said:
FedEx Ground from west coast to east coast, for a bass about that expensive, fully insured, runs around $50.

Go use their shipping calculator if you're interested: asking for a photo of a receipt as "proof" is both silly and a derail of the OP's thread :thumbsup:
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Then feel free to send me a PM with proof of what you're claiming so you dont have to derail this super-critical 8 page thread. The only thing that's silly is you not being able to back up your claim. And whatever a Fed Ex Calculator says online is moot if what you'll actually end up paying is much more.
 
#154
Vinnie Boombatz said:
Then feel free to send me a PM with proof of what you're claiming so you dont have to derail this 8 page thread. The only thing that's silly is you not being able to back up your claim. And whatever a Fed Ex Calculator says online is moot if what you'll actually end up paying is much more.
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I'm not the poster you were replying to, and I'm not derailing anything.

I'm also not interested in looking through my filing cabinet for a receipt from the last bass I shipped that was that inexpensive, simply to satisfy a stranger who is being needlessly combative.

Have a nice afternoon :thumbsup:
 
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#155
MDBass said:
I'm not the poster you were replying to, and I'm not derailing anything.

I'm also not interested in looking through my filing cabinet for a receipt from the last bass I shipped that was that inexpensive, simply to satisfy a stranger who is being needlessly combative.

Have a nice afternoon :thumbsup:
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Sorry if it's combative, but without being able to backup the claim, it's just hearsay.
 
#157
Kmonk said:
I've had good luck buying and selling on Reverb. The only issue was when I was trying to buy a 2 space rack from a local seller. He refused to allow me to pick up the item and insisted that I let him ship it at my expense. I declined and we agreed to cancel the transaction.
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That was probably so that he could still have seller's protection from Paypal: he needs to produce evidence that you posted the item. If you collect and then claim with Paypal that you never got it, Paypal will ask the seller for proof of posting. No proof of posting? You win, and get your money back. Seller was just being cautious, I guess.

In that case, being local, I'd just offer to do the transaction outside Reverb: meet somewhere, you give cash, selelr gives you the item, and all happy. I'm surprised he didn't offer that solution.
 
#158
AztecViking said:
On most recently made genuine Musicman Stingrays the necks are left unfinished beneath the nut by the factory because it facilitates easier movement of the hand across the back the neck. I'm not sure if the same thing is true of Sterling's Ray series but it's very likely that your Ray 34 was issued that way straight from the factory. I would definitely keep that in mind if you ever plan to get another Musicman or Sterling brand bass in the future.
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No, it's a satin type finish and there's no visible difference between headstock and neck. Someone has used some abrasive on that neck to make it smoother removing the existing treatment. No biggie, but should have been mentioned. Same with the dings... very minor [1] but that's not 'mint condition'...

[1] they look like you can probably restore the wood using the old "iron and wet towel" method, where you gently heat up the wood whilst providing humidity and the distorted wood fibres (which are likely not broken, just bent) swell and restore their previous position.

Had that on my Stingray after I stupidly rested my bass against an amp while adjusting something onstage and it fell on a DI box leaving a big dent on the back of the neck.

edit: bold type - well, I was wrong. I never noticed it, and my Stingray (see avatar) had its neck cleaned and lacquered years ago, so that's why. :)
 
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#159
mcnach said:
No, it's a satin type finish and there's no visible difference between headstock and neck. Someone has used some abrasive on that neck to make it smoother removing the existing treatment. No biggie, but should have been mentioned. Same with the dings... very minor [1] but that's not 'mint condition'...

[1] they look like you can probably restore the wood using the old "iron and wet towel" method, where you gently heat up the wood whilst providing humidity and the distorted wood fibres (which are likely not broken, just bent) swell and restore their previous position.

Had that on my Stingray after I stupidly rested my bass against an amp while adjusting something onstage and it fell on a DI box leaving a big dent on the back of the neck.
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You are actually wrong. I owned a Sterling Ray 34 and a 35. The necks definitely have a distinct line on the back of the neck where the gloss finish stops going down from the headstock. It is perfectly normal and not added or removed finish.
 
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#160
bassdood said:
Yep. I almost did a local trade, wherein I would have received a MM StingRay 5HH. It had the "unfinished" neck, which I had never heard of before, and it really threw me for a loop when I tried it out. For that and a few other reasons, I ended up not doing the trade. Afterwards I read up about it. Turns out a lot of players like it; others just get it finished in a manner that suits them. If you like the bass, that's not a huge mod.
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Yeah, it's an oil finish, and you need to keep cleaning/oiling it or it gets dirty and horrible looking soon. But many love it. I don't, and I got mine cleaned up (it was very dark!) and lacquered... now it's beautiful and it stays beautiful, but I also prefer the feel of lacquered necks.
 

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