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Calibrating feedback for a lackluster seller

lucas303

lucas303

Mar 11, 2019
3,582
7,433
NH
#1
I'm struggling to decide on what feedback rating to leave a Reverb seller and would like some input. First, a very brief rundown of the situation...

I started keeping my eye out for an Ibanez GWB35 recently and one popped up on Reverb described as "In near mint condition. Newly restrung with DR Fat Beams." The price seemed a bit high so I sent a lower offer, which the seller quickly accepted. The seller unfortunately sent it via USPS so it took a while to get to me. When it did arrive, I saw the packing job was awful. It was in a makeshift cardboard box with no internal support, and just some perfunctory bubble tape around most of the body and neck (1-2 layers at most). The headstock was not wrapped in anything. The bass was free to bounce around in the flimsy box (which either had been severely manhandled by USPS or had been reused several times before).

Long story short, the bass has several blemishes including an inch long dent in the body where there was no bubble wrap at all, and the fingerboard has noticeable wear from roundwound strings. (Granted, this is a used instrument, but remember that it was described as "In near mint condition.") Lots of gross gunk in the bridge too. Otherwise the bass seems to function fine.

I took photos, and promptly messaged the seller asking for either a partial refund or that I send it back for a full refund. He agreed to the partial refund but gave me a bad attitude and accused me of just having buyer's remorse.

So now I'm trying to decide what feedback rating to give. (In case anyone is unaware, Reverb has a 1-5 star rating system.) He did give me the partial refund, but he also did a terrible packing job and the instrument wasn't as described (even if the blemishes and dent happened in transit, the fingerboard wear and gunk in the bridge certainly didn't). I'm leaning towards three stars, but is that too harsh? I'd like some input here to help calibrate things...what would you rate a seller under these circumstances?
 
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#5
3 seems on the generous side to me. It's impossible to judge the condition, or assess the "noticeable wear from roundwound strings" on the fretboard from your description, much less without the required pics :bored:, but that's not near mint, and a solid point off in my book. And as for his lack of proper packing; that seriously would put a knot in my tighty whiteys. Inexcusable, absolutely inexcusable, and since it resulted in damage to the instrument; two points off. You could give him the benefit of the doubt if you got a generous discount, but a 2 rating would make other potential buyers take notice.
 
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#7
Philonius said:
3 seems on the generous side to me. It's impossible to judge the condition, or assess the "noticeable wear from roundwound strings" on the fretboard from your description, much less without the required pics :bored:, but that's not near mint, and a solid point off in my book. And as for his lack of proper packing; that seriously would put a knot in my tighty whiteys. Inexcusable, absolutely inexcusable, and since it resulted in damage to the instrument; two points off. You could give him the benefit of the doubt if you got a generous discount, but a 2 rating would make other potential buyers take notice.
Click to expand...
I'm not going to post all the photos because there's really no point, but here are a couple choice selections for you.
IMG_20210817_135706.jpg

This is how it was packed. I opened the box and it was like this. Yes, that's a roll of bubble wrap just thrown in there. It's almost a bad joke...yeah, I could've used this bubble wrap on the bass but instead I'll just toss it in here for spite. And yes, that's some sort of adhesive label sticking the bubble wrap to the neck. The bass isn't secured to anything inside the box...it's just bouncing around in there. And to be clear, I didn't unwrap the bass at all before taking this photo. I just opened the box.


IMG_20210817_140101.jpg


My phone didn't do a great job of capturing this dent, but believe me in person it's worse than it looks here.

To be honest it's a miracle the thing survived two weeks in the hands of USPS having been packed so poorly.
 
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#14
No reason to deduct feedback score for using USPS.

if the pictures in the listing showed all the blemished, roundwound damage, dents…etc or if it was described in the information. Then you can not deduct score from that either.

Now, the packaging job needs to secure the bass, so if the packaging was in fact like you mention then I would give them a 2 star at most.

At the end of the day as a buyer, it is your responsibility to ask for details if you are expecting a pristine bass. Otherwise, the “mint condition” label is totally subjective in my opinion.

Edit: I just saw your post with the packaging. In that case, id give a 2 and attempt a return through reverb.
 
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#18
lucas303 said:
The only way he'd learn is by getting dinged on the rating. Why would he care about the pictures if he gets a perfect rating?
Click to expand...

Maybe he learned by having to hand over $$$ for his crap packing job?

For the OP - In the end it was you who decided to keep the bass and accept a discount. After the discount you got on the front end of the deal. The road was rough but in the end you got the deal you wanted. You could have sent it back so I have to believe the bass isn't all that horrible. He made it right. I say 3 or maybe 4. I see others suggesting 1 and I really feel that low rating is for a seller who disappeared and forced you to file a refund claim, etc etc to gain resolution. None of that drama happened.
 
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