It was a jerk move on his part, but that is a pretty little ding. Personally, I'd take the 90 bucks and keep the bass
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Disappointing ebay bass delivery
- Thread starter acoustic58
- Start date
Right there you miss my whole point--I don't care about resale value--not one little bit.
I buy a bass (Or guitar) to play it and not to re-sell it.
The only instrument I've ever sold is my first guitar--a cheap waste of good plywood acoustic I never bonded with.
I didn't even actively try to sell it, but I got offered the same price I paid for it and took the cash as I never used the guitar.
Every other instrument I've bought since I still use and have no plans to sell.
If I were forced into a situation to sell, I've had most of them for more than long enough that they have paid for themselves in hours played.
The only exceptions to that are my SR500F and my Mandobird as I have only bought those in the last year & a half.
And I'm keeping those.
But if re-sale value matters to you, that's fine--it will shape your purchase strategies, as my lack of interest in re-sale value affects mine.
If you don't consider what your resale value would be you are likely going to be losing money on the purchase. In other words, you have not gotten any kind of deal if you can't get your money right back out if you were forced to sell it later. You always need to add at least $100.00 to what you paid (shipping/ & fees) to establish what YOUR resale price would have to be to break even. If the guitar is going to be above market value at that price, you just made a bad buying decision.
I've been buying and selling guitars for 30 years. If you can't sell that purchase tomorrow for what you paid including the shipping costs, you just paid too much.I prefer to also add at least a small profit to that resale number to make sure I am truly getting a "deal".
Totally see where you are coming from but I think it is easy to imagine a buyer who looks at the bass not as an investment but as a treat. The cost upon purchase is sunk and no consideration is being paid towards maintaining its monetary value in the market.
I know that I personally don't look at purchases this way and often spend much more time shopping. I like to think that I've shopped so well and done so much research that whatever I'm buying I'll keep for life. Naive maybe, but it certainly helps me abstain from the concerns you're addressing which is in of itself valuable to me!
What I exspected was what he advertised and that was a guitar in mint condition. period. If I told a buyer that I had a guitar that was in mint condition and I advertized expedited 3-6 day shipping and then deliberately changed to try to save money, which is against Ebays policies, and it got damaged, I would exspect to see that guitar delivered back to my house and be completely slammed on eBay and have my reputation destroyed as a seller. Not much more to say.
It's your money, your the only one that knows what you can live with. You didn't get what you bought, so send it back for the full refund and keep looking for the perfect bass.
Me personally would take the $90, buy a pedal I've been looking at or a few back up strings, and not feel too bad about the first time I bump into the wall.
But like I said, it's your money.
Me personally would take the $90, buy a pedal I've been looking at or a few back up strings, and not feel too bad about the first time I bump into the wall.
But like I said, it's your money.
Looks like a nylon strap dent - like it was bumped into something with the strap between the bass and other object. A co-worker of mine dropped a chandelier part onto a canvas dropcloth covering a walnut table. It left a very similar dent. You could see the fabric weave in the dent.
I love those Ibbys, but never could stomach the lack of a durable finish.
I love those Ibbys, but never could stomach the lack of a durable finish.
I have a couple of "dings" in mine and no problem. Take the $90 and move on to the next awesome bass.
I think you should hold out for $150 or you will return it, trust me the seller won't want to see the bass again. I would think he would do it if you hold his feet to the fire. That's only if you love it and can learn to get over the bad memories associated with the purchase. It will all work out fine in the end.
If you look at the whole body of the guitar, it is sitting right on the top edge and stands out like a sore thumb. It's not really that small. If it was a scratch it would bother me but a dent, just puts me over the edge
The sr500 is probably one of the most popular bass guitars ibanez makes but they put the cheapest finish on it. I guess as long as people buy them, there is no reason to change anything
This is by far the best forum I have ever belonged to. So many great comments from people that share the same love for a specific instrument. Thank you all.
I've been in some form of sales most of my adult life, and I've studied seller and buyer psychology fairly extensively as well. There's a concept in sales that basically says a seller should generally under-promise and over-deliver. It makes the buyer say, "Wow! So much better than I expected!" Then they write you nice notes, leave glowing feedback, recommend you to their friends and family, etc.
Sounds like this guy did the opposite, and now he's deservedly getting the opposite of a glowing review from you. I say deservedly, because it sounds like the seller got lazy. I've shipped easily a couple dozen basses over the years--including a few I built myself--and not one of them arrived with any damage whatsoever. (Nor did they take any more than a few days to arrive, incidentally.) If you have a clue about packing, shipping damage is pretty rare in my experience.
However, the unexpected does occasionally happen. For example, I've sold vintage electronics that were working great when I sold them, and for whatever reason they decided to give up the ghost by the time they got into the buyer's hands. In that situation, a good seller has to step up and make things right, even in "nobody's fault" bad luck sort of scenarios.
Unless there is more to the story than what you've reported here, this seller failed to deliver what was promised. The first thing he should have offered was a full refund and the cost of return shipping back to him. That would have been going above and beyond.
Instead the seller chose the mediocre route of going below and well short. Had he at least made the good faith gesture of offering to go above and beyond, I'll bet you would have felt better about your purchase, and you may even have offered a more reasonable compromise yourself. Then maybe you'd be enjoying the bass with some minor damage and an "all's well that ends well" story. Instead, the deal is kind of sour now, which was a fairly predictable outcome, given all of the seller's actions, and inactions, up to this point.
If there isn't a partial refund amount that would cause you to be happy with keeping the bass, send it back. eBay will get you your money back, which is one advantage to buying there.
Sounds like this guy did the opposite, and now he's deservedly getting the opposite of a glowing review from you. I say deservedly, because it sounds like the seller got lazy. I've shipped easily a couple dozen basses over the years--including a few I built myself--and not one of them arrived with any damage whatsoever. (Nor did they take any more than a few days to arrive, incidentally.) If you have a clue about packing, shipping damage is pretty rare in my experience.
However, the unexpected does occasionally happen. For example, I've sold vintage electronics that were working great when I sold them, and for whatever reason they decided to give up the ghost by the time they got into the buyer's hands. In that situation, a good seller has to step up and make things right, even in "nobody's fault" bad luck sort of scenarios.
Unless there is more to the story than what you've reported here, this seller failed to deliver what was promised. The first thing he should have offered was a full refund and the cost of return shipping back to him. That would have been going above and beyond.
Instead the seller chose the mediocre route of going below and well short. Had he at least made the good faith gesture of offering to go above and beyond, I'll bet you would have felt better about your purchase, and you may even have offered a more reasonable compromise yourself. Then maybe you'd be enjoying the bass with some minor damage and an "all's well that ends well" story. Instead, the deal is kind of sour now, which was a fairly predictable outcome, given all of the seller's actions, and inactions, up to this point.
If there isn't a partial refund amount that would cause you to be happy with keeping the bass, send it back. eBay will get you your money back, which is one advantage to buying there.
I have already been told by Ebay that I would get a full refund plus the seller pays for the return shipping. I think for me it's not so much about the money. I could have bought a new sr500 months ago. It's really about the lack of concern for the buyer to think that this seller can completely change the shipping around to save money, after the deal is done, which in the end caused this damage. I don't mind scratches and small debts on things as long as I am the one that caused it. This was not the situation
I think the seller's offer for a partial refund pretty much tells me that he realized he did not package the bass sufficiently - so I don't think there's any problem in that regards. One thing I do know about ebay though is you do get your money back, but it may take time so what I would suggest to the op is to put up a CL ad tonight- see if he gets a response by tomorrow afternoon. If not, then mail it back - or give it two days. I've gotten a response to basses I've posted in as little time as an hour. I think selling it for the price you paid (including the reimbursement credit), you might interest some prospective buyers, this way, you get your money back a lot faster. I have done this before, I received a bass that was not quite in the condition as described, contacted the seller and mentioned my grievances and said that I would give it a couple of days to see if there would be someone willing to buy the bass off me in that condition, if not, I was sending it back for a full refund. I sold the bass that very same day so no need to mail it back, and I was able to purchase another bass I wanted the following day with the cash.
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I've seen a used one in my local CL for $350 not too long ago, it was in much worse condition - the finish was worn away in two spots - above the bridge pickup and below the neck pickup (guess the owner slapped a lot and had a sharp thumb nail). Bass must have sold pretty quickly even in that condition as the ad was pulled in about a day.
Well, all's well that ends well, I say. Besides, a good gear whore expects the occasional dumb seller.
And it's not just individual sellers either, I've had dopey packing jobs come from Musicians Friend, Guitar Center, Sam Ash, and music stores that sell online.
As long as my money is safe I don't sweat it.
