A little over a week ago I conducted my first two eBay sales, both of which were auctions for basses. One was for a Warrior Signature 4 which sold for $1650 shipped. This went smoothly and the buyer left me positive feedback. The other was for an Ovation Ultra Bass w/ Kahler Tremelo Bridge which went for $300. Unfortunately, this buyer is a nightmare.
Here is the eBay listing in question:
Ovation Ultra Bass w/ Kahler Tremelo Bridge
I’ve stitched together my conversation with buyer. These pics include everything except his last message to me:
Let’s start with the first issue: the whammy bar.
The buyer believes that, because my listing specified that the bass uses a trem bridge, I should be including a whammy bar. Since the whammy bar is not included, the buyer says I should have either put a disclaimer to that effect, or I should have listed the bass under “not working” or “parts." To him, the trem arm is part of the bridge and is required for the bridge to function.
So essentially, my listing is 100% accurate and this guy is demanding an extra item because he is too dense and/or greedy to understand. I never once used the words “whammy," “bar,” or “arm" in my listing. I specified the bridge type because that’s what the Ovation Ultra is known for and not all of them have the trem bridge. The bridge does not need the arm to function as a bridge. You can even initiate the whammy effect using your hand pulling on the bridge if you really wanted to. By his logic, I should also have to send him a strap since the strap pins don’t “function” without one.
Totally insane, but I calmly offer him a refund of half of the shipping if he agrees to leave me positive feedback. He declines my offer and says $15 back is fine (for what exactly?) and that he won’t leave me bad feedback. I wanted to just refund his money and not ship the bass to him, but he seemed somewhat reasonable given his absurd demand. I ship him the bass and put the info into eBay, which of course he doesn’t see and he complains that I’m stalling on shipping. Ironically, shipping cost me $85, which is $35 less than I charged him. I sent him the receipt, so do you think he’ll notice or care about me footing the bill?
Of course not. Then I get his most recent message…and I’m floored.
This guy is not only a moron but a complete asshat as well. First of all, his claim that the bass is plywood is complete BS. According to Ovation, these basses have hard maple bodies, so unless they lied, the bass is indeed made of hard maple. Then he pretty much complains that the bass is not in mint condition. What exactly was he expecting? He bought a 30 year old bass for $300. The same bass that I originally bought from eBay for $450 only 6 months ago.
I’m not a luthier, but there were no problems with it as far as I could tell. It played and sounded great. Now all of a sudden the bass is a piece of junk because this guy says so? Even more ridiculous is that, by his OWN admission, he bought the bass so he could take off the bridge and put it on something else. Well, until the last message where he changes his mind and says he bought it because I said it was made of hard maple (which it is).
I know most people are garbage, but this is really something else. I have such low expectations of others, yet somehow they always find a way to reach new lows. No surprise the guy is probably a gun nut with a name like great guns. My plan is to call eBay and to explain the situation, but I’ve heard they usually side with buyers. Even so, I’m hoping they realize how insane this guy is. I may have only sold two items on eBay but I’ve bought a good deal, so I have 33 positive ratings. And I can point out that I have 25 ratings at 100% on Reverb. Also thinking about telling them that if they side with the buyer and/or let him leave me negative feedback that I’m done using eBay. It should help that the buyer was insulting eBay in his messages.
I’m very peeved. Thoughts?
Here is the eBay listing in question:
Ovation Ultra Bass w/ Kahler Tremelo Bridge
I’ve stitched together my conversation with buyer. These pics include everything except his last message to me:
Let’s start with the first issue: the whammy bar.
The buyer believes that, because my listing specified that the bass uses a trem bridge, I should be including a whammy bar. Since the whammy bar is not included, the buyer says I should have either put a disclaimer to that effect, or I should have listed the bass under “not working” or “parts." To him, the trem arm is part of the bridge and is required for the bridge to function.
So essentially, my listing is 100% accurate and this guy is demanding an extra item because he is too dense and/or greedy to understand. I never once used the words “whammy," “bar,” or “arm" in my listing. I specified the bridge type because that’s what the Ovation Ultra is known for and not all of them have the trem bridge. The bridge does not need the arm to function as a bridge. You can even initiate the whammy effect using your hand pulling on the bridge if you really wanted to. By his logic, I should also have to send him a strap since the strap pins don’t “function” without one.
Totally insane, but I calmly offer him a refund of half of the shipping if he agrees to leave me positive feedback. He declines my offer and says $15 back is fine (for what exactly?) and that he won’t leave me bad feedback. I wanted to just refund his money and not ship the bass to him, but he seemed somewhat reasonable given his absurd demand. I ship him the bass and put the info into eBay, which of course he doesn’t see and he complains that I’m stalling on shipping. Ironically, shipping cost me $85, which is $35 less than I charged him. I sent him the receipt, so do you think he’ll notice or care about me footing the bill?
Of course not. Then I get his most recent message…and I’m floored.
This guy is not only a moron but a complete asshat as well. First of all, his claim that the bass is plywood is complete BS. According to Ovation, these basses have hard maple bodies, so unless they lied, the bass is indeed made of hard maple. Then he pretty much complains that the bass is not in mint condition. What exactly was he expecting? He bought a 30 year old bass for $300. The same bass that I originally bought from eBay for $450 only 6 months ago.
I’m not a luthier, but there were no problems with it as far as I could tell. It played and sounded great. Now all of a sudden the bass is a piece of junk because this guy says so? Even more ridiculous is that, by his OWN admission, he bought the bass so he could take off the bridge and put it on something else. Well, until the last message where he changes his mind and says he bought it because I said it was made of hard maple (which it is).
I know most people are garbage, but this is really something else. I have such low expectations of others, yet somehow they always find a way to reach new lows. No surprise the guy is probably a gun nut with a name like great guns. My plan is to call eBay and to explain the situation, but I’ve heard they usually side with buyers. Even so, I’m hoping they realize how insane this guy is. I may have only sold two items on eBay but I’ve bought a good deal, so I have 33 positive ratings. And I can point out that I have 25 ratings at 100% on Reverb. Also thinking about telling them that if they side with the buyer and/or let him leave me negative feedback that I’m done using eBay. It should help that the buyer was insulting eBay in his messages.
I’m very peeved. Thoughts?
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