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Ebay buyer from Hell

Had one ebay buyer instigate a dispute, claiming that the item hadn't arrived. I sent ebay a link to the courier site confirming delivery. They found in my favour.

Also bought two basses from ebay recently (from the same buyer). One advertised as used but in as new condition, the other advertised as new but sold in an auction starting at 99p (UK) and selling for about 1/3 of the RRP. Both were perfect (being a novice I have taken them to guitar technicians to have them looked at).

Having said that, I got the fear a bit until I'd had them checked out.
 
Dude, I hate to say it but... looking at your own photos on your completed listing, it does appear that the G string tuner is bent. It's not in the same orientation as the buyer's photo, but it does look bent to me.

You seem to have gotten over on this one.

Marcus Miller Sire V7 Alder Bass Rosewood Four-String EXCELLENT | eBay

HA! Great catch Double E! The OP DID sell it with a bent tuner! What else did he leave out of this story!

OP said - "EERRRRKK.. hold on. You “just noticed the tubing post was bent”? Like that’s some little detail.
The bass was 100% perfect when It left".

EERRRRRKKK - hold on OP. Probably not.
 
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It happens here to unfortunately, had a TBer that I traded basses with. I got his bass first, he likes really low action, and of course with shipping from a different state I got the bass and the back bow was now slamming the strings to the frets. No big, just put some strings on I prefer on anyway, adjusted truss rod, a few turns of the saddles to my liking and all good.. I will add there were some good size dings in the neck he did not disclose that I filled and sanded. So he gets my bass and complains that the action is too high, and the A string rattles (normal for some basses just push the sting winding down the post or put new strings on with longer winding) nope he couldn’t or wouldn’t do it or couldn’t figure it out, the bass had to be perfect out of the box to his specs I guess, so he went off with negative messages for a few days and negative feed back of course. People are being spoiled by larger companies and their return policies. Window shopping on the internet is not good for us!
 
Dude, I hate to say it but... looking at your own photos on your completed listing, it does appear that the G string tuner is bent. It's not in the same orientation as the buyer's photo, but it does look bent to me.

You seem to have gotten over on this one.

Marcus Miller Sire V7 Alder Bass Rosewood Four-String EXCELLENT | eBay

View attachment 3158169


Wow. Yeah that's bent. Also, not for nothing, but if you're not a tech, luthier or something of that nature, you can't claim it's been "professionally setup", as you're not a professional in that field- that's false advertising. That doesn't excuse his messages at all, that's a whole different issue. I do think he had a valid claim to a refund though.
 
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View attachment 3157482 So I wanted to share this story with some fellow talkbassers.
Backstory:
I have used eBay for about 8 years activley buying and selling basses. I have a 277 preferred seller, 100% rating. I set up all of my own instruments and am fairly adept at doing so.

I posted a Marcus Miller V7 on eBay for a killer price. It was in great condition. I really wanted a shortscale bass because my body is not was it used to be.
A fellow from Chicago bought it. I immediately shipped out. The Saturday He received it I received a PM telling me my setup was terrible and I was stupid for not sending him the hex keys. (Honestly I had forgotten to send him the keys but I never said I’m the description it included hex keys). I, like most other people have a set of metric hex keys so I never utilized the ones send with it.
I let the buyer know I would send him the keys on Monday even though I probably shouldn’t have since he was so rude.
Next message; he asks if it has a warranty and makes a comment in the area of “I thought you were a good seller so I thought you would, but go figure”. (Really? I warranty from a used private seller? It didn’t have a warranty in the first place because I didn’t buy direct)Or something of that sort. I told him politely I thought he was rude and if he needed something he should ask people nicely.
He continued to go off and call me stupid, don’t know what I’m doing...etc.
I thought the funny thing was that he refrred to the setup of the G string as the “high B”.
At this point I’m like “this guy is something else”.
He threatened to file a return and a case because he didn’t have the proper .88 cent hex key. I told him I didn’t accept returns unless the bass was damaged and that he could not return it because he didn’t like my set up.

Side note: I prefer low action. But as most people know, some jazz style bridge saddles tend to slide down a little bit on occasion.
I told him I wasn’t going get into an argument with him because I thought he was a kid.
I would’ve swore it was an entitled rude kid. He got angry and said he was 58 and that I was probably a kid.
After all of this, me being the humble seller I am, I would still send him the key I used. From there he told me to “shove the keys up my a**” and kept calling me a “monkey boy”. (I know right??)
I told him sounds like a sad human being and to get his own keys and to enjoy the bass. He continued with more messages telling call me a “broke b****” and that he would let all of eBay know what a “goofy f***” I was.
At this point I don’t care. About five days later I see a return request on my eBay dashboard and a negative review left on my profile. The reason for the negative review was to the tune of “he said it was set up and I didn’t like his set up”.
Really dude?
Then for his return he said “I was just changing the string and noticed that the tuning post was bent”.
EERRRRKK.. hold on. You “just noticed the tubing post was bent”? Like that’s some little detail.
The bass was 100% perfect when It left and he commented on how everything else looked okay.
It’s painfully obvious that the dude purposely bent the tuning post to try and get me to return on it.
What an absolute psycho.
I called eBay and got it resolved. They saw the threatening messages and what a nutcase this guy is. Removed the negative review and resolved the case. The guy I spoke to was very generous. I will include the pictures that this absolute moron sent of the tuning post he bent on purpose.
I honesty think it’s hilarious and karma takes care of people.
I have rarely had any problems with anyone on eBay but this dude, this dude takes the all out gold cup for biggest idiot on eBay. Let me know your thoughts everyone. Cheers.


I’ve been a regular user of eBay for a long time. The very first bass I sold on eBay I got a neutral rating. The complaint was the bass was dirty. Thought that was kind of a joke. I mean whenever I buy a used bass I expect it to be well used. So when I get them I always give them a good cleaning and some fresh strings. eBay has a wide range of people and 99% of the time I have no issues at all. Communication is great. Every once in a while you come across some bozo. The only other complain I got was from a pedal sale. The guy complained about how the pedal was packed. I told him I’d shipped at least a dozen pedals the same way and have never gotten a complaint and after all it was a durable pedal that was built to be “stomped” on. I called eBay on that one and they made sure it didn’t hurt my seller rating. Some people are just rediculous, like what am I supposed to do? Go out a buy a $40 pelican case and then pay $10 or more to ship a pedal they bought for $60. If that’s what was required I’d be hoarding pedals because I wouldn’t be selling them.
 
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.. No option to dispute the claim. ...

What the ^#%&#% is up with that - it's similarly problematic for eBay buyers too: I recently had an egregious seller (who bareface lied to me about what he would send BEFORE I even bid) who has repeatedly refused to pay the return shipping.

I was trying to open a dispute case from the minute I received the wrong item, but eBay wouldn't let me. And there is STILL NO OPTION, even though the seller has patently broken the "Ebay Satisfaction Guarantee" conditions. All I get is a runaround on the website when I try to open a claim - stating "the return is closed".

Yes, I packed and shipped the item back to Australia.

Yes, it was signed for, and the purchase price refunded to my paypal account.

BUT I AM STILL OUT $92 for the RETURN SHIPPING - which the Seller is OBLIGATED TO PAY, according to the rules (He did in fact send me THE WRONG ITEM). I've contacted the seller multiple times (through the eBay message system) , and he flat out refuses to pay the return shipping.

I have already called eBay THREE TIMES, still getting the runaround. Today they said "we'll send him an email asking him to pay you within 24 hours, and you should post a negative feedback". I told them again "I have already politely requested payment FIVE TIMES and he refused - look at the message logs. What happens if he refuses AGAIN?" The eBay rep said "Well, you will have to call us again"... :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

Why should it take five weeks and multiple phone calls to resolve something like this? (STILL NOT RESOLVED). Why was I not given the option to OPEN A CASE as soon as I had been refused payment by the seller? I ended up having to upload the postage waybill and receipt in the ebay message thread for the item, since there was no "case" ever available to me. I didn't get advised to do that until the second phone call... This should have been a OPEN AND SHUT refund - all of the evidence is in the message thread for the item - including the seller fraudulently assuring me of the item he was going to send... Just infuriating how eBay keeps getting WORSE EVERY YEAR.

</RANT> (oops...)
 
..."The customer is always right" etc...
I used to think that, too, until I learned otherwise from some great folks at a store I worked at in Los Angeles in the 1980s. They gave us excellent training on CS, and debunked that "The customer is always right" thing. One of the guys who trained us was an L.A. cop.
 
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HA! Great catch Double E! The OP DID sell it with a bent tuner! What else did he leave out of this story!

OP said - "EERRRRKK.. hold on. You “just noticed the tubing post was bent”? Like that’s some little detail.
The bass was 100% perfect when It left".

EERRRRRKKK - hold on OP. Probably not.

I believe that’s an after purchase photo the buyer sent alleging damage to open the claim?
 
Wow. Yeah that's bent. Also, not for nothing, but if you're not a tech, luthier or something of that nature, you can't claim it's been "professionally setup", as you're not a professional in that field- that's false advertising. That doesn't excuse his messages at all, that's a whole different issue. I do think he had a valid claim to a refund though.
To be fair though, it doesn't affect the playability of the instrument at all. I had a bass with the same issue for about 10 years and it tuned up just fine. Also, as you pointed out, it was clearly visible in the listing pics so the buyer can't rightfully claim that he noticed after he got it. If people have enough cash to click BuyItNow after just skimming the listing, power to em. But me? Im gonna stare at every photo and I'd have certainly seen that.
 
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I used to think that, too, until I learned otherwise from some great folks at a store I worked at in Los Angeles in the 1980s. They gave us excellent training on CS, and debunked that "The customer is always right" thing. One of the guys who trained us was an L.A. cop.
Yeah nah dude, I read the OP wrong. I thought when he was telling us the guy was rude, he actually told the guy he shouldn't send the keys because he's rude. The way I first read it, it seemed like his reaction to the guy's bad comment about the setup and all started the whole ordeal. But, I was mistaken.
 
What the ^#%&#% is up with that - it's similarly problematic for eBay buyers too: I recently had an egregious seller (who bareface lied to me about what he would send BEFORE I even bid) who has repeatedly refused to pay the return shipping.

I was trying to open a dispute case from the minute I received the wrong item, but eBay wouldn't let me. And there is STILL NO OPTION, even though the seller has patently broken the "Ebay Satisfaction Guarantee" conditions. All I get is a runaround on the website when I try to open a claim - stating "the return is closed".

Yes, I packed and shipped the item back to Australia.

Yes, it was signed for, and the purchase price refunded to my paypal account.

BUT I AM STILL OUT $92 for the RETURN SHIPPING - which the Seller is OBLIGATED TO PAY, according to the rules (He did in fact send me THE WRONG ITEM). I've contacted the seller multiple times (through the eBay message system) , and he flat out refuses to pay the return shipping.

I have already called eBay THREE TIMES, still getting the runaround. Today they said "we'll send him an email asking him to pay you within 24 hours, and you should post a negative feedback". I told them again "I have already politely requested payment FIVE TIMES and he refused - look at the message logs. What happens if he refuses AGAIN?" The eBay rep said "Well, you will have to call us again"... :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

Why should it take five weeks and multiple phone calls to resolve something like this? (STILL NOT RESOLVED). Why was I not given the option to OPEN A CASE as soon as I had been refused payment by the seller? I ended up having to upload the postage waybill and receipt in the ebay message thread for the item, since there was no "case" ever available to me. I didn't get advised to do that until the second phone call... This should have been a OPEN AND SHUT refund - all of the evidence is in the message thread for the item - including the seller fraudulently assuring me of the item he was going to send... Just infuriating how eBay keeps getting WORSE EVERY YEAR.

</RANT> (oops...)
That is odd. Ebay usually sides with the buyers. That is why there is no way to leave negative feedback for a buyer that ripped you off. In my case the buyer will more than likely win and I'll be out a bunch of money. At that time I will tell Ebay where they can put my account. It is where :poop: comes out, in case you don't know.
 
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