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Honesty on the forums about items for sale

davidjbass

davidjbass

Sep 2, 2006
3,113
1,039
Massachusetts
www.reverbnation.com
#1
After inquiring about a couple of basses for sale on the forums over the past couple of weeks I felt that I needed to address this issue. I have been a member of this forum since 2006 and have 72 positive feedbacks 0 negative. So I feel that I have some experience behind me to make this statement. To anyone posting a bass or bass product for sale PLEASE disclose all information bad or good about it when you post it.

There have been several basses for sale that I have inquired about only to find out after talking with the seller that there have been undisclosed issues with the basses that if I knew about before hand would have resulted in me not inquiring about them. This not only wastes my time but the sellers time.
Guys and gals the whole thing about this forum is honesty. If we can't be honest with each other about what we are selling then the for sale forums are useless IMO. You might as well just go to craiglists. And craigslist sucks.

Whether or not a seller means to disclose or not disclose information or just plain forgets to it its all the same. Wasted time for both parties. Don't post vaque pictures of the item as to try to hide defects or mods. Or not disclose that a bass has had a replacement part put in or electronic problems. Or whatever else it is. It's just not cool. Tell everything about the item as far as you know on the original thread. I can't tell how put off I was when I inquired about these items for sale only to find out from the seller that there were problems with the product that weren't posted in the original thread.

There are a lot of new members on Talk Bass now with little to no feedback and I want to stress to those new members that honesty on this forum is real important.

So please if you are going to sell a bass or a bass product on this forum for the sake of everyone involved please disclose everything about it from the start. This is a great website and the only thing that is keeping it from being the next craigslist is honesty. That's a very hard thing to come by these days. And it's what makes Talk Bass special. Thanks for your time.

D
 
#3
My pet peeve with Craigslist ads; "Fender" instruments with no pic of the headstock. 9 times out of 10, it's a Squier, whiich is not necessarily a deal killer, but something I want to know when considering an item's worth. If it's a Squier, just say so, we are going to find out soon enough, and if we have to pry that out of you, we aren't going to trust anything else you say.
 
#4
StrangerDanger said:
Excellent post! The flipside is you shouldn't buy an item that is used and expect it to be in new condition. That's not realistic.
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I totally agree and never expected to buy a used product here that is new. I just feel that if it's for sale here used that every aspect of the item for sale bad or good should be disclosed up front and not in the later after you have contacted the seller.
 
#6
Right on! I've been very pleased with everything I've bought here and have found the sellers to be very forthcoming in original posts.

I've just recently begun listing some things for sale in an effort to reduce the clutter around here. I tend to be perhaps a little too picky in listing any faults I perceive with the gear in question, but I'd much rather let people know up front and let them make up their own minds.

In the end, I'd rather have someone receive something in better shape than they expected than the other way around. Simply put, life is a team sport, so let's all look out for one another and in the end everyone is happy. How can that be a bad thing?
 
#8
I've done a lot of selling on CL and ebay. In addition to full disclosure, I've found that if you rate your items' condition conservatively, buyers are usually pleasantly surprised when they receive the item or arrive to inspect it, and have less leverage to haggle or complain after the fact.
 
#9
pica said:
This is exactly why I will never buy an instrument or anything else without being able to look at it, hold it and play it first. To many dishonest sellers out there.
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You know, I've bought dozen of instruments from folks on this forum, and the vast majority are honest. It's certainly not enough of an issue to avoid the practice altogether.

Many sellers are just plain lazy, but not necessarily deceptive. They post terrible pictures of the instrument, typically inside taken with a flash. The worst are those that give nothing more than a gig shot of the bass, or show pictures of the bass taken months or years ago by the prior owner. As a buyer, I have a simple rule: I want lots of clear, recent pictures, either taken outside or in a well lit room. Then I ask questions. If the seller won't answer questions, or can't take a decent picture, then I walk.
 
#10
gigslut said:
I've done a lot of selling on CL and ebay. In addition to full disclosure, I've found that if you rate your items' condition conservatively, buyers are usually pleasantly surprised when they receive the item or arrive to inspect it, and have less leverage to haggle or complain after the fact.
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+1 I've bought 3 basses from TB sellers, and been pleasantly surprised each time. The last one the seller rated a 9.5 - it could have easily passed for new.
 
#11
davidjbass said:
I totally agree and never expected to buy a used product here that is new. I just feel that if it's for sale here used that every aspect of the item for sale bad or good should be disclosed up front and not in the later after you have contacted the seller.
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I didn't mean you personally. I do think some folks have unrealistic expectations. I haven't had any issues as buyer, seller or trader but have heard the stories.
 
#15
Do you think this is something worth giving bad feedback for (i.e. having to interrogate the seller about the condition)? I say that it's is a case by case basis, but may be incumbent on the buyer to advise other potential buyers.
 
#16
ebonalley said:
Do you think this is something worth giving bad feedback for (i.e. having to interrogate the seller about the condition)? I say that it's is a case by case basis, but may be incumbent on the buyer to advise other potential buyers.
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No. Questions about the bass should come before the sale. It would be completely unfair to go ahead and buy the bass from the seller, knowing from the start that you intended to leave negative feedback.
 
#18
Awesome, AWESOME post.

My buying experiences here have been excellent. I've bought 2 heads, 1 cab and 3 basses plus did a straight-up bass for bass swap and I've NEVER been let down. 2 of the basses were very accurately described and the other one was even nicer than the seller said. The bass I traded for was a homebrew Frankenbass and the trader VERY acccurately descibed the major flaw so I knew exactly what I was getting. The cab was cosmetically a shade below what was described but not a deal-breaker by any means. One head was perfectly described and the other one was again even better than advertised.

On the flip side, I sold 2 basses and some parts and no one has come back to me with any complaints so I must be doing something right.
I wholeheartedly agree with the folks who disclose the flaws to death. I would always rather have people be pleasantly surprised at what they get from me, rather than have them pissed off.
 
#19
Honesty is ALL we have here at TB. It is, thankfully, almost universally respected.

Without it, we are doomed. With it-well, that makes us RARE and VALUABLE.
 
#20
ebonalley said:
Do you think this is something worth giving bad feedback for (i.e. having to interrogate the seller about the condition)? I say that it's is a case by case basis, but may be incumbent on the buyer to advise other potential buyers.
Click to expand...

guy n. cognito said:
No. Questions about the bass should come before the sale. It would be completely unfair to go ahead and buy the bass from the seller, knowing from the start that you intended to leave negative feedback.
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I agree that its the responsibility for the buyer to ask the critical questions. However, I also feel that the seller has a responsibility for full disclosure. I was more thinking of the OP's situation where the seller was apparently not meeting their end of the bargain and had the OP not asked the right questions, he may have been "mislead".
 

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