Thanks in advance for reading and commenting, I will try to be concise.
I recently sold my 4 string Fender USA P bass deluxe on Reverb. I am in Pennsylvania and the buyer is in Arizona. He haggled with me and I gave him almost $100 off my listing price (up to me, I know that).
The bass is a 2003 and I had the action set low. In fact I stated in the ad that it was extremely low, that’s my opinion of course. When I would play it I didn’t mind if I had a little buzz “sizzle” in the sound.
I packed well and shipped with strings detuned. No visible damage to the packaging or contents. The buyer stated that the action was extremely high when he tuned it up, so he took it to Guitar Center for a restring (wasting the brand new strings that were on it) and action adjustment. They said there must be something wrong with it because they couldn’t get it to adjust low with no buzz. No buzz is a key point, because the buyer wants low action with no buzz.
At this point he accused me of selling a bass with a known problem, to which I told him I played it with low action and didn’t mind a little buzz. It is 15 years old, maybe some fret work is needed and I would appreciate if he would take it to a reputable luthier to get a second opinion and then I would split repair cost with him to get his preferred setup.
He seemed okay with that and took it to a place that he said is far from home but he was sure they could help. They stated the P pickup was too high and they lowered that (had to rout extra space for wiring I am told because the screws weren’t doing the job) and set it up. They did not state that there is a problem with the bass otherwise and they returned it to him.
He says there is still a buzz and he is very upset, saying this bass has a problem and I must have known and I had better stop playing and return his money. He said it is not as described because I stated extremely low action and he can’t get the action low without a buzz. I kindly said that this is a player preference issue and asked if he discussed fret work with the shop. I am still willing to split the repair cost but I suggested that he sell the bass if he doesn’t like it. I gave him a discount and shipped across the country and he would have to ship back at his expense as well.
That’s where we stand at the moment, haven’t heard back from him yet. Am I being reasonable? I haven’t been in a disputed transaction for probably 12-15 years and that was on eBay and it was found in my favor as seller! I always represent things as honestly as possible.
I recently sold my 4 string Fender USA P bass deluxe on Reverb. I am in Pennsylvania and the buyer is in Arizona. He haggled with me and I gave him almost $100 off my listing price (up to me, I know that).
The bass is a 2003 and I had the action set low. In fact I stated in the ad that it was extremely low, that’s my opinion of course. When I would play it I didn’t mind if I had a little buzz “sizzle” in the sound.
I packed well and shipped with strings detuned. No visible damage to the packaging or contents. The buyer stated that the action was extremely high when he tuned it up, so he took it to Guitar Center for a restring (wasting the brand new strings that were on it) and action adjustment. They said there must be something wrong with it because they couldn’t get it to adjust low with no buzz. No buzz is a key point, because the buyer wants low action with no buzz.
At this point he accused me of selling a bass with a known problem, to which I told him I played it with low action and didn’t mind a little buzz. It is 15 years old, maybe some fret work is needed and I would appreciate if he would take it to a reputable luthier to get a second opinion and then I would split repair cost with him to get his preferred setup.
He seemed okay with that and took it to a place that he said is far from home but he was sure they could help. They stated the P pickup was too high and they lowered that (had to rout extra space for wiring I am told because the screws weren’t doing the job) and set it up. They did not state that there is a problem with the bass otherwise and they returned it to him.
He says there is still a buzz and he is very upset, saying this bass has a problem and I must have known and I had better stop playing and return his money. He said it is not as described because I stated extremely low action and he can’t get the action low without a buzz. I kindly said that this is a player preference issue and asked if he discussed fret work with the shop. I am still willing to split the repair cost but I suggested that he sell the bass if he doesn’t like it. I gave him a discount and shipped across the country and he would have to ship back at his expense as well.
That’s where we stand at the moment, haven’t heard back from him yet. Am I being reasonable? I haven’t been in a disputed transaction for probably 12-15 years and that was on eBay and it was found in my favor as seller! I always represent things as honestly as possible.
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But seriously... One of the risks that a buyer takes when buying on the internet is that you can't be sure of exactly what you're getting. In this case, the buyer was relying on your idea of "low action" lining up with his idea of "low action" - not to mention the issue of buzzing. Different people get bothered by different things and if one is going to buy a bass before trying it then one must be prepared to deal with the fact that the instrument might not meet one's expectations. Hey, that's one of the main reasons people will resell instruments that they just acquired. If an instrument is clearly defective and the defect wasn't mentioned by the seller before the sale took place then that's an entirely different scenario - but it doesn't sound like that's what happened here. Regardless, the time for a refund, in my opinion, was before any substantial work was done on the bass. At this point I would say that if the buyer is not satisfied with the bass then it is his to sell. 
