My First Craigslist Rant

You took the high road. Kudos to you.
You'll find another buyer that will appreciate this unit.

 

You are too nice! I have dealt with too many flakes and their shenanigans to be so nice.
I would not have accepted the return, especially after holding it for two weeks. That is above and beyond any expectation. Likewise, if I was the buyer, I would not have bother to ask for a refund. I would have resold it, or fixed the compatibility issue.

 

You held it for two weeks so the guy could "research" the unit. You did your part. EOS.

 

Sorry in advance for the lengthy derail, but I think it's somewhat relevant:

Unfortunately, this same kind of garbage is happening on eBay, too. Ever since eBay made it so that only buyers can give a negative or neutral rating, there are a few unscrupulous buyers who take advantage of that fact and demand returns clearly because of "buyer's remorse." Not only that, but sellers have to refund the original shipping cost and pay for return shipping on items that perfectly match the item description and were not at all misrepresented. The unscrupulous buyers are fully aware of that fact, too. eBay has made it so that there is absolutely NO risk to the buyer, and has thus created a major imbalance. There's nothing to keep buyers honest. For example:

I had an eBay buyer claim that a Korg AX3G multi-effect pedal I sold to her didn't work with either a power supply or batteries. I sent her the usual troubleshooting suggestions, and she still claimed it didn't work. I had no way of proving it does work (even if I did a YouTube demo before selling it, it can't prove that the item worked when in the buyer's possession), so I simply approved the return. Here's where it really gets interesting:

I clearly stated in the eBay item description that I had not tested the AX3G with batteries. The buyer claimed it doesn't work with batteries. When I got the item back, the buyer's batteries were still in the AX3G. Lo and behold, the pedal worked perfectly not only with my power supply, but also with the batteries that were installed BY THE BUYER!!! I made it a point to send the buyer a picture of the AX3G all lit up with the batteries she installed; of course, I got no reply.

I don't know about Craigslist, because I've never bought or sold anything from there. But I know that eBay still has a ton of outstanding buyers and sellers. However, think about it this way - if a million people are peacefully enjoying a concert in Central Park, and a thousand hooligans (a mere 0.1%) decide to make trouble, it could ruin the concert for everybody.

eBay really should rethink some of its policies. And eBay buyers should understand that "buyer's remorse" is their problem. I've bought plenty of eBay items I didn't like, but because the items weren't misrepresented, I knew I had to suck it up and flip the items myself. I would never lie to initiate a return anywhere; not eBay, Craigslist, TalkBass, Reverb, The Gear Page, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

Maybe it's just music related stuff on ebay. I've sold a few music related items there, but I've sold a crap ton of radio controlled car and airplane gear and never once had any problem beyond someone not knowing how to set up a piece of electronic gear or some other minor problem that has always been a simple fix.

That said, I'm thinking ebay may have run it's course and is in a slow death spiral from a combination of lopsided favoring of buyers over sellers and the never ending fee creep.

 

I work in the IT field and if I had bought it and it wasn't compatible with a new OS I would have be too embarrassed to ask for the money back. I deal with software all the time to all the way back to Windows 98 and I find way to make it work. But that is me. Sorry for your hassle but at least he saved face by giving you $25 for your time.

 

I think it is mostly music gear. Buyers with no integrity know that they're essentially getting a free trial period because they know they can return the gear, even if they know it works perfectly and even if the seller said "no returns." It's a real drag for individual sellers who aren't doing it for a living and are just hoping to break even or not lose too much when flipping gear. eBay wasn't always like this, though.

I might still sell miscellaneous items on eBay, but I'll most likely sell music gear on TB, Reverb, or The Gear Page from now on.

 

He knows he's wrong, but he only has enough decency to partially do the right thing.

 

As far as my dealings go on the List, all sales are final. I give everyone the ability to inspect the product. I don't sell junk, but buyer beware.

 

I am a software engineer. And I have a name for Network Engineers. It starts with an F and ends with Network Guys %*#^! Been there.

 

Were you paid in cash? If so, move on. No way your reputation will be damaged. It's CL after all.

 

Hey, just run it in compatibility mode, or run a virtual machine. Easy as pie.

 

I would look at it like this, if I had bought this from a retailer would I expect to be able to return it if I made a mistake? Probably.

 

I agree with most other posts here. The buyer should be happy with his new interface, especially so, since he spent two weeks researching it and deciding it was perfect for his needs. If he failed to fully research the compatibility between it and his computer - his tough luck, unfortunately. He's an IT guy? Really?

 

But the OP is not a retailer. He's a guy selling off his old stuff he doesn't want anymore. If people want to be able to return stuff, then shop at a retailer who offers returns.

Again, this is CL, the worlds largest garage sale. All sales final is pretty much the name of the game, just like estate sales or auctions. Even used car lots are all sales final unless there was a defect the seller neglected to disclose. Imagine if the situation was a used car. The guy eventually buys it, drives it home, but it won't fit in his garage after all. As with anything, caveat emptor.

 

Yes, You DID the RIGHT thing! Though it eats away at our stomachs to deal with this kind of crap, YOU rose ABOVE that nonsense and did the RIGHT thing by giving the jerk His money back and moved on to resell the item. It takes a BETTER PERSON to stand up and swallow the nonsense than to drop down to a lower level and put yourself in a position which may possibly become uncomfortable later on! By resolving the issue the way you did, you have NO worries what the character may choose to do down the road AND You have a clear conscience that You DID RIGHT! I applaud YOU! We all must be very careful today especially when dealing on CRAIGSLIST. You have NO idea WHO is on the other end!

 

You did the right thing. KARMA be with you. I had the exact same interface from 2002 or 2003. That's a difficult interface to sell because it runs on the old windows operating system like vista. To save you some time and hassles, include in your post how old it is, and what operating systems it will work with. And that drivers and such will need to be obtained. Also, it came with some software that may not work on the newer operating systems.

Anyway, I gave mine away last year to a friend who has a old computer.