Ebay question...

[Wendigo]

(sigh)

I've sold my bassman which is in mint condition and it's arrived at the buyer's house. He writes me an email saying that everything is fine, except when he plugs into 3 of the inputs there's crazy noise and whistling (input 1 apparently works fine). So he opens up the back of the amp and notices that one of the black wires around the inputs has come unsoldered, and he's taking it to a tech to get it soldered back on. He says he held the wire in place against the contact and the inputs worked fine then.

Now, I'm thinking he's gonna try and get me to pay for the repair, which I'm not willing to do. I sent him the amp in mint shape, and as far as I'm concerned his opening of the amp and fiddling with the wires means he could have buggered it up himself for all I know. It's insured up to 750€ by the courier, so I figure if he want's money for the soldering he should get it out of them. I hope he doesn't want his money back because I'm not going to give it to him. He payed by paypal, so can any of you tell me what my responsibility is here?

Thanks, Jim

PS: I had already decided that this was my last paypal transaction, and now for the first time I have a problem.

[Ronnie Robinson]

It can be very hit and miss sending an Amp through the post

I bought a Laney Amp once through Ebay which the seller said worked perfectly but when it arrived the Transformer needed replacing ....now that surely cant be the postmans fault - although the seller swore it was.

I'm guessing the buyer has nt actually mentioned you paying for the repair or you would have mentioned it and in any case getting one lead soldered will surely cost next to nothing and it could easily be something that happened during transit.

[savage8190]

Unfortunately, if he files a claim they pretty much always side with the buyer.

I'd tell him a claim needs to be done through the postal insurance if he asks.

[baytamusic]

Hmm, those are always tough ones. If he mentions something then you'll probably have to at least help deal with it. I know with UPS, if you did not pay them to pack it, they'll probably try to argue that it wasn't packed correctly. He probably should have taken photos of the packaging to confirm it was packed well and that the damage was a result of negligence in handling the package.

If it were me, and he did mention you paying, I might just eat it and pay for the wires to be soldered back in place. I can't see that being more than $50. Sucks dude. I'm never selling an amp through eBay again, it's way too much hassle and people always argue about shipping prices.

[Wendigo]

I'm never selling an amp through eBay again, it's way too much hassle and people always argue about shipping prices.

Tell me about it. This was gonna be the last thing I sell on ebay anyway. The thing is, even if he gets his money back or something through paypal, I'm gonna sue his a$$ in real court if the amp is damaged. I have witnesses that the amp was in perfect working shape, and the guy has even admitted to fumbling with the wiring in the back of the amp while it was ON and being able to get the inputs working fine by holding the wire with one hand against the contact. If there's more damage than that I'm gonna guess he fried something while playing around. I hate this so much. So frustrating you know? You have an amp for three years in your house running like a top, babying it, loving it.....you sell it and immediately there is "something wrong".

[Jondog]

I'm done selling amps on ebay, anything really. Seller fees are way too high. I've also noticed there's not as much being sold on ebay in the guitar department as there used to be. Was a time I could find almost anything. Now it's all NEW items from stores.

[Thinline_slim]

I personally think the repair is on you. You sold close to a 40 year old box of electronics through the mail. There is a certain amount of liability in that from the start in my opinion. I would wait to get a written quote from the tech BEFORE any repairs are done and maybe get a contact number for the tech to make sure the whole thing is legit. I would then try to get the guy to split the bill as long as its not ridiculous, in half because he bought a 40 y/o amp tough the post and there's a certain amount of liability in that as well.

If any work is done past without your approval tell him to sod off.

[Wendigo]

I personally think the repair is on you. You sold close to a 40 year old box of electronics through the mail. There is a certain amount of liability in that from the start in my opinion. I would wait to get a written quote from the tech BEFORE any repairs are done and maybe get a contact number for the tech to make sure the whole thing is legit. I would then try to get the guy to split the bill as long as its not ridiculous, in half because he bought a 40 y/o amp tough the post and there's a certain amount of liability in that as well.

If any work is done past without your approval tell him to sod off.

No no the amp is a reissue from 2009. I wish i had an original '59 bassman!

[indianDYsummer]

I would wait until you get a quote before threatening to sue , that is, if he even asks for money. I agree that you should directly speak to the tech as well. If it really is just a single solder you're honestly better off offering to split the bench fee, which is probably all it'll cost. No sense in flipping out until you have the real info.

IMO I'd pay the $20 to resolve the issue quickly and cleanly. If you want to go the route of blaming the courier you can expect the buyer to request an item return with eBay, win the claim, and you may be out the money for shipping. I think eBay likes to just call it fair and get the item back to the seller, whether or not that's the actual fair solution.

[Wendigo]

Yeah I'm hoping all he wants is nothing or like you say a couple bucks or something. I'm getting the feeling that this amp is cursed now that it's been on the bay 3 times.

[ironlung40]

Yeah that sucks. But, I wouldn't freak out or offer anything unless he asks. He may just have it fixed without expecting anything from you. If he does, I'd ask for the repair reciept copy and offer a split. I'd also sound apologetic or be very cordial in your communication too, because even if it isn't your fault, you may say the wrong thing, and piss him off, which could bite you. It would suck to have to go through a claim.

Good luck.

Oh, and here's another that is turning against ebay.

[OrangePaul]

Lets just say for arguments sake the wire did actually come loose in transit...
If I had bought an amp that was making weird noises I know I'd take a look inside in the hope its tubes at the very least... and if he has found a real problem he's probably just thinking what else might be wrong with this thing.

That could be the reason hes mentioned it and it could all be perfectly innocent.

Its human nature though to automatically think he's probably trying to pull a fast one...
that was my first thought too.

[mr_william]

yeah, i agree with the fact that it could have been damaged in transit and the guy could be genuine. then again, he could not. who knows!?

if you were a manufacturer, you'd have the 'warrenty void if back pannel removed' rule no doubt.

if things do turn sour, and he's admitted to having the back pannel off, you could perhaps argue that damage was infact caused by his curiosity.

did you remove the tubes to ship the amp? if you did, does that require access to the internals to replace them? i'm thinking not.

if it was broken, he should be contacting you to discuss things further. not poking around inside and risk further damage, unless infact he knows what he's doing. which if that indeed is the case, he should be able to fix the issue himself! problem solved!

[nlimbaugh]

Ebay seems amuck with "professionals". It's almost like the average Joe doesn't have a chance. Getting jilted almost seems to be expected... some sellers act like you're lucky you even got the item you paid for (little exaggeration there). And, I would hope that the loose wire in your case is legit. But, I feel when a person gets messed with they sometimes feel it's ok to do that to others... like it's just business. 100% positive feedback means very little IMHO. Gas is just too expensive. Getting something delivered is too easy.

[Wendigo]

Now he's written another email (which I saved) saying he's taped the wire in place and it works fine, so it's definitely that which was the problem. I told him to not play through the amp until his mate comes over and solders it in place incase he damages it severely by arcing and sparking. Hopefully this will be the last I hear of it.