Ebay Question got a problem
 

If you sold a guitar to someone, and after 30 days they contacted you and told you the item was damaged not due to shipping. The guitar was received damaged, but they did not know it till they started taking lessons, and was informed by there teacher of the damage. So the person gets an estimate on how much the item would cost to repair and wanted you to pay for the repair. How would you handle it knowing there was nothing wrong with the guitar when you shipped it?

Well, if they are asserting the guitar was sold as damaged and the seller (I'm assuming that is you) may have known it was damaged and sold it anyway without notice to the buyer, than I suppose it is up to the you as the seller to decide whether or not you want to make good on the item and pay for the repair in the spirit of goodwill. If the cost of the repair is relatively inexpensive, you may wish to do so just to satisfy your customer that you are an ethical seller and/or get them off your back, assure positive feedback, etc.

However, since it has been 30 days since they received the item and are now just bringing it up, I would personally be a bit reluctant to do so, unless I knew for certain that the defective condition may have existed prior to sale. After all, you probably didn't sell it with any kind of explicit (or even implied) warranty, so you are under no legal or ethical obligation to ensure good condition of the goods for an extended period of time beyond delivery. And I would assume that the buyer has likely left feedback on Ebay by now, so you probably don't have to be concerned about that.

The key question is A) whether you can be sure the item you sold was defective prior to the new owner receiving it and if so, B) whether you wish to ensure good relations with this customer.

Yes I am the seller and I know for a fact the guitar was not damaged. The problem is they never left me a feedback and I never checked for one, so they can dangle that like a carrott over my head. I am more worried that Pay Pal may give them there money back if they file some kind of claim or something. I would pay for the repair but the cost of the repair = the amount they paid for the guitar $175.

In that case:

A) I wouldn't care if they left negative feedback. One negative feedback is not a big deal given the expense involved.

B) It is extremely doubtful PayPal could/would refund money to your customer for a damaged item after a 30 day time interval, as long as you can prove the customer actually received the item in question (which is generally the only thing PayPal guarantees). The customer seemingly has no real way of proving that they themselves didn't damage the item and now are just trying to get a refund, so I can't imagine you could be held liable.

C) $175 to repair a $175 guitar sounds like a load of rubbish to me. What kind of damage are they claiming that the guitar has?

They did not say all they said was they took it in for repair and it would cost $175. I agree about the feedback I could careless about it. Thank you for all your help.

That depends on how the purchase was funded. If the buyer used a credit card, there is a good chance he could complain to the card company and get a refund through them. Then Paypal would try to get reimbursement from the seller.

I would ask for the specifics of what needs to be repaired, as well as the contact information for the repair shop he took it to. Say that you will consider having the repairman send the bill to you, but under no circumstances would I just send the money for the repair to the buyer. This approach will easily let you know whether he's just trying to scam you for money or not-- if he is, he'll either try to make some excuse why you should give him the money directly, or he'll just drop the matter completely. If he's not, he won't have a problem with it.

I would consider a different approach. I would insist that the guitar be shipped back to you (at your cost) for inspection. It's possible that the buyer might balk - he may be telling you a story. If he does return it, were it me, whether the guitar turns out to be faulty or not, I'd refund the money. Alternatively, if you find out that it isn't faulty, you could offer to ship it back at his expense (make this clear before he returns it). If it is faulty, I'd return his payment and chalk it up as one of life's disappointments.

Tell them to send the guitar back and be done with it.

It would seem a bit unfair to the seller though if it turns out that the guitar was broken by the buyer. Not only did Mok have to go through all the troubles of selling that guitar and the works involved, not to mention the fees to eBay, in the end he would also end up losing a guitar.

I agree, to a point. Have him send it back AT HIS EXPENSE, telling him you will have it examined by a quitar shop to determine how and when the guitar was damaged.

Or, tell him to contact the shipping company.

Don't worry about the negative. 30 days after receiving it is way too long to complain. I think he is setting you up for a kill.

You will be able to comment on his negative, if he gives you one.

Who is this buyer and what is his feedback?

Yep'. A credit card is a credit card. If they do a chargeback, you simply lose all of your money. Well, that is if you have the balance in there. Otherwise, they'll put your account in the negative, and send you to collections after a couple months.

PayPal fucking sucks, and REALLY should have never been offered to people sell things here-and-there on eBay. There's just too many risks that the average person doesn't know, and they don't disclose those risks as explicitly as they should. Well, unless you read through their 26 page agreement. They could minimize their customer service problems SO MUCH by just being honest and upfront with people.

The buyer holds all of the cards in any PayPal transaction. It doesn't matter if you sold something as 'broken, for parts, as-is'. If they don't like it, they're free to do a chargeback. And I'm sure that lots of people 'know what they're doing', and mold the facts to become the 'victim'.

I'm an eBay vendor, and on the verge of stopping taking payments through them. But I'm not sure how it would work out through Christmas.

Anyways, I get tired of express my distaste for PayPal in every PayPal-related thread. So I'm going to stop here.

This doesnt apply in this case, but, for future reference, ship by ups and you get at least 100$ insurance, if the damage is from shipping. Most damage comes from shipping, maybe not in this case, and the buyer will have to sign a claim with ups which allows ups to come in and keep people honest.

I would pretend they never emailed you (and I am NOT kidding)

All true and to add to that info. The buyer would need to show UPS the packaging the guitar came in, so they could inspect it. If they find there is damage and they were at fault (and not improper packaging). UPS then resolves the claim with the shipper. The shipper would then reimburse the buyer (or should in that case).

Three lessons for buyers. Keep the packaging for items received, test all products before 30 days and file any paypal claims within 30 days. If the buyer didn't do those things, then the liability falls into their court.

Ron