Problem with a Forum member (gear sale gone bad)

for starters, no, i can’t disclose this person’s name or specific location. i will say that they live in the U.S. (along with myself).

here goes:

weeks ago i posted a used A4 for sale w/ several bonus sound packs - $910 shipped. after getting a long stream of questions about it’s conditions and requests for specific photos (which he received), the buyer sent me a Paypal payment.

days later when it arrives he sends me an e-mail saying he’s let down b/c i apparently misled him about it’s condition. several small little nicks in the paint that he’s pretty “OCD” about (he sent photos). though i thought he was being extremely nitpick-y, i offered to make amends. i’d rather have him return it than to be thought of as dishonest.

i waited about another day for him to get back to me. two Sunday evenings ago over the phone i presented him with two options:

A: i can refund you back as long as you cover shipping back to me.

or

B: i’ll send you a partial refund of $40, effectively giving you a fully functional, slightly nicked A4 (with multiple soundpacks) for $870 shipped.

after thinking it over a minute he chose option B. we had a polite and brief convo that ended in an amicable agreement… or so i thought.
i had even told him i wanted to get the issue settled b/c either way i had another gear deal was going to affected by our agreement. that was Sunday afternoon (the 16th). within an hour or 2 of our phone conversation i sent him the partial $40 refund.

the very next morning i awoke to find an e-mail from this forumite stating that he’s changed his mind and wants a full refund. i replied that i wasn’t OK with that - after all we had reached an agreement just the afternoon before and that (as he knew) i had already moved funds around, etc

next i get an e-mail threatening that he’s willing to start up a Paypal dispute, blah blah blah.

i call him and things got a bit heated, despite no ad hominem attacks. at one point he said “well it’s obvious we won’t come to consensus in this conversation”. i said “we came to a consensus yesterday afternoon - we had a deal and now i’m supposed to just be OK with you changing your mind whenever you want.”

what happens next ? a Paypal dispute is opened then escalated to a claim.
enter me having the first of MANY long, drawn-out Paypal calls wherein i have to explain how:

1 the buyer was offered a full refund from the start, but
2 the buyer agreed to a partial refund which he received; then
3 the buyer changed his mind after an agreement was struck.

days later, and unsurprisingly Paypal decided that the buyer should receive a full refund (even though they continue to say i’ll get my $40 back).

despite a big headache, i could live with that.

here’s the kicker:

i receive the box today and videotape the unboxing- not that i expected anything funny but figured i’d do it all the same. the box looks slightly more wrinkled than i recall (i shipped FedEx, he shipped UPS -i hate UPS)…

but HE SENT ME THE WRONG POWER SUPPLY.
he sent me a P.S. for a Roland SP-404. my Elektron power supply nowhere in sight. how does a guy that’s OCD about microscopic nicks on a desktop synth send me the wrong 2-piece power supply ??

i didn’t want to contact him at all anymore, but Paypal says i either have to file a police report or go through some 3rd party arbitration service. after that i decided i’d e-mail the buyer, and later on i decided i’d call him.

i left him a voicemail stating that i’d have no problem closing the PP dispute if he’d simply refund my $40 and send me proof that he’s shipping the Elektron power supply within another day or so. nothing yet.

i’m really wondering if he sent the wrong power supply on purpose, as our last phone convo wasn’t nasty but it certainly wasn’t friendly. maybe he knows that Paypal tends to side with the buyer-no-matter-what and wanted to really stick it to me. the only similarity i can think of is that they’re both black 2-piece power supplies, despite this one having white zip-ties around the cables.

i’m just typing this up to get it off my chest and to see how others might weigh in. i posted on one other forum i frequent but of course i still kept him anonymous.

the last thing that i want to do is pursue things any further with Paypal as they’re basically worthless, but i certainly will if i don’t hear from this guy by tomorrow morning. i’m the one that’s been left to do all the phone calls and waiting, etc. i can’t stand the idea of him getting his $910 refund plus $40 while not even sending me the proper power supply…

This is why I NEVER sell anything via ebay/Paypal…would rather take my chances with local ads…takes longer but I always manage to sell gear. I do use ebay for buying, and got burnt once a long time ago before Paypal did full refunds…still got part of my money back from the a-hole seller who basically stole my money and never sent anything, and then disappeared from ebay.

This really sucks, and if this guy was raking me over the Paypal coals like he did with you, I’d frikken have his name plastered all over here. The way I think of it is: I’m not going to screw anyone, but if someone screws me, all hell will break loose.

Stories like this make me red, so PM me his name and I’ll plaster it. Catch me now, since my team just lost a playoff hockey game and I’m drunk and pissed at the same time!

Taking your account at face value, I might suggest posting brief but honest feedback about the transaction on the Sell forum. Avoid expressing any frustration or emotion, just state a brief summary of the transaction. Of course this is after you’ve given the buyer a chance to return your power supply.

But you have to be prepared for the buyer to tell his side of the sorry as well. Otherwise just leave it alone and chalk it up to a bad experience and move on.

Feedback about sellers & buyers is valuable for other forum members, whether it’s good or bad.

not sure plastering his name is a good idea- i mean i’ve thought the guy is a jerk before he sent me the wrong power supply, but do that and avoid my call… even then i can’t think of what good it’d do.

A lightning coloured power supply is about a connection between two round powerfeed holes of equal size.

Anyone who’s that anal about a little paint scratch around the scrws on the known early A4’s with paint issues, and yet returns the wrong power supply is either a jerk or an asshole…PLASTER TIME!

I think it’s absolutely not a good idea, it just makes more work for moderators should things become unpleasant.

update:

he called me back, said he didn’t realize he sent the wrong power supply.
he said he’ll send it out tomorrow on his lunchbreak and send me a photo.

THEN he said he’ll refund me $40 when he receives the full refund from Paypal (still inconveniencing me further). at least it’s something.

done. (and no names or locations were disclosed !)

hmm, good you didn’t listen to me LOL :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

i think the moral of this story is just to TRUST YOUR GUT.

i had a feeling this guy was very OCD/nitpicky from the get-go… i mean my wife and i were laughing earlier at these few tiny marks on the corners of the A4 like “OMGZ i just can’t get past it” and “it totally ruins the sound y’know” ? :astonished:

if a potential buyer/seller weirds you out from the get-go, just avoid ! the worst you can do is just slightly offend them by saying “thanks but no thanks”.

Once this is (or not) resolved, definitely list the Forum User’s name under the sticky, SELLER FEEDBACK, as a heads-up to other people simply to not deal with the person again.
I would also make sure your A4 operates as it should and do not mean to make you worry, but a power supply is more easily replaceable than an A4 if you know what I mean?!
I personally prefer using a personal PayPal to sell/buy than to use the likes of Craigslist, where you have potential people wanting to meet and either rob you or worse (happens in my major metro USA city all the time) and I refer to CL as the underbelly of the internet for that reason…it’s simply too easy for letches to prey on others.
PayPal is not so much the evil here, it’s the psycho that you are dealing with and it’s sad it was a forum member. Good luck getting it all sorted and again, make his forum name known to warn rest of us. I would not even use his real name in that posting just to protect yourself from some defamation of character crap. However, that sticky for SELLER FEEDBACK is there for exactly that reason.

The united prostates however seem to think it is about a bone coloured flyover connection between two I shaped holes. But if so, then why didn’t the flyover connection work for them?

wtf pong? eveything you write is so…


When I sell something via the internet, I always make sure to accurately describe any flaws, no matter how minor, and to send high res photos showing any blemishes. Not saying you didn’t do this, but perhaps you were not thorough enough in your description? Some people can be pretty picky, but I suppose when you’re laying down hard earned cash you have the right to be. Ultimately, it’s a shame the paint was botched on the first run A4’s.

He is a spammer. View his posts, they’re all gibberish and links. I recommend reporting him so the mods can remove his account.

I dunno, I’ve watched some really good MnM videos of his on youtube. He’s either on LSD when he posts, or someone hacked his account. But I’m pretty sure he’s not a spammer in the usual kitchen-sense that we all know and love!

It’s search manipulation spam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamdexing

You know the hungry say I am…
like tasty flyover-spam.

Please stop undermining my flyover-spam.

you have to be able to TRUST YOUR GUT on this one.

clockrva

i am sorry for you and your hassle that you had to go through … happy that everything sort of worked out in the end.

i would post exactly your story in the sellers / buyers feedback. you are stating very clearly how hard it is to deal with somebody who has high expectations, is passive aggressive, doesnt live up to his/her own standard …

would help another user not to go into the same bs as you went through …

just my 2ct i dont claim to be correct or have a brain at all

I just don’t understand why a person like that would ever buy a used item.