Frustrations with selling...

[alanp]

Closest I've gotten to selling ANYTHING (apart from PCB's, and support for them is another tin of bees) was *loaning* my Chimaira to someone.

Damn thing came back dead. Still need to remember to order the replacement funky diode that the PSU in the Klon uses.

Mind you, I first loaned it to someone else (my supervisor at work) and not only did it come back the same way it went out, he recorded several clips with it that he played loudly at work the next day on the stereo (loaned him my Doppelganger 1.4 and Pharoah atm.)

[Betty Wont]

There's too many potential scams and scammers around that play the system for free stuff. I quit  paypal after I sold a guy a pedal on the forum, he waited until almost the end of the grace period and then reported it as "not as described". He refused to send it back and made a claim. Paypal told him to send it back for a refund. He sent an empty box with a tracking number and paypal refunded him (took the money from my balance) AND he got to keep the pedal. As soon as he got the "refund" he put the pedal back up for sale on the forum, and for MORE than I charged in the first place. Obviousy a scam from the start. I'm out the time and money building the pedal AND the cost of shipping AND the full value of the refund. No more paypal for me.

Wait. You had proof that he posted the pedal he claimed to send back for a refund and you didn't reopen the claim? It's clear fraud. Did you take screenshots of his forum post and send them to PayPal? I need to hear more about this one, because it's much more egregious than the usual buyer's remorse stories.

Yep, I had the original sales post from here at madbean, the posts where he tried to modify it after he got it and screwed it up and was asking for tech help, the post where he bragged about paypal ruling in his favor after he "returned" it, AND his reposted sale of the "returned" pedal from here at madbean. I also compiled all of his threatening emails where he tried to get me to refund without returning it, and some communications where he threatened my ebay user account (which is weird because ebay wasn't involved so he did a little stalking or something). Paypal made their "final" decision based on the tracking # of the empty box he sent me. My appeals were denied. I was told that I would have had to had the insight to make the post office open the package in the presence of police in order to prove the fraud. He technically committed mail fraud too by insuring the nonexistant contents. I should note that all this took place over a year, so a lot of deadliines went by. That's why the scammer waits until the last minute to start the BS. I give away or throw away, but I do not sell anymore.

[davent]

^Does this scumbag have a name?
dave

[midwayfair]

There's too many potential scams and scammers around that play the system for free stuff. I quit  paypal after I sold a guy a pedal on the forum, he waited until almost the end of the grace period and then reported it as "not as described". He refused to send it back and made a claim. Paypal told him to send it back for a refund. He sent an empty box with a tracking number and paypal refunded him (took the money from my balance) AND he got to keep the pedal. As soon as he got the "refund" he put the pedal back up for sale on the forum, and for MORE than I charged in the first place. Obviousy a scam from the start. I'm out the time and money building the pedal AND the cost of shipping AND the full value of the refund. No more paypal for me.

Wait. You had proof that he posted the pedal he claimed to send back for a refund and you didn't reopen the claim? It's clear fraud. Did you take screenshots of his forum post and send them to PayPal? I need to hear more about this one, because it's much more egregious than the usual buyer's remorse stories.

Yep, I had the original sales post from here at madbean, the posts where he tried to modify it after he got it and screwed it up and was asking for tech help, the post where he bragged about paypal ruling in his favor after he "returned" it, AND his reposted sale of the "returned" pedal from here at madbean. I also compiled all of his threatening emails where he tried to get me to refund without returning it, and some communications where he threatened my ebay user account (which is weird because ebay wasn't involved so he did a little stalking or something). Paypal made their "final" decision based on the tracking # of the empty box he sent me. My appeals were denied. I was told that I would have had to had the insight to make the post office open the package in the presence of police in order to prove the fraud. He technically committed mail fraud too by insuring the nonexistant contents. I should note that all this took place over a year, so a lot of deadliines went by. That's why the scammer waits until the last minute to start the BS. I give away or throw away, but I do not sell anymore.

So this was in the U.S., right?

Make a claim at the post office for mail fraud. I don't think the statute is less than a year on that.

[playpunk]

The postal service takes that stuff pretty seriously - they have investigators and stuff. You  might not get any money back, but hey, maybe that jerk will end up in federal prison!

[wgc]

If he's doing it you, he's doing it to others.

I believe there's still legal recourse for you with pp, via arbitration, though probably not worth it. However, if no one fights back, we all lose.

Always makes me sad to hear these things.

[the3secondrule]

^Does this scumbag have a name?
dave

Name and shame

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the "offender" is probably not a frequent visitor or probably has not been on here for quite some time.

[midwayfair]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Kinki fuzz]

I sell some pedals, to get some money to buy parts, too. No problems with ebay so far but I see the dangers too. Also ebay takes good profit from you, so overall is not a great option I recon.
I think a sound clip is important, so you let know the customer how the thing sound, and potentially avoiding complaints. Anyway I don't sell vintage germanium based stuff, overdrives or big muff variants or that kind of stuff are more consistent unit to unit and will give less surprises.

Direct sell is much better option, for many reasons, but it can be difficult to get in contact with enough people... anybody tried bigcartel, by the way? It's free for up to 5 items, so I thought it could be an option if you are able to make people go to your shop...

[raulduke]

^Does this scumbag have a name?
dave

Agreed. I say name and shame this douchebag lest he ever tries this trick again (here or at other forums).

Sorry to hear your story too dude. Never ceases to amaze me how some people can be such aresholes and not give a sh*t for anyone else. Can only hope that karma catches up with him...

[Betty Wont]

I'm not about flaming anyone in public and I feel i've kept my karma intact by being chill about the whole thing. It was over a year ago and I don't have any of the physical "evidence" anymore. I don't remember his real name or address, (somewhere in OH,KY,or TN i think), but i'll share his username in PM if you feel you would like to avoid doing business with him. I'm only out like a hundred bucks so I don't feel it was worth the level of retribution some of you are after, and I'm pretty non-confrontational. I consider it a lesson i'm glad I learned on a small ticket item. I now close this hijack.