Advice on dealing with more expensive component sales and buyers finding “flaws?”

I sold my Sugden a21se recently on us audiomart. The individual put down a down payment stating they would have the rest of the funds available in their PayPal account by end of week, in hindsight I believe it was because they have been shopping around and making returns. Before making the payment they were already alluding to the fact that they would “hate to have to make a return,” if various things weren’t double checked, so I checked them, but that should have been red flag two… all of the sudden the Sugden sounds sharp and thin, has a channel imbalance, and the speaker out terminals are stuck (they are a little stiff, but certainly not stuck.) It sounds like he’s fishing for a return. This was done through usaudiomart and paid through PayPal as mentioned, feel like there’s nothing I can do here, so if he continues to state there are issues so I just eat it and offer the return?

 

Yup, PayPal won't have your back. You'll need to take the return if it gets to that.

Your alternative is to slice off part of the price, if what he's really doing is fishing for a discount.

Fingers crossed he's not an out-and-out crook who will return something other than what you shipped.

Figure out if there's a discount you're willing to live with and offer that if it comes to it. Otherwise you'll get the return and, unless the buyer is generous, you'll pay return shipping.

Yes, "I'd hate to have to make a return" is a red flag.

Sort of the "I'd hate for something to happen to this nice business you have going here..." in the online world.

 

I offered to refund the amount of new binding posts, and he said that’s not really the problem and he just doesn’t like the sound, and is standing by the channel imbalance being cause by the amp. At least he has offered to pay for return shipping. So there’s that. If you process a return on PayPal does it refund the full amount including fee or do you end up eating the fee as well?

 

If he has offered to pay return shipping, then maybe there's an issue, or maybe he's just a pain in the butt. Scammers normally wouldn't pay return shipping.

In terms of PayPal, you lose 2.9% when you return his payment. That sucks, but there's no way around that.

 

I think he’s just a pain in the butt, but at least a decent enough pain in the butt to not take me to the bank haha. This is going to be fun to explain to my wife when this one shows back up after I explained I sold it to purchase my new amp

 

Well. In better news I put the listing back up and very explicitly detailed that this was being return led to me and that while I never experienced the mentioned issues from the buyer, I was going to test and post video proving it functions as advertised before accepting any purchases etc, and I’ve already got someone new who wants to purchase once everything checks out.

 

Well, that's good news. So, yeah, then just take the item back from buyer number one, check it out in detail, then sell it to buyer #2. You'll lose 2.9% and your original shipping on the deal, but there's nothing really you can do about that...

 

Yep. In other news Sugden amps are flying like hotcakes.

 

So amp is arriving Tuesday. Will put it through the gamut to test. New buyer sent a refundable deposit via friends and family to confirm he wants to buy pending results. Question though, is there another way people are collecting payments that protects the buyer for faulty products but for a time period that is shorter than 6 months? I’d love to use PayPal given how easy it is and the faith buyers have in it, but man if this happens again where someone decides they don’t like the sound and start saying somethings wrong to get a return, I’m gonna be out several hundred dollars in PayPal fees and shipping and sorely frustrated. What do you all use?

 

Update, amp is in perfect working condition, just like when I shipped it. Buyer reaction is “woah really? I guess I believe you then.” I very much want to leave this individual negative feedback, as I believe they are shopping around the used marketplace and using the buyer friendly features of PayPal to force returns. I also want to return the purchase less fees as I covered fees with the price of the unit. With that said they have not left me feedback yet. Too risky?

 

Potential negative feedback is only one issue in this situation.

For PayPal, the fact that you accepted the return and he returned it, means he should be refunded 100% of what he paid. Seller eats cost.

If you refund less than 100% of what he paid, he might take it as a hit or he might file a claim on PayPal for the rest. If he does, you'll need to refund him the rest anyway. If you don't, PayPal will do it for you and then charge you an admin fee for having them adjudicate since you refused to refund it yourself.

It's possible that, if you call PP and discuss it with them, they might agree that the buyer was wrong/just changed his mind and credit you the fee you paid. Long shot but if you really want to cover your costs, it's about your only option.

 

I paid him the full invoice. He’s also asking for $100 that was clearly stated and agreed upon was non refundable. It was sent friends and family. Would you refund that too?

 

F&F isn't covered by PayPal so he can't really get that back if he made a claim. If you and the buyer agreed on a $100 non-refundable deposit, he shouldn't be expecting that to be refunded.

 

New buyer confirmed amps background is absolutely silent, and no channel imbalance, so at least some folks are honest out there.