OT...Sold my Alpine on ebay and now buyer has problem

I pulled the alpine stereo out of my 996 and replaced it with a Sony that has blue-tooth. Now my iphone syncs up...nice system. Anyway, i sold my old alpine on ebay. All went well, left positive feedback for buyer and he left positive feedback for me. Then I received this today: I have not responded to him yet. It is worth noting that I would never try to scam anyone. When I took the unit out, it worked fine. I only got $80ish for it so it's more of a principal thing. Part of me says I should offer him some money back but if I do how much? Part of me says how do I know he is not trying to scam me? As he said, he hooked it up, it worked fine and now a few weeks later it is skipping. What do you think...should I offer him a refund? thanks, mark

When I purchase anything off ebay I treat it as "MY OWN RISK" unless they offer a return policy. He or shop could have damaged it but will never know for sure.

You would have to be quite a diabolical mastermind if you could send a stereo that would work for a couple weeks and then die. His wording is pretty confrontational and I'd be offended (but maybe I'm sensitive). Obviously, you're trying to do the right thing. If it's skipping, he may just need to clean the head. Is it still under warranty? If so, I'd suggest that he take it to an Alpine service center. All else fails, I'd probably split the cost and have him ship the unit back (i.e. give him $40 back)--I think that this is MORE than fair. Honestly, you don't owe him anything, he could have broken it himself. I think it is implicit in any eBay transaction that goods are sold AS IS. Good luck resolving this.

thanks for the replys...and I didn't like his tone in that last sentence either... Maybe I will email him back and ask what he thinks I should do? One thought I had is that if it was a Rennlister, I would offer him a full refund no questions asked...why should I not do the same for someone on ebay?... Hum...

Post a link to the ebay sold item where we can read what you said then we could probably provide a better response. If it said in working condition and sold as is then sorry it is his, however if it was me I would tell him to remove it and return to you postage paid and you will return his $80. In doing this it would require for this truly to be a big deal to him requiring some out of pocket money and lost time.

ebay item # 300211523412 As I took another look at the ad, it says there is a 7 day return policy. He bought it two weeks ago so we are past that. I think you make a good point about taking it out and sending it back and I think could refund his money. At least I know he is not just trying to scam me.

It's funny...I actually never noticed the 7 day return policy. I guess Ebay automatically adds that to the ad? Again, since it was in perfect working order, I would have done a 7 day return policy anyway.

Some older cd players do not handle 'burnt' cds very well, and some burnt cds are better quality than others. Will it play a good old-fashioned store-bought cd? I believe that if the buyer received the goods in the condition advertised (ie. working order), then the transaction is complete. What happens after that shouldn't be your responsibility, unless you provided some specific warranty/guarantee as part of the sale. Good luck with this touchy situation.

Sometimes if the cd player gets thrown around during shipping, it can affect the way it plays.

Anytime someone demands something of me - when the case is not clear, I step back, and the deal would be done. If you write him and he is pleasant with you then maybe consider options. Same type of thing happened to me when I sold my boxster a few years ago. Guy called me a month later and said the alternator was going on it, and he demanded that I pay for it. I had just completed the 60,000 mile service at 55,000 and put new tires on it before I sold it and it was in perfect condition. He used me saying it was in perfect condition to insinuate that he had a used car warranty from me... He was extremely rude, which ended the conversation abruptly. 2 weeks later I got a 5 page hand written letter from him and how disappointed he was with me and our transaction...funny he doesn't write when he has the top down and lovin' life...

Tell him to burn his CDs at a slower rate, 24x or slower. A lot of players don't like 48X etc.the pits on the disk are not deep enough to be read in a bouncing environment. The reality is that you owe him nothing, how you chose to deal with it is based on what you feel like you need to do. If he has it pulled, pays for return shipping and you receive it in the same condition it was a the time of sale I would give a refund. However, by his own admission it ran fine for over a week. This is absolutely not something you could control and therefore I wouldn't feel responsible. The tone sounds like the buyer is a bit immature, personally I would understand the sale was "As Is" and chalk it up as a learning experience. Good luck. AA

The fact that it worked fine for a few weeks says that it should no longer be your problem. Afterall, you have no idea what the shop might have done to it when it was installed. Unfortunately used electronics break, and it sucks when it happens a short time after you became the owner, but that is life. Did the guy leave you positive feedback? That usually seals the deal on most Ebay cases.

Skipping on burnt CDs is very common with older CD players - doubly true for car stereos. There's a bunch of reasons for this: Actual imprint on burnt CDs is very shallow - commercial CDs are stamped and will last a lot longer and play more reliably. CDs with light shiny surfaces read more poorly than ones with dark dyed surfaces The tracking mechanism on the stereo might need cleaning. Single laser instead of 3 laser causes poor reading of tracks - skips easily. Memory buffer - the shorter it is the more often the cd will skip His suspension might be incredibly harsh All of these can separately or in combination cause skipping. It also depends what kind of skipping. Skipping followed by a moment of silence is buffer/vibration etc. - skipping followed by repeating or moving to a different part of the song is laser/crappy cd/tracking etc. In the case of crappy cd skipping burning at the slowest rate possible might help.

You also have to make sure (somehow) that the unit that he's sending back is the SAME UNIT that you sold him. Maybe he's just trying to "fix" an old unit that he already has.

You've fulfilled your obligation. As other posters have said...move on.

tell him to poke it!!!!!

It worked for 2 weeks. I wouldn't even reply. Sounds fishy to me. Plus, I don't like his insulting accusations. It's a used unit, and sold as is. Would you return an item to the flea market or garage sale? That's what ebay is...virtual flea market.

Don't offer him anything. It worked for 2 weeks then it died,meaning it worked when you sent it. How do you know the installer didn't knock something loose or he mistreated it? It's eBay,not a local store where you bought it brand w/ a warranty. You held up your end of the bargain.

If you're willing to trade negatives then don't do anything, I would say that it is smart to force buyers to pay for shipping insurance for such occurences as these. UPS/FEDEX are rough on packages. It's highly likely that unit sustained some trauma while in transit, especially without oem box/packaging. Worst case scenario, have him send unit back (with insurance) give the gay back his few bucks. Perhaps you're package is .... No I didn't say it, it would be wrong....

Send him an email that says, you are sorry for the unfortunate situation, however, the unit functioned perfectly for you and you never had any problems, and there is nothing you are willing to do.

Having run a successful high-end mail order camera business for a number of years I've had the experience of dealing with some low-end consumers on occasion. Since I regarded my reputation on every transaction I would bite the bullet and eat the bad trade almost always. Once in a while I would step back and say I'm not going to allow myself to be screwed on a particular deal. On one occasion, on eBay, I slammed a would-be wiseguy who turned around and gave me a negative. I was so pissed I had a running dialog with eBay who refused to know about it. If you value your eBay reputation you might want to avoid that potential problem. Clearly, as everyone had pointed out, your transaction was above board. The unit worked when he got it and he should have no recourse to you. You don't want the damn thing back and I don't think a partial refund will satisfy this guy. Draw a line in the sand and know I'm on your side.

There's only one thing that matters, and that is "how'd he pay for it?" If he used PayPal, they'll probably give him his money back and make him return the unit to you. If he didn't use PayPal, tell him to take a hike; you have no idea what happened to the unit between the time it left your hands and the time he claimed it was broken.

I disagree, he emailed you and said it worked for weeks. He also already left positive feedback. transaction is over. Ebay will not intervene.

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+1

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You guys are right...eBay will not do anything. However, if the buyer used PayPal, they very well might do something about it if the buyer has half a clue what he's doing. All he has to do is initiate a "significantly not as described" claim within 45 days of receipt of the item, tell PayPal that it arrived in non-working order, and PayPal will start the resolution process, which usually results in the item being sent back at the buyer's expense and the original sell price being drained from the seller's account. PP won't care about any e-mails whose origin can't be verified, and depending on their mood, there's a 50/50 shot that they'll care about the positive feedback left via the eBay system. Unfortunately, this information has been gleamed from the dozens of times this has happened to me over thousands of eBay transactions. It really IS a buyer's paradise when PayPal is involved.

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I had a buyer complain about an electronic item I sold on ebay 100+ days after the deal. Statute of limitations for paypal is 90 days. After 90 days, the buyer is done.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but the email that was sent was actually sent through ebay...so i have it in my ebay inbox. I sent him a message that said that he should try a store bought CD and see what happens...that CD's that are burned often have this type of problem. No response. I don't think I will do anything else at this point...I'll wait and see what happens.

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I think that you've done everything that you need to. Honestly, even if he complains to paypal you have his emails stating that all was well when the unit was first installed - that should be the end of the story.

The guy said it was working for 2 weeks. Then it stops. His problem. If he'd asked nicely maybe I'd feel sorry. He didn't. So don't. Phil

I've come across plenty of eBay sellers that have greater than 90% approval ratings. I get a kick out of the negative posts which cite the seller as a "cheat and liar", to which the seller replies "no, you are the liar, and are stupid and psycotic and your mom dresses you funny!" It is truly an art form... Not once have I chosen not to buy from a seller with a few of those exchanges on their website. And to date, I have yet to be screwed by a seller. Move on, and use this experience to guide your future eBay dealings... My $0.02, -Blake

Anyone under a 97% rating is suspect

My eBay profile looks hilarious - I can just imagine anyone checking it: "Let's see 100% positive feedback... he's bought 2 USB cables, a laptop battery and a Porsche" -

Can he change the ebay feedback after he already left it as positive?

Here is the feedback he left for me:

No, it's over. There is nothing he can do. Even if Paypal starts an investigation, they will drop it fast when they see your evidence.

He left feedback and can't change it one way or the other. If was me I'd normally try to accomodate, but when he threw in the statement about you trying to rip him off I'd either completely ignore him or tell him to pound sand.

The buyer purchased a used Alpine head unit with a 7 day return policy. If the buyer did not initiate a return within 7 days then it's over and the buyer has absolutely no claim. That is the agreement and the contract. Nothing more, nothing less. Enjoy the songs that don't skip. Goodbye.

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Solid necro

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nah, this one didn't fool Gonzo

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Some head units have a 'shipping screw' that needs to be inserted to lock the CD mechanism to avoid damage in shipping. If your Alpine has one and you did not lock the CD mechanism before shipping to your eBay buyer I would say you have at least some responsibility for the alleged damage that may have been done to the Alpine. Just another thought.

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He could have used that advice 8 years ago

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Not sure what you mean. All I'm saying is that many head units that feature an internal CD player come from the factory with a screw inserted in the DIN chassis that holds the internal mechanism rigid to prevent damage from shipping / handling. Before initial installation you have to remove the screw so the CD mechanism is free to move. If Alpine is one of these types of units and the OP shipped it to his eBay customer without replacing the screw before sending the package the Alpine's CD mechanism may have been damaged in shipping. That is all.

And what he's saying is this thread is from 2008.

Dammit, I've just read three pages of an eight year old thread and I still don't know how the dispute resolved itself.

I now check the expiration date of all threads prior to posting...

Isn't there enough going on RIGHT NOW to avoid resurrecting an 8 year old thread? With no apparent point? Holy crap ejdoherty911.