I sold a Magnum Dynalab MD100 tuner here on Saturday. I used it daily for almost 3 years and right up to the day I shipped it to its new owner. There was never a problem with it, it always worked perfectly. The gentleman received the tuner yesterday and complained to me that the tuner is broken. He said that when the tuner is off, the meters still work. I pointed out to him that it is the way the tuner is designed. I have had 3 different Magnum Dynalab tuners and all 3 have been that way. He also said the signal strength meter moves wildly and that he is getting a loud hiss. I explained to him that it sounds like poor reception.
He wants his money back and I told him I would cheerfully refund him the money via PayPal once I receive the tuner back. I stated I would refund him the 400.00 that he paid. He then complained he wanted his return shipping back because I sent him a "broken" tuner and that I stated in my ad that it worked flawlessly (which it did). I sent him another email which he has yet to respond to that I will cover his return shipping, and that as soon as I get the tuner back I will refund him the 400.00 plus the return shipping.
I am quite annoyed because He lowballed me down to 400 as I was asking 475.00 and this tuner went for 1970.00 new. I also ate the PayPal fees plus had to purchase a shipping carton as well. I am positive the tuner is fine and that he just has poor reception. People here need to realize that we who are selling are not a store, this isn't try and return if you don't like or if the problem is bad reception.
At any rate, I am just going to refund him everything as I have flawless feedback and that means more to me than the money. Whats your take on this?
The guy sounds like he knows nothing about needing a decent antenna for good FM reception. You should just chalk it up and relist it when you get it back. Why where you selling an excellent tuner like that for such a low price? Is the tuner market that bad?
I sold the tuner because I bought a McIntosh tuner to match the rest of my McIntosh gear. Tuners are quite a hard sell so I figured I would practically give it away to sell quickly which it did on the first day. He said he has the Magnum Dynalab ST-2 antenna which is the same that I used
You know that is a tuff one, we all have had similar experiences and probably from both perspectives. Bottom line if the guy had good feedback, active buyer and seller with a track record you are really at his mercy, I know have to take one for the team every now and then.
I think he's being unreasonable and you're being more than generous, considering the relative Audiogon longevity of you both. He's also accusing you of dishonesty without offering any evidence. I would refund him the money when you get the tuner back if it does exhibit those symptoms, but not the return shipping.
+1 simao. However, he probably has you over a barrel having used paypal. As far as I can tell, paypal usually sides with the buyer in these types of disputes. One option would be to suggest that you two file an Audiogon dispute, which is more likely to result in a similar result to what simao suggested. As far as I can tell, many/most on-line businesses require buyer to pay for return shipping. BTW, ST-2 antenna is directional if placed horizontally. Perhaps that is part of his problem.
Considering the language barrier, that path wouldn't be doable. I am so angry as I know there is nothing wrong with the Tuner, it gave me 3 years of immense pleasure and I used it daily, 8 hours a day as it was set up in my office.
What you may hear next from this fella is that sending it back is too big a PIA and he is willing to accept a further discount on the initial price and just keep it. Or not.....:-)
What probably happened was that the buyer wasn't sure how it would sound and bought it before knowing. When it arrived, he/she didn't like it and wanted a return. Like a store. another reason why I really like buyers to pick the unit up personally. That way, they would hear it work perfectly and can't complain later. Another is don't accept paypal. Paypal protects the buyer only. I never eat the paypal fee and if buyers insist on using paypal, they must add in the paypal fee. buyer is also responsible for shipping fees.
I sold a Mark Levinson ML3 amp a year or so ago. The was repaired and also modified with upgraded output transistors and worked and sounded wonderful. It was advertised as repaired and modified and very detail in the description. The buyer came to my house, and listened to the amp play for over an hour. It was great. I still regret selling this amp.
The buyer was a "dealer" which I didn't know and shipped the amp overseas to a new buyer. They proceeded to take the amp apart and then called me complaining that the amp didn't work correctly. I told him to bring it back to my house and we could connect it like before and listen. I said that if it didn't work, then there was nothing I could do because they damaged the unit. They (the new owner) could have very easily shorted the outputs and damaged the amp. hard to do on this one because it is a monster. I'm absolutely certain the new "owner" damaged the amp either in shipping overseas or when they tried to connect it and operate it.
I would not take back something that worked when I shipped it and they buyer damaged it. This is why paypal is not cool.
I understand that buyers want protection, but so do sellers. tough call here.
If the tuner works as before, then maybe give the buyer their money back and move on. but, if that tuner no longer works, then well, we have a problem. they (the buyer) broke it. More likely tho, the buyer simply didn't like the sound and considers you to be a retail store and want a return.
I don't want any negative feedback, and PayPal will give it back and just take it out of my linked account. This is more the principal of the thing than the money, although the money hurts too as it will come out of my personal slush fund.
Been there on a couple sales before...PayPal protects the buyer. I had to eat a bunch of shipping costs. I have sold a lot of high end camera gear and no longer deal with people who chisel away at my clearly stated no haggle pricing. I price fairly and ship quickly. Buyers do not see this as a plus. The chiselers are the ones who try to beat you down and are always the ones who will complain. You have that bad customer who you must satisfy unfortunately. Ask him to request a refund through paypal....once he returns it and you refund through paypal you get your fees back,
did u write down the serial number.. i learned the hard way on my HE1000 headphone. worked perfectly. buyer then took pic saying it was repair or mod. got the unit back. there was a mark i did on it, and it disappeared on the return unit.
so no only i gave him back money. i have a f-up headphone.. a paid lesson to learn.
alway take pic of visual mark, and serial number, to protect urself.
Guessing that your customer didn’t have much in the way of positive Audiogon feedback, right? I’d recommend doing the refund so long as the item is returned in the same condition as when you sent it. Presumably, it’ll be in great shape and you can just sell it to another buyer.
Your complaints about the low sale price that YOU accepted, however, are not fair. Since you listed the product at a minimum price, you were not forced to accept any bid that you felt to be a "lowball" offer. Same goes for your complaints about packaging/shipping and PayPal fees. Hold out for a higher price if you think the item is worth it.
Forgot to mention, I also threw in a 6 foot Pangea 14SE Mark II power cord which I never even told the customer about. I threw it in as a bonus as I was too lazy to post another Audiogon ad.
i feel for ya as I listen to The Royal Scam.. and read of your struggles...
i view your inputs about the sum total of the deal as frustration not complaints....I agree reputation is more important than money - I would take it back but buyer must prove it does not work first.
Just spent $500 on my MR-85 .... and still disappointed my ancient Tube MX-110 outperforms it !!!! wish I was in the market for yours...
Man I feel for you as a sellar I would not except anything but a GOLDBAR! LOL Seriously though just know that these people do this on purpose, they want to try out stuff! People are using the return system Paypal provides or a credit card company with little regard to YOUR return policy you listed for the item (means nothing) Tip: get cash or wait for check to clear before sending item sellers, or 50/50 it will come back to you...they protect the money, period! So, if some one complains and sends it back they get there money returned.What a total waste of time and energy, frankly I havent sold anything since this happend to me once, now im un inspired to sell. I'd rather keep my stuff and set up a system for a family member or friend.
from long experience i agree with the take-your-lumps-and-move-on advice. if in fact your buyer is an unreasonable schmuck, he'll remain so notwithstanding your fretting and fuming about the injustice of it all, and all you'll do is get more agitated. the vast majority of the folks you'll interact with on these parts are forthright, so take consolation.
Did you consider offering to have him take this to a repair shop for diagnosis? There may not be a repair shop in his area but I would at least have considered that. I think you are being more than fair with this buyer. It seems to me that some people really try to use your good reputation against you in situations like this. I have had good and bad reception from the very same tuner depending upon the location and even the time of day and that may well be the bullet you are now biting with this buyer.
Have him ship the tuner back at his cost. If it is in need of repair, then refund his shipping. If it works fine, no refund of shipping
Have paypal and/or Audiogon assist you in these fair and reasonable terms. I think Audiogon would block any negative feedback if he returns a perfectly functional tuner. You could easily prove it's functional status with a video.
Paypal will definitely side with the buyer. In my 12 or so years selling on agon I have only had one incident like that. Better to cut your losses and move on.
It’s not broken. If he does little reseach, he would know. It is designed that way. It doesn't turn fully off. Some people.....Google's in every language too....well, almost.
Here is the outcome...............................
I told the buyer to ship it back to me and I would cover the shipping both ways. I said once I received the tuner , I would refund the money via PayPal. On the day he was going to ship it to me, he sent me a message saying that if I would give him more of a discount on the tuner, he would keep it and send it to Magnum Dynalab to be upgraded for 350.00
The way I figured it was this: If I took it back, I would have to refund him 500.00 and start over. Tuners are a hard sell these days, so I gave him a further discount and called it a day, or so I thought. I issued the partial refund via PayPal to cover myself, but for some reason PayPal didn't instantly transfer the money to him, they said it would take 5 business days to complete.
I sent the guy email telling him this. 3 days later, he is asking me where his refund was. That is when I called PayPal and was told they already informed him it would take until Wednesday to get the refund. On Wednesday, he got the refund and he gave me positive feedback.
I haven't given him any feedback because if I do it will be negative and at this point, I am tired of dealing with him. I am sure he did all this purposely to get a cheaper price. Bottom line, he got a 1970.00 tuner in excellent shape for 300.00. I got taken big time but at least I am done with this jerk.
I'm not being sarcastic, I swear. But why would someone want a tuner these days?
To listen to FM. The audio quality of a really good FM signal is better than that of most radio station streams. Of course, the sq of most FM stations today is not very good.
Because my local PBS FM station has a library of over 70,000 Classical recordings and all the announcers are themselves classical musicians and I like to LEARN things and have no room for 70K recordings in my condo. Also, they use top Teac Tascam CD players .
Also the City of Minneapolis owns our Jazz 88 FM station and though they only have about 10,000 jazz recordings that’s more than I have room for and they also play live jazz as well . I have 3 very good tuners at present but if I listened to rock I’d give them away . Both have good signals .
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