So, you buy a guitar off the bay...

lovestrat74

and it arrives and you don't think it was as described.  The seller has a no returns policy. Where do you stand? What do you do?

I have already messaged the seller and am awaiting his response. 

To give you an idea of what I am talking about the seller described the guitar as; usual wear and tear of a guitar of this age. The aging is on the whole artificial so it is not age related wear and tear...

RaymondLin

Let them know item is not as described, screenshot original ad.

If they do not offer a resolution that you are happy with i.e. refund or money off.  Then email eBay and raise a query.  Do all messages within eBay.

skunkwerx

Well the no returns policy I think is only like for unwanted returns. 

If its not as described I’m pretty sure ebay/paypal has a guaranteed ‘get the goods you ordered or your money back’ thing dont they?

Have you got a link? Spose ‘wear for its age’ can be taken as the usual scrape/dent/scratch, but if its clearly been relic’d and it was not described as a relic then thats another matter. 

For an example a 10 year old guitar showing its age may have fret wear, chips, scratches or corrosion. But actual relic guitars take decades and a lot of abuse to ever look like the relics we see now days

Whitecat

“Not as described” always overrides “no-returns” policies with ebay and Reverb, so easy to raise a claim if you are denied. Granted this is open to abuse and that sucks for sellers - but assuming you are in the right you will win. If you paid via PayPal you have two levels of recourse too - if for some reason ebay finds in the sellers favour you can do a separate PayPal claim and you are almost 100% guaranteed to win that. 

scrumhalf

It's a breach of the Sale Of Goods Act.

And, being pedantic, you don't want to return it. It wasn't what you paid for in the first place, you want the goods described to you which you believed you had purchased.

more

On eBay it is eBay return policy that counts . Open a  'Not as described' case and you can return it , eBay will provide the label or , If you used   pay-pal you can open a case with them . Pay pal are even more penalising than  eBay. They can  take the money back and make a refund , if the seller  is not cooperative. 

ICBM

lovestrat74 said:

The seller has a no returns policy.

No such thing.

If it's not as described or faulty then Ebay will make them take it back whether they like it or not.

I had a seller try that with me a while ago... after much refusal, and then trying to make me pay for the return postage, I got fed up, went via Ebay, and got every penny of my money including the return postage cost back.

All he gained for his obstructiveness was a negative feedback.

Whitecat

As a seller it is possible to win a “not as described” case with eBay. My wife successfully appealed as a seller once and won against a buyer she thought was trying it on and had just changed their mind - but then the buyer went to PayPal after ebay closed it and my wife lost there because their arbitration system is basically a kangaroo court. The only thing she got out of all the fighting was that in the end she did not have to pay any return postage. 

Iamnobody

lovestrat74 said:

and it arrives and you don't think it was as described.  The seller has a no returns policy. Where do you stand? What do you do?

I have already messaged the seller and am awaiting his response. 

To give you an idea of what I am talking about the seller described the guitar as; usual wear and tear of a guitar of this age. The aging is on the whole artificial so it is not age related wear and tear...

Did the advert mention or show photos of the artificial aging? What type of aging is it? 

Are we talking about slipping across the back with a belt sander of dropping screwdriver points on it?

lovestrat74

lovestrat74

Sorry having trouble with imjur as it has changed and I don't know what I am doing now... Above is basically an example of the "ageing". 

Seller is saying he will refund but I will have to foot the postage return bill - double 

HandwrittenHero

lovestrat74 said:

Sorry having trouble with imjur as it has changed and I don't know what I am doing now... Above is basically an example of the "ageing". 

Seller is saying he will refund but I will have to foot the postage return bill - double 

They can ask that for nothing. Opening an eBay case will correct them.

Hattigol

lovestrat74 said:

Is that natural wear?

Bennyboy-UK

And you couldn’t see this stuff in the listing photos?

mrkb

Hattigol said:

lovestrat74 said:

Is that natural wear?

Doesn’t look natural, but the rest of the gold would come off with a bit of brasso, and look much better. Was the guitar bought to be played or looked at? And how does it play?

SteveRobinson

If it's just the pickups, it wouldn't cost much to replace the covers. What guitar is it?

lovestrat74

Bennyboy-UK said:

And you couldn’t see this stuff in the listing photos?

No, the pics weren't close enough in to see that the pups had been clearly scratched of the top coat

lovestrat74

SteveRobinson said:

If it's just the pickups, it wouldn't cost much to replace the covers. What guitar is it?

It's a riviera Jorma Kaukonen signature. The bigsby and the tuners have had similar attention and the binding is brown in places!

Bennyboy-UK

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254689635408 

Here’s the original listing.

HandwrittenHero

Bennyboy-UK said:

And you couldn’t see this stuff in the listing photos?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254689635408

HandwrittenHero

It’s a little bit tricky for me. The photos of the hardware aren’t necessarily unclear to my mind, particularly photo 11 but can also see how could miss it and doesn’t show binding