Beedster

The 'buyer' refused the eBay refund I sent and insisted that I send the bass, so I have refunded him directly through PayPal (and have an acknowledgment from eBay that he has now received it). I'm guessing from his tone that he'd already sold it (eBay listing closed early), had seen a nice £600 pay-day coming his way, and is now rather miffed. What goes around comes around eh

Having still not resolved this I tracked back through messages, and not only does he have multiple ebay IDs, he has multiple real IDs also. I insisted I would only send to his registered PayPal address and he eventually agreed. I didn't realise it at the time, but the postage labels he had earlier emailed me (after I'd told him I was not going to let him arrange the courier), had a different name to that with which he had paid for the bass, and from which his PayPal account is registered. I still can't escape the feeling there was a scam here that I've ducked out of, but in true 'Burn After Reading' style, I've no idea what it was

Ha ha, quite happy to keep it to be honest Harry, it's bloody lovely, just doesn't get used that much any more. But I've re-listed it as I kinda need the money, which was the reason for listing it in the first place

Thanks for the above folks. eBay is an interesting one, I suspect that we all still remember the days when the occasional Pre-CBS Precision popped up and sold for £450, when buyers and seller were generally polite, helpful and honest, and when it was largely full of used and interesting items. Wow it's changed.

Nicely put Ped, wise words and point taken And probably should be in my profile!

So, this guy is really quite unpleasant. He has numerous eBay accounts including godisforme7, vintagepluslondonguitars, reverbfireguitars, fireguitars and no doubt many more. He's just left me the first neg I've had in 15 years on eBay saying that I didn't send a bass to him with the usual "AVOID AT ALL COSTS" rubbish. He has also has just emailed me to say the police are involved. I imagine the crack anti-bass fraud group are as I write doing 90mph down the M2 in response. If they lock me up and throw away the key, it's been nice knowing you all. A nasty guy trying to bully me with threats; he wants me to refund the fee for the courier I told him not to book. I have no doubt that the reasons he messed about so long on the courier thing was because he was going to send the bass directly to the new buyer, and I told him I wasn't going to. I suspect that he has now sold the bass and taken payment, and is sitting in a pile of his own mess. I think however that this is indicative of eBay these days, so I'm about to close my account. Good idea while it lasted, but these days often populated by clowns trying to pull a fast one.

Thanks for the above folks, having done a little bit of digging around I found he has numerous ebay identities - five at least (some are linked to the account he bought with and some are not - and several comments on guitar forums about him doing what he has done here, sometimes even before he'd actually bought the guitar in question! He has a refund, I get to keep my 4003S

Hope this might help a bit also

Ha ha, having met you in person mate, I can vouch for that not being true! All joking aside, plenty of shops behave worse. For example, I could tell you about........... Just realised why he's in no rush for delivery though, I imagine he hopes it will sell quickly and he will arrange the delivery from me to go the new buyer, so the new buyer pays for the courier! That of course is where it could go wrong for me as it will not be going to his registered PayPal address. I'll keep y'all posted

I'll be honest and say I'm less worried than I was, if he wants to buy at a price at which I'm happy to sell, then pay quickly, then arrange the courier, and then list it for sale using my pics, I don't see any huge problem, pretty sharp sales practice but perfectly legal and not even unethical, as he owned the bass from the moment he paid me (so the pics are of his bass). I was more concerned the bass was either going to be 'lost' during delivery or be returned 'not as described' with a Columbus in the box.

Interesting, as I said above, instinct is quite a powerful force isn't it

Think you may be looking at a different listing mate, but yes, had considered arranging to meet midway, but even then there's issues around proving that you've actually handed something over. Funny old thing instinct isn't it

Thanks guys, I've checked a few things and will be arranging the courier myself. Amazing what you find out about folks when you start digging into their eBay history also....

Folks On the back of the Stoke thread, I sold an '82 Rik 4003S on eBay two days ago, seller made a decent best offer within about 20 mins of me listing it and paid immediately. I offered local pickup and he said he's arrange collection which, at the end of a long day, I assumed meant he would collect in person. Now it looks like he's a music dealer, which is fine, and he says he's going to use UPS to collect and deliver to his registered PayPal address. This makes sense for example if he has a UPS account that's tax deductible etc. His eBay feedback is fine. But something feels wrong about this deal. I can't put my finger on it, but the sale was very quick - no questions about condition/originality etc - and his comms are brief to the point of rude. He clearly buys and sells a lot of guitars but this was not a no-brainer at the price. Now, I know that for example he could claim it was never collected and request a refund, but I will be printing the labels here, taking photos of the bass, packaging and driver etc. But I'm still worried! Thoughts very welcome Chris