When Will We Learn?

People never defray for their low IQ not even in words....

I was lucky i never stumble on a bad delivery in all my audio purchases...

We may forgot that it is possible....

I was lucky....

But you may be consider it a luck too if it could have been worse...

I purchased a fairly heavy amp here a number of years ago. It arrived in a single cardboard box with inflatable pillows half of which were deflated. Surprisingly there was no visible physical damage but the amp wouldn’t power up. I contacted the seller who stated he paid UPS to pack the amp. Next ,I contacted UPS and they sent out a driver. When he saw it he stated they could not support the claim because it was improperly packed. When I informed him that UPS packed it he shook his head and said that UPS would honor the claim which they did.

I’ve had total disaster, plinth, TT, tonearms, dust cover ALL damaged here and there. Seller/shipper was idiotically irresponsible to me as well as himself.

Even if insurance is for you, you pay seller for it, the seller buys the insurance, so the damage is on your end (take photos outside, and layer by layer when unpacking), you have to document the damage at your end, and he has to make the insurance claim on his end. Even if he is not successful with the claim (as my disaster was not covered), you need to get your money back.

Sooo, before sale, I write questions to seller, get assurances, IN WRITING, before, and those messages are in eBay’s system. Much easier to make a successful claim with eBay, PayPal protection, reverb, etc.

I always fund my PayPal account with my credit card with the best protection. I have called the credit card prior to purchases, to verify protection, and they keep records of those calls. Generally they process a problem as Fraud. They threaten PayPay, PayPal threatens to close seller’s account ...

When I riskily bought my long tonearm from Russia, I called square deal. Told them, no maker or parts in USA. They said, if unable to find someone to repair, they will cover the full cost.

Next, I needed VAS to rewire the tonearm because 1 wire’s insulation wore off. Square deal covered VAS bill in full.

IOW, assume it MIGHT be a disaster, then what???

Oh yeah, any costly item, using Friends and Family is simply stupid. Tell seller you will pay the PayPal protection fees in full to get them to send you an invoice for the item, i.e. GOODS.

Slight damage, you can get a partial refund, same documentation methods, then I/you should set the reasonable refund amount, don’t wait for the seller’s offer.

................

Oh yeah, buying used, get brand and model # on the invoice, but do NOT include Vintage or Antique in the description. UPS sold the seller insurance, then later they said: "It's an antique, we don't insure antiques".

There's a belief system spreading around the world that you can buy something from some random person on the internet, have them ship it to you anywhere in the world and the product arrives in perfect working order 100% of the time.  A small number of people have made billions of dollars selling you on that idea.

one thing if money cannot compensate the price for equipment that is fairly unique and irreplaceable, you can only rely on yourself picking it up personally.