Dissapointed buyer, item malfunctions experience?

I always hold my breath. All the gear I have sold has been in near-perfect condition and everything has worked out. But, it would be just my luck to have a piece malfunction just when it gets to the buyer. I sold a piece two months ago, contacted the buyer, he had not plugged it in because the rest of his gear hadn't arrived. I still haven't heard from him, but wondered, "what would I do if two months later he said it didn't work?". It is always a gamble. But, frequent contact with the buyer, his/her posts, his/her selling history and feedback are all we have. Your buyer should be grateful it was you, and it wasn't eBay!

You did the right thing. Did you try insurance from the shipper? They might cover it.
I actually sold a cd player once and the repair was more than it was worth. I refunded the entire amount and let the buyer keep it (not worth shipping back).

It's nice you all appear willing to refund payment and shipping immediately if something malfunctions after it has arrived at the buyer--but we are NOT dealers who have an obligation to refund and accept the unit back! I would file a claim with the shipping company or have the buyer get an estimate on repairs then offer to split the cost of repairs. But take the unit back, when it was fine when it left me? That's a risk buyers assume, I thought! At least that's what I have thought the couple of times I've had gear malfunction after buying it used on Audiogon. I knew I had to get it repaired; if it was a major repair I might ask the seller for help but he's really not obligated at all. Providing money back guarantee is not something I do or feel equipped to do. Anything can and has happened with FedEx, USPS, UPS etc.

You always need to try and decide the integrity level of the buyer once they complain. I have only had one bad experience as a seller on a $4000 ARC Ref-1 pre amp I sold to a guy in Japan. It was shipped in the ARC boxes with all their packing material which included foam tube holders placed (as they do) inside the preamp. The guy said a couple of resistors were broken when it arrived yet no damage to the boxes. This is virtually impossible and I was certain he pulled out the foam improperly which would grab the resistors and break them off.

He wrote an outraged feedback comment about me saying that I sold him a defective unit and he had no way of contacting me about it. When I wrote him back an email telling him what I thought happened and reminded him that he had my home number, my cell number, my home address and my email address as well as audiogon email he took back the negative and left me a POSITIVE comment!