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Is Reverb a safe way to buy a guitar?
I've only bought a high end archtop once online and it was a little bit of a nightmare. In the end it all turned out but it was still stressful.
I know Jack Z. has had unpleasant experiences with them.
Opinions please? Is it a nightmare to get your $$$ back if something goes wrong?
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04-15-2015 04:36 PM
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I'd never buy a guitar unseen. Never !
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There really isn't a "them" when it comes to Reverb.com. Like Ebay, the transactions are between private individuals where the Reverb.com company serves as the facilitator. People like me have had positive experiences on both Ebay and Reverb, but others have run into complications.
I won't hesitate to use Reverb.com because the only time I ordered a guitar that had a problem, the seller was a real stand-up individual who took responsibility for the damaged merchandise and quickly refunded my money.
If you happen to enter into a transaction with a less than up front seller, Reverb.com has a mediation process that is there to step in and make things right. That is what happened in Jack's case. He's upset because the seller has been granted permission to make his case online, but Jack never lost any money nor was he stuck with faulty goods.
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Many people on ebay, reverb and similar site are just a regular guys trying to sell a something and maybe only selling because their back is against the wall financially. Then they get collectors or pro buyers with a million expectations and it's like being attacked to the regular guy. So big difference in expectations on both sides.
I been buying online for a long time and haven't had any problems, but I don't sell online because I would not put up with all the buyer BS. I've bought from some people on this site and always gone well. Some people seem to run into problems all the time, who knows why bad ju-ju? I just look at dealing online you're dealing with a black box and you have to know your rolling the dice at how things box inside the box.
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talked with a seller once about price at Reverb, and he tried to go "legal" to try to force me to buy the guitar I was asking about.
"any discussion of price was an offer and therefore legally binding" (of course was BS)
Received about a dozen semi-legal- type threatening emails from this guy.
Reverb folks stepped in and shut him down.
...just be aware if you send a message with even a question about price these guys can be a real PITA.Last edited by jazzimprov; 04-15-2015 at 05:38 PM.
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I never bought on reverb, but have emailed and bartered with a sellers and no problems.
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I bought a Heritage Eagle through reverb from Mass Street Music in Lawrence, Kansas. The transaction went very smoothly and the guitar exceeded my expectations. I do tend to be a trusting person, but my experience was fantastic.
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So Reverb is just a middle man between some wanting to sell and someone wanting to buy ? They are like ebay and not like archtop.com ? I had a friend in the guitar selling business for 45 years so I had a in to get my archtops but now he has retired so I lost my great connection to get guitars at a great price with no worries. If it was a dud he would just send it back to the factory.
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From my point of view they provide a marketplace and tools to trade. You use their checkout process (instead of PayPal) which offers some protection, but seller and buyer beware just like on a message board.
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I received an excellent guitar for a fair price from a private seller via reverb.com and would have no qualms buying another.
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I agree it's a great resource for your average buyer and seller. The best part is their team is very responsive to questions, I can even call with more complicated questions and they actually got back to me same day! Try that with ebay. seems like some people have problems more frequently than others others shopping online, for those folks buying in person is the way to go. Any online purchase of new or used gear is going to have potential pitfalls. Reverb is the same risk as any other.
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Speaking on behalf of reverb, I can say we back every sale that occurs on the site and area always happy to step in in the case of a dispute either through Paypal or our own direct checkout system. If you have any specific questions about a listing or using the site, don't hesitate to get in touch with me direct.
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i do think reverb does a fair job of backing their sales but in my case, after my luthier had already told me that the truss rod did not function in the guitar and gave me that in writing on his company's letterhead, reverb.com attempted to pressure me into getting a repair estimate and were very adamant that without a repair estimate cost they couldn't back my claim and refund my money. I wasn't interested in this because my repairman already ascertained the issue and I was a bit concerned that if he came back and gave a dollar amount, reverb would attempt to refund just that dollar amount when the real issue was that the guitar had a serious problem that was not disclosed. Furthermore, the seller had my money and I had a broken guitar. To me, there's no question. Reverb (after discussing with my repairman) should have had me return the guitar and then worked with me towards a refund.
Originally Posted by danoverb
So, because I wouldn't get an action repair cost estimate (the damage assessment wasn't good enough for them) I was forced to dispute the issue with paypal.
Fortunately, paypal refunded my money but then my reverb account was cancelled!
Anyone wanting more detail, feel free to email or message me and we can discuss.Last edited by jzucker; 04-16-2015 at 02:20 PM.
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Jack, I thought they re-opened your account an gave you a $50 credit? Did they not do this?
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they did but they allowed the seller to write a vicious, fabricated feedback saying I had modified the guitar. Originally Posted by edh
Apparently the feedback on there is simply an open-ended invitation to write whatever you want without requiring any basis in fact. Then , on top of that they posted personal information about my account (which they since deleted after folks complained) I saved the message and plan to file a complaint with paypal and american express.
Dan emailed me earlier (after this thread) and told me I'm cancelled again.Last edited by jzucker; 04-16-2015 at 07:07 PM.
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Reverb.com is useful in concept. But if they unilaterally are trying to build a better and cheaper mousetrap than eBay, they should carefully scrutinize their procedures.
It is no secret to startups and established companies alike, how important it is for their product offering to be perceived as exceptional within their market.
Even though I am new to this community, it didn't take long for me to realize who some of the key and responsible contributors here are.
For the 250ish concurrent viewers who read this gear forum, Reverb.com does not seem to be making a beaming impression.
These 250 equate to between 500 & 1000 regular viewers (seat of the pants calculation). I myself recommended Reverb.com to a musician friend (who coincidentally runs one of the larger band related forums on the internet) this week only to revoke my review after seeing some of what I saw here.
I do not see why my perception of Reverb.com would be that different to anyone elses.
When an early adopter with some equity here, such as jzucker, has such a dramatically poor experience it is bound to 'reverberate'.
Danoverb... take note. Your company needs to work through its growing pains quickly.Last edited by filmix; 04-16-2015 at 09:40 PM.
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I don't see any reason why anyone should boycott Reverb based on the anectodal experiences posted here. Personally, I have found it to be a refreshing alternative to EBay and CL. There is plenty of buyer protection when coupled with PayPal and it is a fine platform when common sense is applied. There is often at least one disgruntled party when a dispute is mediated. However, I have not heard of any cases where a buyer was outright scammed on Reverb. I'm also certain that CL and EBay staff are not monitoring gear forums and responding to private disputes made public.
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I thank you all for your inputs. I guess bottom line is to really do your homework and feel very comfortable before you pull the trigger. In Jack's cause he was lied to and Jack took the guy at his word. Not much control over a situation like that. Bottom line if the seller is honest you are going to get a axe that meets your requirements and if he is a liar you get screwed and have to jump through a bunch of unpleasant hoops and apparently may get your good name dragged thru the mud in the process.
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..as long as REVERB is not one of he parties doing the dragging.....
..preventative policies may help, as the buyer is usually the one with the higher anxiety level.
in my case REVERB stepped in and put a 'STOP' on one of the nutcases harassing me.... so kudos for that.
I appreciate the difficulty in trying to regulate such a site, it must be very trying........
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Agreed. But that is however what they claim their service to be. So they need to be excellent at adding value to transactions. Otherwise why not just use Craigslist and Paypal?
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Possibly. The guitar could have functioned fine for the seller but when adjusted, broke, because it was ready to snap. It may be no one's fault, but seller and buyer are responsible for resolving it. Since you aren't buying from a store, you both take the risk that something can go wrong. So the seller could have really been acting in good faith. I understand both points: jzucker is understandably p-o'd because he got a broken guitar. The seller is p-o'd because he has no idea how competent the tech was or what has happened since it was shipped. Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
Something similar happened to me: I sold a Carr Rambler on TGP and it was near new, packed for a nuclear attack, and sent UPS. The buyer said it didn't work and had lots of broken solder joints. We split the repair cost even though I had no way of knowing if he was being truthful.
As for Reverb, I've only had good experience as a buyer and seller but also have refused to sell to, and buy from, people that sound like they will be a PITA to deal with.
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This approach really limits what you can buy considering brick and mortar guitar shops are falling by the wayside. And when you consider all the top notch boutique guitars out there, most of them will never be within a 500 miles of the typical buyer. Originally Posted by 339 in june
If you buy used, at market value, you'll be able to sell it used. So if you don't like it, sell it.
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a simple 1/8 turn of a truss rod is not going to break a truss rod. Especially if it's not already super tight. Originally Posted by spiral
Granted it could have broken in shipping but if I sell a guitar and something happens like that, I take it back.
I recently sold a strat on the gearpage and when the buyer got it, he said the neck was misaligned and that the high e was coming off the fingerboard above the 12th fret. I told him that it was fine when I sent it but he was very adamant about it. I told him I'd be willing to pay up to $250 for a repair or he could send back for a full refund. He took it in to the repairman who loosened the neck screws, shifted the neck, screwed it back together. No charge. Guitar was fine.
That's the way you handle an issue like this. Not challenging the buyer's or the repairman's credibility.
Incidentally , George Benson sends my repairman guitars to work on (I told this to the seller). He didn't care. My suspicion is that he was just trying to pull a fast one. The sad truth is the vast majority of buyers don't notice if a guitar has a proper setup, has a tail-rise in the fingerboard, needs a fret level, etc.Last edited by jzucker; 04-17-2015 at 07:49 PM.
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It's also the sad truth that many sellers don't know if a guitar has a proper set up, rise in the fingerboard, etc....I have been assured many times by sellers of both new and used guitars that they needed no fret leveling or set up work only to find that such was not the case. I think some sellers either don't play at all or just play cowboy chords and never get past the fifth fret so they don't know what a proper set up is. I even had to get a neck reset on a Gibson 125 that I bought when I was assured that it needed no work at all. Originally Posted by jzucker
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Unfortunately, you have to trust the seller to some degree,
This is not a store you are buying from.
If they are being misleading or flat out lying to you about the condition of the instrument and you cannot see this through the pictures, being savy goes out the window.
Not everyone can drive out to see the actual condition of the instrument.
What is needed here is good buyer protection against this kind of seller as well as seller protection.
This is the nature of buying an unseen instrument from someone selling from their home in Iowa........
There is only so much diligence to be applied here due to the nature of this kind of transaction.
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