PayPal Buyer Protection?

[El Kabong]

Short story... purchased a guitar which arrived with a broken headstock...

PayPal is requiring documentation "from an unbiased third party, such as a dealer or repair shop, and should detail the extent of the damage or confirm that the item you received is significantly different from what the seller advertised."

As well as "serial number and description of the item, and the dollar amount required to complete the repairs necessary to correct the damage. Additionally, if possible, this document should be on letterhead that includes the name, address, and phone number of the individual, business, or organization so that we may contact them if necessary."

A photo of the broken headstock is apparently not enough to prove the guitar is broken.

Being in Japan, such documentation is not so easy to obtain, especially for appraisals of a limited run lester. Is PayPal backing out of its buyer protection program or is it just for their own protection? Seems to me the conflict should be between the seller and the shipping company and not between me and PayPal.

Thoughts?

 

[slapshot]

no I've had to do similar things to prove for example that pair of Vans I bought were actually fakes.They're not making you jump through hoops.
Guy in the skate store took a piece of paper stuck their sticker on it wrote "these vans are fake" and gave it to me which I scanned emailed to paypal for my case job done.They didn't have any 'letterheads' so they made one.They're never going to contact them.
Take it to a guitar store and ask them how much it'd cost to repair it & can they write that down.'Letterhead' just 'proves' it's a 3rd party. Even though really it doesn't prove shit as its easy to make your own.

 

[User100]

Thoughts?

I hate Pay Pal........quit dealing with them years ago.....

 

[El Kabong]

no I've had to do similar things to prove for example that pair of Vans I bought were actually fakes.They're not making you jump through hoops.
Guy in the skate store took a piece of paper stuck their sticker on it wrote "these vans are fake" and gave it to me which I scanned emailed to paypal for my case job done.They didn't have any 'letterheads' so they made one.They're never going to contact them.
Take it to a guitar store and ask them how much it'd cost to repair it & can they write that down.'Letterhead' just 'proves' it's a 3rd party. Even though really it doesn't prove shit as its easy to make your own.

Cool... I'm hoping that's the way it goes here as well (as it should).

After all is said and done I will be revealing the fox in the henhouse... in the meantime y'all might want to avoid making purchases from Taiwan...

 

[El Kabong]

I hate Pay Pal........quit dealing with them years ago.....

Understandable... but in many cases its the only game in town...

 

[splatter]

you bought a lester from taiwan and your suprised it arrived broken ?
Sorry couldn't help it

Seriously though , seems to me the seller should step up and take care of it . Like you said it should be between him and the shipping company .
Just so you know while P.pal can be a real pain in the ass they have always come through for me . I've had 3 disputes through them involving high dollar guitars and its always worked out . they aren't the best a communicating whats going on .Once they told me the case had been closed without telling me the outcome . I was furious thinking I had been screwed .Later that day I got an email telling me the money had been returned to my p.pal account .
Good Luck

 

[User100]

Understandable... but in many cases its the only game in town...

Only game in town...?

Never ran into that before.....

If a seller or buyer on any site only uses only Pay Pal..........deal over.

I own 2 small businesses and have the same guitar GAS as the next guy and simply do not use Pay Pal and is has never been a problem....

Cash or Credit Card..........Only.

Good Luck on you situation though, hope it works out ...

 

[El Kabong]

you bought a lester from taiwan and your suprised it arrived broken ?
Sorry couldn't help it

 

[El Kabong]

I've never had a problem with PayPal, and I'm not anticipating one this time... just keeping my fingers crossed that everything will turn out exactly as it should! Seems most people have been treated fairly... which is about as much as we should expect.

I agree that "the seller should step up and take care of it" and the fact that he isn't is all the proof I need that he was running a scam right from the getgo... hope FedEx nails his ass to the wall... after I get my refund that is!

 

[Actinic]

hope FedEx nails his ass to the wall... after I get my refund that is!

Fedex is at fault, not Paypal. As soon as you mentioned them, I knew this was going down bad. Is the guitar over 20 years old? Get ready for an electric shock. If it is under 20 years old, have the seller contact them about a shipping damage inspection. This will show good faith on your part. Before 45 days, escalate this as a Sgnificantly Not as Described (SNAD) complaint to Paypal, using photos of the broken headstock and the shipping box, and an estimate from a third party. You'll need that estimate for Fedex too. In either case, you do not have to accept a repaired guitar. Unfortunately, you will have to mail the damaged guitar back to Taiwan, on your own nickel.

 

[El Kabong]

Never had a problem with FedEx in the past... I heard their international service was much more reliable than their domestic service... at least as far as guitars go. Its not a vintage guitar and I've done pretty much everything you recommended. Still waiting on a 3rd party estimate... should be here today... then the wait begins...