I've dealt with this kind of person on eBay before. He left negative feedback even though I repeatedly offered to make everything right at no cost to him. For something incredibly simple and stupid like four\_oclocker's battery thing. Fucking guy tells me later he fixed it himself, but I still got stuck with the neg. hit. Turns out it was some kid who was using somebody else's account, probably his mom's.I'd wait and see what dude's response is, sometimes they need some time to come down off the ledge. He should learn how to open up a guitar and troubleshoot that shit. Does he seem like he knows what the fuck he's talking about? Such as, it's not the amp or cables he's using, etc.Or - dude doesn't like the guitar for some reason or has buyer's remorse and is lying to get his money back.

I've sold several hundred guitars and a few thousand other things on ebay and I hate to say it but there is basically nothing you can do unless the buyer is willing to work with you to either keep the guitar, get new pickups etc.... You could try to fight it but I am fairly certain that you will loose. The fact that he already left feedback may work in your favor though. I always list my items with a full 14 day, no questions asked return policy and this way the buyer has to pay the return shipping if they want to send it back... If you list it as returns not accepted, they can just open a claim and you eat the shipping. Saying AS-IS etc.. in the listing does nothing. Good luck and like I said, I've sold thousands of things on ebay, mostly guitar related, and if you want to PM me for additional info, please do so.

My two cents. I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility for a guitar to have damaged in transport. However, this seems like a situation where you have sold an instrument to someone who doesn't know anything about the item they have purchased, nor the basics of guitar electronics. Pick up strengths vary massively, this is not your fault. This guy is a douche - to leave you negative feedback without even consulting you? Fuck him. I'd tell him to get fucked - unless he can prove the out put of the pick ups is less than say 5k, tell ebay that you will not accept a return. After trashing your feedback without even contacting you, I wouldn't even have offered him pick up replacements. Ebay can really be a load of shit sometimes, and PayPal is basically just fucking aids.

Homeboy buys a weird-ass oddball MIJ guitar from the 70's-80's and is expecting pickups with fire-breathing output?

I highly doubt it was damaged in shipping. Like others have said, the guy probably assumed he could just tune to drop D, plug this into a Boss Hyper Metal thru a Line 6 and it would sound like Slayer or whatever. Instead it probably feeds back like crazy and the hum is unbearable. But that is not a manufacturing defect and it does not mean the product is damaged.If the guy played country he'd probably be thrilled with the low output pickups.

bishopdante wrote:chris jury wrote:Yes- I always mark my auctions as 'no returns- ask all questions before bidding' I understand his frustration if the output on the pickups is weak...could be something jarred loose, or broke, and I want to make it right if I can...but I'm not interested in being fucked over. I made the offer to give him $50 to get new pickups, or to send him a set. no word.Yea, think the guy was a bit of a n00b to suggest that low-output pickups is a misfeature on a Tele. How low did the guy say? It could actually be unusable, like if magnets detached from the base during shipping. It's odd that it would happen to both pick-ups though. A detached ground wire could give a very low output and a lot of hum.

bishopdante wrote:Have also opened up what looked like humbuckers to find the most hilarious miniature single coil hiding inside (copper is expensive, cheap products scrimp on expensive materials).I've seen this too, I wonder if it's also to do with matching problems. You need two reasonably similar coils to cancel hum. If you're doing things fast and sloppy a single coil is probably much easier.

bishopdante wrote:Typical japanese '70s pickups have only one failure point, which is where the wire goes into the chassis, which can get pulled off the voice coil and then it's bin time. etc. etc. etc. Thank you for once again proving you don't know what the hell you're talking about. chris jury wrote:I'm sure this has been a topic before- but I'm at a loss.Sold that Black tele on ebay- everything worked fine when it left. Kid emails back today (got it a week ago) saying the pickups have super-weak output and he wants his money back. Also has already left negative feedback, and is demanding a return shipping label so it goes both ways on my dime. I offered to buy him new pickups, or send him a set. not sure where it'll land.how do you all handle these conflicts?Sorry to hear this. This sounds like BS to me. Tell him to take it to a luthier and get an estimate - should include a detail of what's needed for the repair. I would certainly try and dispute the negative feedback since he left it without contacting you at all. I've found that talking to a person on Ebay's service line (though it sometimes takes a long time to get through) is much better than dealing with their automated feedback mail. I take pictures of the output readings on the pickups of the guitars I'm selling and put them in the auction. Had my first damage in transit incident with an instrument this past week (hi bassdriver!) - as everything I ship is insured, we should be covered - we have before and after pictures of the part in question, and we have the forms. It's just getting the postal service to process the claim that seems to be the real trick. I think photographing everything (including the box) before shipping might help in disputing claims.Not sure if any of this is helpful. But it's something I've been giving a lot of thought too now that I am using Ebay more actively to sell stuff.

Try posting in a local facebook gear page or just on facebook in general. You'd be surprised how many people have unwanted guitar boxes taking up space in their closets. The last time I was out of boxes, I made a post and had a pile in a few hours.

I need to start finding boxes and packing material (peanuts/strong bubble wrap) for a big gear sell off. I ve tried the thing where you ask guitar stores but they ve always trashed them by the time I get there on the weekend. I need boxes to ship 50 watt tube heads and pedals, mostly. Sources that won t break the bank? Fedex/UPS are the worst place to buy these. UHaul is an ok option sometimes, but I seem to remember never quite getting the dimensions I need, ie the boxes that are big enough to fit an amp in are too big. I ve checked on Amazon and the price for some of this stuff is alright, but I m not sure how durable it is.