Reverb.com IS NOT TRUSTWORTHY!

I just made two very successful purchases from Reverb but as we all know, stuff happens!

I have been burned by reverb twice. The first time, the seller of a Fender guitar gutted the pickups and electronics and replaced them with the cheapest tiny pots and crappy pickups. Because I didn't take it all apart and ask for a refund in the first 7 days they did nothing. So you can sell guitars on reverb and just change out the electronics with some squier and make even more money selling the correct parts! I gave the seller bad feedback and found out that giving someone the lowest rating--one star--does very little to their rating. Seller only had about 5 deals but my one star averaged out to a half star from perfect rating! Bogus. They just do whatever they can to keep the money flowing. To their own pockets. The second time reverb ripped me, the guitar was supposedly damaged in shipping to me. The PO paid the entire claim, to the shipper. He kept half of it and lied to me, said they only paid a small amount on the claim. Of course the PO gave it to me in writing that it was paid in full. Reverb refused to do anything. So if you sell on reverb, you can keep any damage claim money for yourself!

To be accurate, Reverb did not rip you. The sellers did. It sucks that there is little recourse, but Reverb is a tool.

Incidentally, what you had happen was mail/wire fraud. It may have been a good idea to contact the local and federal police.

Reverb was created by the owner of the Chicago Music Exchange, a fairly large music store... so you know being sellers of music gear themselves they definitely have sellers in mind. I always use PayPal checkout just to add another layer of recourse... Reverb > PayPal > Credit Card company. That's three chances to get your money back if something goes wrong. Good luck out there, everyone!

Interestingly, there are complaints in this subject that show how either the buyer or seller may abuse the system. It doesn't look particularly slanted either way in that sense.

As for using your CC via PP, it was my understanding that the PP transaction is a cash advance from the card, so it is not protected by the CC company in the way that a charge would be. Worth checking into that.

That might be an issue with specific banks, but I have never had a Pay Pal transaction treated as a cash advance on and of my cards. Maybe if you are sending money as a friend/gift?

More here:
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/When-I-use-my-credit-card-or-debit-card-to-make-a-payment,-will-a-cash-advance-fee-be-charged-FAQ499

It's not clear to me from that link that it's NOT a cash advance. This is something that I remember being spelled out quite clearly, though it was years ago, so PP's policy may have changed. It was not a specific credit company policy, it was a PP policy. I checked on google for a bit, but couldn't get a direct answer quickly.

Again, worth getting a solid answer.

Definitely something to look into further if you're not sure for your specific situation. I just had to double check because it seems crazy, but I have been consistently using PayPal for 18 years! I've never seen a charge get separated out from other CC transactions and marked as a cash advance before. I did accidental do a cash advance away from PayPal recently though. Soon after both the credit card company and Mint alerted me about the associated fees. I've never seen that from any PayPal transaction. That doesn't mean it would be the same for everyone else though I guess. :lol:

mkcreel said:

Hello,

I recently had a very bad experience with Reverb.com. I want to share this because I think it's important to have all the information available to you. I was not provided with ALL the information and subsequently received a lube-less ***-raping from Reverb.com. I shipped a Roadster to a guy who purchased it, it was damaged in transit by fedex. I worked to resolve the issue, thinking that I would be treated with fairness and my best interest protected. Boy was i wrong! The damaged shipment was received by the buyer, who was fully aware the amp was damaged. He was advised not to touch it or unpack it, and to take as many pictures as possible to submit with the claim. The buyer took a grand total of 3 (three) pictures! All 3 are fuzzy and unclear. The idiot then took the amp out of the packaging, threw away the packaging. And then he committed blasphemy and powered it on! It fried the amp, it's a loss! So, Reverb starts pressuring me to provide a refund, to which I refused because the buyer has liability. I probably would not hold the buyer liable if he was unaware of the damage to the amp. But this guy knew there was damage to the amp, but in his haste, he ignored my instructions! Reverb didn't care about what the buyer did to the amp and suggested he is not responsible for any damages, to which I couldn't disagree more. Finally, FedEx denied my claim, citing poor packaging led to damage. It didn't seem to matter that FedEx packaged the amp and provided all packaging and packing. I'm appealing this ridiculous denial. So Reverb decided last week, the buyer has waited 4 weeks for a refund, that's long enough, so they dipped into my checking account and took what they wanted. Now, I have no recourse to have the damages to my Roadster covered. AND I still don't have the amp back! No one seems to know where it is! I am dumbfounded! I am seeking criminal charges against Reverb for interstate wire transfer fraud! You can't just reach into someones bank account and take what you want, especially if there is an ongoing disagreement. But they did it So Sellers beware, if you have something listed on Reverb.com, and something go wrong, Reverb.com is going to hold you liable for everything and take money out your bank account as they see fit! These are facts, these are not my opinions. You are better off going with eBay and eBay alone. I was cautioned against using Reverb when I first started using the site. I was told I would get screwed by Reverb if I hung around long enough, well.....I guess I hung around long enough! I'll be taking my business to eBay and leaving Reverb to steal money from other people.
Good Luck,

Click to expand...

I do side with the seller because I just got a notice that reverb is going to try to send a guitar I sold back to me. I bought the buyer protection and the label through reverb the guitar arrived and has supposedly has a crack in the back. The buyer contacted me and said it was packaged very well however it has a crack when I told him I have a video and pictures of the actual packing that I would like to compare with his pictures he would not send me his pictures he never did. You did however send them to reverb who would not send me the pictures for 18 days they finally did and after I looked at the grain of the wood they are only pictures of an up close tiny little imperfections and not of the entire guitar it could be anybody's guitar they refused to send me a picture of the whole guitar just a magnified up close picture of who knows whose guitar it is. Even with that said reverb is demanding I received the guitar back and refund the buyer. I do not have a residence I sold these through a courier address and they want to send it there and that person will refuse delivery cuz I don't want nothing to do with high inform reverb not to send it I informed the buyer not to send it until we get the validity of the damage confirmed and I would like to see the serial number verified by a third party this guitar that they are showing I do not believe to be mine because they refuse to show the whole guitar. I have over 50 sales with reverb and they have now suspended my account on this one incident which is so far just hearsay.. on a sale prior to this one they withheld my payments from a guitar for over 7 days after the buyer received the guitar and then he tried to claim it was not as described after he had it for a week well that didn't go but they tried to get me on that one too but my picture clearly showed exactly what he went and posted back to me there was no difference so I said well what's the complaint it's exactly as I sold it to you it was not accepted but reverb was going to force me to refund him as well which never did. Reverb resolution team are nothing but a bunch of paid starving musicians losers who couldn't make it in the real music world and have chips on their shoulders for the very guitars they could not afford that I sell they have no ethical stances anymore they are a different company I contacted the better Business bureau they have over 666 complaints this year alone of people experiencing non-payments for refunds no proof or evidence of damage they're not paying their claims I don't know how they're staying in business I would hope that we can get some signatures together and let's start at forum and get this company put out of business.

So many people are accustomed to using sweetwater, guitarcenter, and musiciansfriend as their mail-order instrument tryout provider. Free shipping both ways, probably never intended to keep it. Apparently that mentality is spilling over to reverb?

That's a good way to put it. That's exactly what's happening. My last 4 sales, all high dollar valuable acoustic guitars, all left here exactly as described, and everyone of those tried to return it, after a couple days to a week .With b's claims..none made it back as I document the guitar front and back, top to bottom, and vidio the boxing, and get insurance..Do not ever sell your instrument as "mint", it will give these scammers an in , as a fingerprint is now considered not mint at reverb. And you can't talk to anyone at reverb..I made 2 phone appointments ,for last 2 sales, and they cancelled it,.for no reason. Watch out people, reverb is not reputable anymore., Since etsy bought it.!!

I know from a relative that Etsy does not treat sellers well anymore - she has been using it as a platform to sell her custom jewelry for years. Take that as you will..... I have used reverb for pedals the most part, but I did buy a guitar once with no issues. Seller did a great job packaging it up, sent coast to coast.

I have not had any bad experiences with etsy this far. I am trying out a new venue, with venmo business account. So far so good, no sales yet. But I'm liking the lower than reverb, ebay, fees for selling musical instruments. You have to make clear that for instruments anyways, there is no longer a "mint" condition, I am not a professional appraiser, so I won't be forced into accepting returns for the "buy and try" scammers, trying to get your goods and a refund at same time.Everything is now as-is, no returns, no refunds, shipping insurance is included in shipping price, and you must ask for details and photos, and verify your address before I will ship. Reverbs caused me to do this, they have no customer support, just bots.screw them guys.

Does Reverb allow the seller to specify "f.o.b. Shipping Point" in the purchase terms. That makes ownership transfer to rhe buyer when the carrier picks it up and they are responsible for any shipping damage and to deal with it with the frieght/insurance. A buyer should seek "f.o.b. destination" so the seller is the owner until delivery.

I'm not sure I understand that procedure, I'll look it up.

Stinger22 said:

Does Reverb allow the seller to specify "f.o.b. Shipping Point" in the purchase terms. That makes ownership transfer to rhe buyer when the carrier picks it up and they are responsible for any shipping damage and to deal with it with the frieght/insurance. A buyer should seek "f.o.b. destination" so the seller is the owner until delivery.

Click to expand...

No, they don't.

I've done several dozen deals on reverb and never had an issue. But I've only ever bought one guitar on there, and never sold one. It always seems to be guitar deals where either the buyer or the seller is a scammer or crazy person.