Sweetwater Gear Exchange

[mas30066]

This should be fun. I sold my Furch via Sweetwater Friday morning and shipped Saturday morning. Came back to the site Saturday afternoon to review the process for choosing which payout to take and discovered a message saying that my buyer had been banned.

My first response was that I would have preferred a stronger effort to contact. Sweetwater has my email and phone number, both, and as many of us can attest, they're not shy about staying in touch. The account message didn't generate an email notification, which feels like a programming oversight, but I still feel like more's probably in order when you have an active transaction.

Contact wasn't returned yesterday afternoon, and today's obviously not going to be an office day for anyone. I have a site visit for work first thing, and then I'll call in if they haven't already.

At the bare minimum, I'm hoping they'll honor the transaction from my end, but I'm hoping they'll at least make a change in their standard approach to ensure more prompt, effective service in a fraud situation. Seems in keeping with their reputation (and self-assessment) as a leader in customer service.

Finally, a very happy Easter to all, celebrating and otherwise.

[RP]

Do you know why or when the buyer was banned? I'm under the impression that Sweetwater's used guitar by individuals site is fairly new, it might take a while for them to figure out this aspect of their business. Providing a platform for individuals to sell used stuff is clearly a different model than their own sales...

[mas30066]

I don't know the reasoning, although I'm hoping to learn more tomorrow. I think they've actually had a sponsored/branded used marketplace for a few years now. In fairness, I did pony up and try here first for a full month. A few curious PMs but no serious interest.

[Moldstar]

I am not sure I understand - your guitar was purchased, and then shipped, and then the user was banned? What happened then? Where is your guitar? Do they refund the money to the buyer, and he is supposed to ship your guitar back to you? I guess I am missing something about the guitar itself, like what happens to it now that the buyer has been banned?

[mas30066]

You're not missing anything. That's about the shape of it. One cryptic message in the system after the guitar was already in the hands of UPS. Hoping to learn more tomorrow.

[gmel555]

I've sold on eBay and Reverb, but not Sweetwater. The first two notify you when payment is fully received and only then do you ship. Does/did Sweetwater tell you they'd received payment before you shipped? Sorry you have to deal with this and I am interested in hearing how it works out. Good luck.

[Mbroady]

Call UPS ASAP and ask them to stop the shipment. You might still be charged but they can intercept it, if it's not too late

[catndahats]

Mas, did you get paid before you shipped the guitar, or was the payment frozen/reversed by the buyer after you shipped? I don't know much about the terms of the Sweetwater site, so excuse me if I'm asking the obvious.
Regardless, I sure hope there is a positive outcome.

[leew3]

here's what I just posted on another thread:

I've used Sweetwater's Gear Exchange with some success. My most recent experience has not been positive. A buyer couldn't figure out how to use the Voiceprint DI he bought from me in spite of helpful feedback from me, Sweetwater and L.R. Baggs.

I accepted a return but was told by the abrupt and condescending rep on the Gear Exchange support line that I would have to pay for the 'transaction fee' (7%) anyway. She did not respond well to my summary that in spite of having done nothing wrong, I'm going to charged a fee because a buyer didn't wish to learn to use the gear. The pedal came back in good shape, and I used it at a gig last Saturday and will again next week.

In short, the Gear Exchange has worked for the most part, but I'm done with it for now.

[para_adams]

If the buyer was using a stolen credit or debit card then the intermediary bank backing that card transaction will likely take the loss and Sweetwater will likely still have the funds it received for the transaction. So you might still get paid. I'd contact Sweetwater first.

[nacnac]

Wow. I hope you get your $$ or your guitar back.

[mas30066]

Talked to them around 9. They were going to grab the ops manager when he emerged from a meeting. No contact since. I’m planning on another call after lunch. Their first option is to reroute the guitar back to me, which is a good first step, I suppose. I’d rather it stayed sold but not at the expense of a fraud victim. I’d also rather have a little more urgency from their end. I’m still waiting on the first communication to be initiated from their side. Even an email follow up to this morning’s call would’ve been a move in the right direction, but it feels like I may need to content myself with minimal/baseline service and just get to the finish line safely.

[mas30066]

Originally Posted by catndahats

Mas, did you get paid before you shipped the guitar, or was the payment frozen/reversed by the buyer after you shipped? I don't know much about the terms of the Sweetwater site, so excuse me if I'm asking the obvious.
Regardless, I sure hope there is a positive outcome.

Sweetwater was paid. Like Reverb, they hold in escrow to confirm shipment. I sent a guitar out exactly once ahead of payment in the early days of the interwebs. Never again after.

[mas30066]

Latest: I called after 1:00 (having given them an honest half day to respond after the 9:00 call and setting aside the weekend email) since I hadn’t heard anything. Never raised my voice but was told rather insistently to calm down. There’s an unmistakable difference between a helping tone and a directing tone. This was the latter, so I ended the call. Did get a call about 30 minutes later from the ops manager: they did intervene/intercept the other transaction but missed coming back and closing the loop with mine. The shipment will be redirected, which means the Furch will go Atlanta to Portland and then back to Atlanta. Sweetwater’s committed to reimbursing shipping and making right any damage that occurs in transit. I’m glad there’s finally been contact from their side, but I’m genuinely frustrated at the lack of urgency. Not that the situation in its entirety was ever going to be resolved quickly and cleanly, but they could’ve taken *any* step to show they were alongside.

[nacnac]

Glad to hear your guitar will be returned but it sounds like Sweetwater has some room for improvement (trying to say their service was miserable) in a nice way