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JohnA

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I recently sold a Fernandes Revival strat on ebay to a buyer in the USA the price agreed was ?300 or approx $600. The buyer has recieved the guitar and claims the headstock logo is not original & the headstock has been refinished, not something I noticed before the sale.

I have offered a full refund including shipping if he pays for the cost of returning the guitar or a $120 refund and he keeps the guitar. He is asking for $240 which I think is unreasonable.

What are your opinions, and IF the guitar has had a H/S refin how much would you say this devalues the guitar by?

He is also claiming that the neck is a 2004 S/N, it was my understanding that the S/N dated the guitar to 1982, the SN is 22604 and a picture of this was very clear in the listing.

Here's a link to the original auction:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120266568104&ssPageName=STRK:MESO:IT&ih=002
 
The buyer's feedback in very unimpressive - one buyer complains of being ripped off, another calls him a liar. Sounds to me like he's trying it on.

:evil:

Mike
 
you have not one but two photos of the head stock face, which includes the logo, although IMO the logo looks suspect, as the letters borders are fuzzy and the logo letters should be touching; yours have spaces between

you have a pic of the # on the neck heel

what the Hell else does the guy want :roll: ?.........................

on another note concerning your listing; didn't see a pic of the neck plate, which could have a serial # on it, like mine has



as far as his feedback, he only has neg. as a seller, not as a buyer...................
 
The headstock looks quite normal in your pictures. The serial number was visible in the auction. I don't think you have much obligation here.

It's tough selling guitars these days when the buyer likes to play the partial refund game.

If you sold outside of ebay then you are not at risk with paypal, right?
 
The guitar was sold via ebay, and he paid with Paypal. I try to be as honest as possible and thought I'd put enough pics to clearly show what I was selling.

Can anyone confirm if the neck heel S/N is 1982 or not? The neck plate was stamped Fernandes but no S/N.
 
I have bought from you & seen your sales in the classified section & on ebay . I have always found your listings to be informative (to the best of your knowledge )& well documented /photographs/paperwork ,when available .You are well respected as a forum member i.m.h.o.
You have given the buyer all the known details in the listing & if he suspects its a fake he should have asked questions prior to purchase as he is clearly a dealer(you could have put a f****r logo on & doubled the price) I think your offer is fair..regards japaxes
 
I?m at it John, 1982 is a transition year in Fernandes as well 1978 and 1987.

I have nothing to suspect about the guitar but have to check close with other pics I have. Price was right also....
 
I'd say your offer was fair, and over and above what I would expect as a buyer. It's bought as seen with eBay, you takes your chance etc.

Stand firm.
 
for that level of pricing, IF and thats a big IF the headstock was refinished, it devalues the guitar by about ?5..

its rediculous, its not collectable, its just a nice players strat, and i think the guy is trying it on, I have just about had it with ebay, as now sellers have no protection whatsoever as they cannot even leave anything but positive feedback, which simply leaves the sellers open to abuse from all the morons out there...

I have had 2 unpaid items in the last 4 sales, ebay is no longer a good place to trade in my view..
 
villager: +1
JohnA: I think your pictures tell everything. Looks like he just want some money. If there was something about decal - so what, it's a player guitar, doesn't really matter what is written on the neck. Did he gave you any feedback about sound or he just complains?
 
I'm glad villager said that, as I was thinking about this last night. Both he and togps have sold Springys that have had the logos replaced with Fender logos, & yet the price of these Fenderised Tokais is little, if anything, lower than the price of comparable Springys. And a high end Springy is a much more expensive guitar than a Fernandes.

And I bought a white Goldstar from a forum member a few months ago after it was mentioned on here. During the discussion it was mentioned that the decal seemed to be a replacement:

132_3253.jpg


And I think that's probably true, though it didn't seem to affect the price I paid on eBay. I paid about the same as John got for his Fernandes (more than for my other two Goldstars), & it's possibly less "collectable" than the other two, but it's one of my favourite guitars.

Caveat emptor applies on eBay - if the buyer is a dealer who knows Fernandes guitars so well, why didn't he ask for details of the various body/neck codes before making an offer? Even as a kit of parts (non matching neck and body put together to make up a Strat), Johns' guitar was probably worth ?250. But it's funny that not one person on this forum (full of experts on Japanese guitars) identified it as a fake, and warned John.

Probably because it isn't. The buyer is trying to con and bully John into letting him have the guitar for virtually nothing.

I sold a Squier Strat on eBay on the 10th. I've sent two invoices, but haven't received a penny or even an e.mail. Are non-paying bidders a growing trend?
 
my fenderised springy ST-80 is 50 euro less than the others...

this is my rough estimate of the difference for this guitar, athough it should make no difference really..

its just a decal, sometimes I think there's too much attention paid to changed pots, switches, decals etc etc.. pots and switches are changed because they are broken...

its crazy that I now have to leave scratchy pots in a guitar for fear of ''devaluing'' it..

I think we should get back to what the guitars are for ...playing...

having said that, I do not believe there are that many people who simply collect MIJ for investment... the ''collectors are driving up prices'' arguement is a myth.. 95% of all guitars I sell go to people who play them..
 
So that's e50 off a guitar selling for around e1000? I make that 5%.

John - you might owe the buyer ?15!

I agree with Mark about the "value" of a 30 year old pot! It's quite impressive that so many are still working fine after so long. I do like those Tokai 5 way switches though. :p
 
I don't think John owes the buyer anything, everything was disclosed in the auction and if this guy thinks he knows everything about fernandes guitars he'd be sadly mistaken. I think he's just trying one on John, so at the risk of getting negative feedback i would tell him to piss off... :evil:

Mick
 
Hi John,

Been away so reply is a bit late.

For what it's worth IMHO as you've got a return time (14 days) I think that he can return it if he's not happy but as the item was not misrepresented he should pay costs for return shipping.

In future I'd advise adding a retun policy to your auctions as well i.e.

Return policy details: Full refund offered less cost of return/shipping if item is not as described and returned without damage.

Dave
 
If you look at this guys feedback, he changes his mind on the price of his items as i suspect he finds out it could possibly get a higher price, i believe John supplied enough pictures and the buyer had ample time to ask as many questions as he liked. I suspect he thought it was something it wasn't and has simply changed his mind. I would expect him to cover his own shipping costs and if he doesn't like it too bad.

Mick
 
I'd tell the buyer to send the guitar back to you at his expense- he doesn't have a leg to stand on-everything looks legit on that strat-and those are bitchen guitars also !!!
I have a guy in canada right now trying to gouge me $100-I always check my fiddles out b4 I ship-
 
Thanks for all the support guys much appreciated!! The way he's going on you would have thought I'd sold him it as a real '57 strat!! It's a great playing & sounding guitar with the collectability value of very little IMO, it was priced at less than a Mexican Strat and I think it was worth the price even IF it had a dodgy decal, I have absolutely no reason to believe it's a fake, the body & neck stamps look right, stamped saddles, Fernandes pickups, to 'fake' one of these would cost more than to buy one, so why bother??

Anyway he's going to take the neck off and ship it back in a smaller box to save himself $10 and he's getting his money back, but not before he files a complaint against me with ebay :roll:
 
I would file one as well, he sounds like trouble. Has he put forward any proof that its a "fake" Honestly John , i'd tell him to go to hell.. :evil:

Mick

Don't send him a refund until you get that guitar in your hot little hands...!!!
 
Don't worry I wont be sending anything before I get the guitar back in the same condition I sent it in, I've told him to put a new set of strings in if he' taking the neck off :wink:

Apparently it's 'obvious' the headstock has had a refin well it wasn't obvious to me, and I would bet my LS120 that it's not a fake!!
 

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