Sellers Beware! Safe Shipping Scam! High-end guitar damaged in unjustified/bogus return - Reverb is now refusing to reimburse me for repairs to this discontinued limited edition collector's guitar

Long story shortish - I sold a Murphy Lab-aged Gibson Custom Shop guitar, limited edition (Jimi Hendrix '69 V), on Reverb on 11-02-2024. On November 8, 2024, the buyer claimed it arrived NOT as described. Buyer said one area of the aged finish was questionable and not photographed or described in the post (it came like that from the Gibson factory). Buyer said there was a "chip" out on the bottom of the fretboard - these were aged, but no chip was present. There was a tiny, pinhole-sized spot where the black paint came off the unbound bottom of the fretboard - the unboxing YouTube video by Troggly's shows an untouched one of these had same small spot of missing paint in slightly different area, but at the bottom of the fretboard like mine. Again, the guitar is factory aged. Finally, the buyer claimed two of the tuners were, "completely doa and not functional". Even included a video of him fake moving the "broken" tuners. Reverb approved the return with absolutely zero attempt at mediation with me (never asked me one follow-up question). As is required by Reverb for returns over a certain price amount, I purchased a Safe Shipping return label for $252 from their website.

Upon return to me, all six tuners now miraculously tune and hold a tune. In fairness, one of the tuner buttons did seem to loosen a bit during shipping, but it functioned and held a tune upon return.

However, during the return shipment a large chunk of finish broke off the guitar - almost certainly due to the "buyer" not packing the guitar tightly enough in the case. They also placed a large cardboard envelope that I had placed under the strings loose in the case, so it leaned against the neck finish and rubbed a large linear indentation into the lacquer.

Luckily, I videoed the unboxing that showed the damage occurred during return shipment and sent that and pictures to Reverb, who took several weeks to finally offer me $350 for the damage. I said that would not likely cover the repair, and they asked me to get a repair estimate from Gibson Guitars. A few days later, I got a repair estimate from Gibson Guitars for $3,000 for a refinish, since they cannot fix only a small area of a Murphy Lab-aged guitar, they must refinish the entire guitar - so I was told in writing.

After giving that repair estimate to Reverb and waiting another couple of weeks while a "team" reviewed the claim, Reverb eventually got back to me and said they would "restock" the guitar and reimburse me for the sale amount, excluding selling and processing fees, meaning the bogus return would cost me about $350 in lost shipping fees. Reverb will not acknowledge any right of mine to get reimbursed for repairs, despite having already offered me $350 for the repairs.

Nowhere in the Reverb Safe Shipping policy does it say anything about them having the option of "restocking" a damaged guitar that they never owned instead or reimbursing the seller for damages caused during return shipping with Reverb Safe Shipping label.

Reverb is no longer a viable option for selling high-end music gear. Back to eBay!

Or even better, the new Sweetwater Gear Exchange!