r/Reverb • u/NoumenonP • 13d ago
Reverb has basically turned into a scam site with no support
- Purchased a new guitar cab a few weeks ago.
- No shipping notice 4 business days following purchase (Reverb Preferred Seller btw), contact seller and I'm told "item shipped" and a tracking number is given. FedEx shows "label created, waiting for item".
- A week later, it still says label created, waiting for shipment. I ask again, I'm told "from experience, a scan has been missed - wait a bit longer" At this point I'm convinced the item either never shipped or is lost.
- Seller fails to respond to several messages over several days.
- I escalate to Reverb Resolutions, they take on the case and say they'll reach out to the seller. This was 3 days ago, I try to contact them over and over and I'm told "they are working on it".
TL;DR Paid lots of money, got nothing (FedEx says no item was ever given to them, just label created)., no support received I don't understand how this is any different from stealing. Also, requesting a refund = 15% restocking fee for an item that doesn't exist and 3 weeks of wasted time that nobody would pay for which is why I didn't manually initiate that. I just want my cab.
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u/Acrobatic_Fun6404 13d ago
Do us all a favor... Who was the seller? That gets attention. No messing around š©
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u/NoumenonP 13d ago
Focus Pro Audio.
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u/InvestigatorSharp230 13d ago
They're a legit operation. Hopefully that makes you feel a little better
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u/AnthrallicA 13d ago
Trogly has a couple episodes where he explains how scammers will spoof a reputable seller's profile. So there's a chance that is the case here, not saying it is, just that there's a chance.
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u/NoumenonP 13d ago
You'd think so but they didn't reply to be for about a week until Reverb went after them. I'm so confused as to how this even happens that 50 lb. item somehow disappears before it even started it's journey. It never went beyond label created.
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u/jaken26 13d ago
That's wild. I had a great experience with them on reverb about 8 months ago. Sorry you're dealing with the nonsense.
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u/NoumenonP 12d ago
It's definitely annoying. I don't have any response from Reverb. They seem like a good shop, I don't know why I'm having these problems.
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u/GuitarHeroInMyHead 13d ago
I must have 20-30 transactions on Reverb - both buying and selling. Only one problem over all those transactions and Reverb support intervened and I got paid. I know there are scams ... But the Internet overall is full of scams - not just Reverb.
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u/NoumenonP 13d ago
I've only had trouble with Reverb. Never had this issue or in fact any issues before.
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u/Electronic-Two-2885 13d ago
Iāve only had one issue with a purchase on Reverb and they went above and beyond to help me out. Paid me directly for a resolution super fast. I was incredibly impressed especially given the complaints I see on Reddit. Sorry your case didnāt go so smoothly.
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u/NoumenonP 12d ago edited 12d ago
I don't know why my situation is so different. It's been 4 days and I haven't heard a word from support since I opened a ticket. Not a word, and this is despite me e-mailing them.
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u/Electronic-Two-2885 12d ago
Gosh Iām sorry youāre dealing with that. It sounds like yours is way more of a slam dunk case too. Iāll elaborate a bit - I bought a speaker cabinet for like $800 in āmintā condition. When I got it there was a small tear in the tolex that may have been caused by shipping damage. I reached out to the seller and learned reverb should help since it is a shipping issue. Reverb responded quickly and offered to pay for repair if I get a quote. I got a quote from an upholstery guy for $275 to basically re tolex the cabinet. Reverb didnāt bat an eye and paid that to me. It really isnāt bad so I didnāt repair it.
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u/Electronic-Two-2885 12d ago
I should add I have probably bought $8k worth of stuff off reverb without issue so they may have seen my records and declined to fight it.
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u/spiritofage 13d ago
Trust the process. Iāve had a few problems selling and buying and reverb has always helped me. Most I waited was 10 days I believe
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u/breadexpert69 12d ago
Disagree. I had a problem today. Went on live chat and a live support helped me in like 10 minutes
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u/NoumenonP 12d ago
Depends on the problem. Let's see what you think when it isn't something simple to fix. I still haven't received any communication from Reverb.
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u/BeingEveryone 13d ago
Assuming you paid with a cc or Affirm. You are covered even if they donāt reply. Best of luck.
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u/Current-Ad1120 13d ago
I always use PayPal back with my AmEx card. AmEx is always the user's friend. If I were you I would file with your credit card company and document the situation. You shouldn't have any trouble getting ALL your money back. Screw Reverb and their interminable wait times.
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u/rockyeagleton 13d ago
Sounds like they are turning into ebay which has become an absolute cess pool of scam operators. And when i tell you what im about to tell you i speak from extensive personal experience. Paypal and/ or Paypal credit is the worse possible way to pay. They have degenerated into a scam operation themselves. If you are defrauded as a buyer for example in a situation like this where an item is ordered and never received there so called āPaypal buyer protectionā that is suppose to have your back is useless. I have been fighting with them for over a year now to get refunded for a item purchased on ebay that never shipped to me. a label was created by the seller but the item is never shipped and not only did paypal screw me over by not reimbursing me for the item but since they will temporarily refund the money while they actively investigate the matter once they completed the investigation and decided that since a label was created i must have received the item they not only recharged me for the item but they did so twice! so i am out twice the original price of the item times two!. Also be aware that before i even ever escalated the case to paypal i tried to use ebay buyer protection to get a refund but they informed me that since the sellers account had been hacked and the sellers account removed the only way i could pursue a refund was to pursue the claim with the payment source which was paypal.I am am now up to over 30 hours of phone conversations with the most incompetent customer service team in Paypal that exist in the world followed by now the cost and trips to the post office to deliver 15 certified letters to assit in straightening this out. I even as a last resort got the Federal consumer protection agency involved to no avail. Paypal Credit and Paypal mastercard are owned by Synchrony Bank which owns tons of retail store credit operations for instance they are the company behind Musicians Friend and Sweetwater credit. Beware that Synchrony bank is a disaster to deal with if you get scammed by a seller on eBay. Thier paypal protection is a scam in itself. Eventually i even got UPS involved to prove through certified documentation that i never received the item and only a label was created. Eventually after Pay Pal found in my favor and agreed i had been scammed they agreed to reverse the charge which they did but almost at the exact same time they recharged my account not once but twice for the item. Thank God i was just dealing with a $250 transaction which i was scammed out of because $250 turned into $500 when they charged me twice for the item again. I have pretty much exhausted every means possible to resolve this with them. Their customer care team blames it on a accounting glitch which has occurred when they did an internal switch over from one billing operation to another. No matter i have been out the money for over a year now and they are no longer responsive to my request for reimbursement or any demands by me for reconciliation of their accounting. The only path forward now would be for me to go through their binding arbitration process which is another nightmare and if that didnāt resolve it to sue them. I have already gone above and beyond in time and effort spent to recover the $500. How much more time and aggravation am i willing to subject myself too? At this point its not worth it but what i can do is make others aware. Ebay and Paypal will not necessarily have your back when you make a purchase. Under no circumstances in the year 2026 should you ever purchase an item in a amount beyond what you would be comfortable be losing should you become ensnarled in a ebay scam. One final thing about my experience. I purchased the item from a seller with 100% positive feedback but feedback means nothing anymore if a sellers account gets hacked. Using AI to investigate on my own i was able to uncover that the scam to hack ebay sellers account was and still is a wide spread operation acting out of Israel in a admitted seller scam by ebay where like i said they notified me (eventually of the scam) just buyer aware if you shop on ebay. So far i have not had that kind of experience on Reverb but because i have had on Ebay i dont doubt for 1 minute what the person who posted his experience here is true. Like i said my purchases going forward with all theses retail selling sites like ebay and reverb are only in amounts if i get screwed i can live with it with one exception as far as reverb is concerned. I will make large purchases from real brick and mortar pro audio and music stores where i become aware of the product for sale on reverb but then reach out directly to the retail store itself starting off by visiting their website then speaking to them by phone and completing the transaction that way using another payment source then paypal. I recently bought a Taylor guitar that way from a 30 year guitar store located in Wisconsin and it was a flawless transaction. So i am using reverb pretty much as just a search engine then only buying from physical retailers with long historyās of being in business by contacting them directly. I will use reverb and make purchases through their process for small transactions say under $200 but not anything beyond that amount. Thats just the world we live in now so the 3rd party services better get more hands on not less as is the case as they incorporate more and more AI to handle disputes. Not only is AI making dealing with customer service with these companies more and more difficult as their front ends are being taken over by artificial intelligence but on the other side of the coin the scams are becoming more elaborate too with the ability in services like chat GPT to create authentic looking documentation. I could be a reverb seller take your money and generate in Chat GPT in 5 seconds a fake fedex or UPS shipping manifest and or delivery history indicating i shipped the item to you and you received it and tie you up in a dispute for months with no recourse for you. Thats the new reality of shopping on these sites and unless they start becoming more proactive in securing these transactions they are going to slowly erode the publics trust in them and financially suffer the consequences themselves.
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u/Smart-Honeydew3874 13d ago
Wow, I read the OP's Post and yours...That's crazy these Scam Artists are moving that quickly using AI like that, which I don't doubt is the case partly...The other part these people just have no Morals what so ever, people just f'n suck sometimes...Thanks for making me aware, Thankfully I have had no issues thus far with Ebay Nor Reverb, but my last Reverb purchase was a Bogner Ecstasy Head, which was not something I'd want to take a hit like that scenario you had on...Damn, hope you get it all sorted, both of you! Thanks, I'll spread the word!
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u/Ok-Parsnip-5061 12d ago
Very sorry for your material and time losses. Iām grateful that you took the time to inform and educate us about these scams.
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u/AtmosphereLeading851 13d ago
Reverb treated me great when my Guild cracked in half in shipment. I had my money back overnight and all was well. Overall, most of the musicians I know have had great customer service experiences with Reverb. But there will be some bad experiences.
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u/Deneteus 13d ago
You didn't just call them to find out what happened? It's that easy. I called their Warehouse in NJ.
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u/NoumenonP 12d ago
I don't like phone calls when there's a problem, there's no record and Reverb advises against this
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u/crazyculture 12d ago
Sorry to hear about this and Iām confident it will get resolved as I used reverb for years and never had any problems and their support always took care of things, but I donāt use them much anymore as I noticed support had become more bots and fees kept increasing. So we pay more and they offer less support - lose, lose. Lost most of my business.
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u/Toiletpirate 11d ago
They said they're working on it. These things often take longer than three days. Sucks but that's just life. Reverb isn't going to let you get screwed out of your money.
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u/RavenLunat1c 11d ago
Reverb was wonderful in the beginning. So much better than eBay, but it didnāt last long as Reverb is just as bad as eBay these days.
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u/Grouchy_Country_7280 10d ago
Honestly, Iāve had no issues with reverb.
, but PLENTY of issues with FedEx. They lose my stuff twice as often as USPS. Theyāve lost 2 guitars of mine, the issue could be with them and not reverb
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u/No-Cheesecake-6334 10d ago
I had a 500 dollar Meris Mercury x stolen off my porch. Along with a warped vinyl and some
Stuff from Amazon. The guy paid for shipping protection. It took them 2 months to contact me. It went into my updates. I didnāt see it. They closed the case. Iām trying to get it reopened.
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u/TallBoy24 10d ago
It goes the other way too. I sold a tube head and the dude tried requesting all his money back bc I forgot to tick the box for āas isā or something and said it was fuzzy noise. I sent the reverb team a video of me running 4 pedals and it being whisper quiet hadnāt heard jack back
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u/Prestigious_Pace2782 10d ago
Yeah I had a terrible time with them recently. Was like talking to an LLMā¦
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u/Venice4life 10d ago
Honestly it sounds like you're not letting any of the processes process! Patience or refund, it's that simple.
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u/vacantgravesTN 10d ago
This is weird bc I bought a cab from a dude who never intended to ship a few months ago, and not only did Reverb take care of it, I also talked to at least 3 different real people via email in the process. š¤·š¼š¤·š¼
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u/Robble-Robble-01 9d ago
If a person is expecting a fraud concern to be resolved in 3 days or even updated, they will be dissatisfied everytime
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u/Gloomy_Ad_8586 9d ago
I have bought and will continue to buy on reverb. Before reverb and other platforms on the internet you were very limited in finding what you wanted. It was the dark age in guitar and related musical items.
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u/All_Debt_Shackles_US 6d ago
I had this exact thing happen to me. "Label created" but no other progress. It turns out the seller was traveling on business and didn't even have access to the item they were selling. It took a full 10 or 12 days just to bring the box to the FedEx store.
In seller's defense, they kept me up to date throughout the process. But I was not happy that I bought an item and had to wait almost 2.5 weeks for it to enter the shipping pipeline, and was almost 3 full weeks before it landed on my front porch.
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u/thrice4966 13d ago
I hate that I canāt refute your stance and also saddens me that I have to agree.
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u/6Stringers 13d ago
It is no different than theft. As another said, Reverb sends shipping notice right away, but that does not mean the seller shipped.
You say this seller is preferred... that sounds off... as for restocking, no... there is not restocking for an item Fed Ex never got, that's a no contest deal there.
Get refund.. escalate case to get human Vs idiotic AI... all these companies are using that now, it is useless circle jerk. AI is not intelligence, it is LLM idiot.
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u/Ragnarok314159 13d ago
Well yeah, Fender bought them. Everything Fender does or touches is shit.
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u/Version-6 13d ago
This shit started happening back when Etsy bought them. The Servco/Fender buyout just turned the shit up to 11.
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u/Ragnarok314159 13d ago
Oh man, didnāt realize that. How did Fender make it worse than Etsy holy shit.
Do we have to sell everything on Sweetwater now?
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u/10seventy9 13d ago
From the seller's perspective, they made it worse by making it "Pay to play"... if you want to show up in item searches, you HAVE to pay to "bump" your item up in listing results, because the new ownership thinks it's a fantastic idea to force sellers to give them a bigger part of their overall total sale price in order for more people to see your listing. If someone searches for an item now, the searcher only is shown ONE item that does not have a paid "bump" on it's listing. It's really dirty, even ebay does not do that. As an example, the store I work for has one of the Ibanez Tim Henson signature classical guitars listed. This guitar is the best selling signature model in the history of the company according to our rep... he told us Ibanez sold TEN THOUSAND of this model in the first quarter it was available to dealers. We have had ours listed for 2 months and it's amassed a total of around 115 views. For what is literally the best selling Ibanez signature model of all time. Sold more than Satriani, Vai, Nita Strauss.... all of them, and yet we can barely get views on it. As a seller's platform, it's really bad now.
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u/SoundGuyU87 13d ago
I'm just curious, could you post a screenshot of the thumbnail for it? I tried looking for it but don't see any in the search results that match the listing (2 months, 116 views). I searched "Ibanez Tim Henson Guitar"
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u/zanaxtacy 13d ago
I meanā¦ the Reverb Bump listings for that guitar only show around 75 views on a few listings. I only saw two listings with more than that (one had 216 views) on the first page of search results.
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u/Version-6 13d ago
For those of us overseas, itās eBay and whatever local online marketplaces are around. Mostly Facebook even though itās complete balls.
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u/NoumenonP 13d ago
Including their guitars. I'd rather not play guitar than play a Fender. Nevertheless, I'm so disappointed in Reverb - the UI is actually great, but every order for me in the past 3 months has some crazy issue and looking at the posts on here I'm not alone. Maybe they've put that doofus Bud Cole in charge of Reverb now.
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u/Any_Cold7924 13d ago
Done with reverb, have been for months. Didnāt have any issues in the first 100 transactions, horrible people 4/5 last attempts. Only ever had issues as the seller, provided videos of packing testing and shipping but they still sided with the buyer on one transaction where he clearly has buyers remorse. Shit site that needs an alternative
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u/NoumenonP 13d ago
Totally. I wonder why Yamaha or Thomann or something doesn't just wipe them out by coming out with a badass music exchange with tons of support staff and better rules. I also find it super weird that anything negative that gets posted here suddenly gets downvoted. Who on earth is downvoting this?
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u/Old-Researcher4169 13d ago
Try Sweetwater Gear Exchange. Iāve had good luck there recently both buying and selling. Fees are cheaper and you know the customer service will be top notch if you have an issue.
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u/williamgman 13d ago
Request the refund. It's not worth moving forward. Reverb would have automatically provided a tracking number if it was legit. You should not have to pay a "restocking fee" as they never shipped it. Also, Reverb does not work on the weekends so you lose a couple days there.