NEED ADVISE ON AN AMPLIFIER TRANSACTION


I am hoping you folks can give me some opinions on what you would do in my current situation/transaction.
I listed an integrated amplifier here on Agon, a gentleman purchased it and I boxed the unit as absolutely bombproof as possible. From looking at the buyers other transactions it seems he is somewhere in South or Central America as he has a shipping agent in Miami that receives his shipments, and then sends packages on from there. It took quite a while to get to him and I received an email from him saying that the unit was not working. When I sent the unit it was in perfect working order. There is a little bit of a different turn on process with this amplifier as it has a power switch on the back that you turn on first, then you push the button on the front panel which puts the unit into standby mode. You then push that same button again to get it going into warm up mode which takes 9 seconds. I have explained this to him and the buyer says it is still not working. I then sent the instructions which I found online at the manufacturers website to make sure he understands. I don't know if there is a language barrier or not but I asked if the boxed was damaged and have not heard anything back. I would assume the buyer would have notified me if it was damaged as soon as he got the amplifier. What would you folks do in my situation? I have perfect feedback as I would never try to scam anybody and I over describe whatever I sell...I also package everything as bombproof as possible. So if the unit was working and there is no damage to the package what would you do? Refund his money and hope I get the unit back? Thanks for your insights and opinions.
sean34

Showing 9 responses by sean34

I agree on everything you said. The amp is in Chili and I've heard nothing since asking for pictures so at this point I'm not inclined to go any further.

Ok thanks guys. I've never had this happen before and I have been through plenty of transactions. Thanks for educating me.
Thanks everybody. I had not thought about it from a scam perspective as the buyer had good feedback and someone had mentioned in his feedback the process to the agent in Miami went smoothly. I guess we'll see if he responds back to me after receiving the instructions. If not, great, if so and he says it is still not working, I will have him send it back before refunding his money. Thanks again.
Thinking about it further-if the buyer was to send me pictures of the box that was sent from Miami and the unit, without damage on either, I would then refund him the money once tracking was established. I think that is reasonable.

Again, thanks for everybody's opinions. I respect everybody on this forum because you guys have answered my question with your opinions and insight. I have not heard back as of yet so at this point I believe he's probably figured out how to turn it on. If I hear back later(as in a week) then I don't think I am obligated to return his money as I have no picture of the box with damage, and as several of you have said, I shipped it to Miami. I have no control over the shipping after Miami. 
So the buyer has not made any sort of claim with PayPal, so far. I do have pictures of the unit and serial, and it is a very rare amplifier, so I do not believe he'd be able to come up with another serial number, or amplifier for that matter. 
Yes it was paid for via PayPal and shipped to the verified address. I still have not heard back since sending instructions on how to operate the amp and asked for pictures of any damage, so I think the buyer probably got it turned on.
Update: never heard from the guy after I asked for pictures. I think he probably figured out how to turn it on! Thanks for the insight everybody.