# How should I respond?



## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

On occasion I throw up a fuzz pedal for auction on ebay and star the price of bidding for the cost of the pcb. I sold a dirt transmitter for $34 bucks in November. I got a reply this morning frk. The owner saying the pedal smoked? He admitted to tampering with it after. I honestly can't see anything wrong with the pedal from the photos. I think he is trying to scam me in some way. What do you all think? Message pasted below.

"Hey dude, sorry just got around to testing your pedal. I was testing 7 dif. fuzzes between 6 (echo)delays tonight. D to F to D, some cool results. I was running controls for test and I verified all cables already, power supply etc. I couldn't get pedal to light up, it did make a very high squeal and killed my chain's sound. I opened and all i could find was switch GND (5)wire fried against SW(2). The whole top row looks like it got hot( or bad stripper lol), and the footswitch bottom row is not like any wire diagram i have found, but I'm no expert. I didnt try very hard and i didn't pull board out, it's too late. Lol. I moved wire for second picture to see burn mark. Any ideas or what you want to do?"


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## dgrainger (Jan 16, 2022)

What is your warranty period?


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## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

dgrainger said:


> What is your warranty period?


Ebay has a 14 day return policy from date of receipt.


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## Barry (Jan 16, 2022)

When did he receive it?  I find it hard to believe he's just gotten around to testing it since November, I'd have to call bullshit on that one


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## Robert (Jan 16, 2022)

So you're telling me smoke was bellowing out of a sealed aluminum enclosure but there are absolutely no signs of it internally?   Riiiight.  

Those two wires being "shorted" together would only make the LED stay on.... they would not cause the pedal to otherwise malfunction and would certainly not cause anything to overheat or smoke.   If it "smoked" the buyer was messing around inside and/or accidentally plugged in the wrong power supply while testing those other 7  (echo)delays.

The fact that the buyer has been poking around inside but doesn't recognize one of the most common true-bypass wiring schemes doesn't give much confidence.   Your average guitar players first response wouldn't be to "pull the board out"...

If they want a refund they'd definitely pay for original and return shipping since it's outside of the posted return period....


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## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

Barry said:


> When did he receive it?  I find it hard to believe he's just gotten around to testing it since November, I'd have to call bullshit on that one


I shipped it via USPS Priority so he got it the next week. It's very obviously BS. The problem is Ebay lets buyers leave negative feedback for BS. 

I suppose i could offer to get the pedal operational pending he covers shipping both ways but I sure as hell don't want to refund this sleezeball.


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## dgrainger (Jan 16, 2022)

That sounds like a reasonable approach.   He might be an honest dumbass rather than a sleazeball.


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## giovanni (Jan 16, 2022)

I would also immediately contact eBay and get their advice. That’ll show your good faith to them and that you are willing to make this right, within reason (like you shouldn’t be taking a loss).


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## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

dgrainger said:


> That sounds like a reasonable approach.   He might be an honest dumbass rather than a sleazeball.


Maybe but there is quite a bit of evidence that shows he is lying, i.e. saying there are components that are burned and no internal damage to be seen.


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## Barry (Jan 16, 2022)

My money is on wrong power supply, there are a couple of resistors on the bottom right that look dark, but that could be shadows


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## Paradox916 (Jan 16, 2022)

Offer to fix it not under warranty with the guise that it’s out of time frame and he started messing with it, buyer pays shipping both Return and send  plus cost of parts, and good will free labor.  As to appease eBay and dieter any  negative feedback, not to say this is the greatest approach just an Idea.


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## Bricksnbeatles (Jan 16, 2022)

R7 sure looks toasty


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## Barry (Jan 16, 2022)

If he post negative feedback, you can also respond to it with your side, no way I'm buying he had it since November and just now trying it, when I get something especially from fleabay first thing I do is test it


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## Barry (Jan 16, 2022)

Bricksnbeatles said:


> R7 sure looks toasty


R7 and R8 are the ones I thought looked darkened


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## spi (Jan 16, 2022)

I think the burn mark they're talking about is wire that goes to the center lug.
How could that happen?


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## carlinb17 (Jan 16, 2022)

@PedalPCB if someone added ac instead of dc or 18v/24v could this be the results? Or something along those lines, it looks like R7 is the first one VCC hits? Definitely screams user error to me.


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## Robert (Jan 16, 2022)

spi said:


> How could that happen?



Most likely during assembly, but that would only affect operation of the LED...

R7 is 3.3K.  Even if the opposite end was shorted directly to ground you would have to apply over 28V to exceed the 1/4W rating of that resistor.
R6 is 22K, so +74V in that case.

There are no other lower resistance paths to ground for VCC in that circuit unless one was introduced externally....  (eg: poking around inside) 

Components typically don't emit plumes of smoke that would be visible from the outside of a closed enclosure at this level of voltage/current... and if so, you'd think there would be soot or some other obvious evidence.   Where did the smoke come from if the pedal was closed up and plugged in?

I'm not saying the pedal couldn't be damaged by reverse polarity (or AC) at lower voltages, but those resistors are too high value to have smoked at typical pedal power supply voltages.


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## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

Thanks for your replies everyone. It may be too late for him to leave feedback. I sent a reply asking him to provide photos of the power supply he used.

As for the wires on the 3pdt, they are a bit charred from my iron but that would only affect the operation of the switch. 

I am not an electronics expert. I have built over 100 pedals so far (with many failures) but never have i seen a resistor smoked like that. In a tube amp, yes, pedal, no.


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## jimilee (Jan 16, 2022)

Pauleo1214 said:


> Thanks for your replies everyone. It may be too late for him to leave feedback. I sent a reply asking him to provide photos of the power supply he used.
> 
> As for the wires on the 3pdt, they are a bit charred from my iron but that would only affect the operation of the switch.
> 
> I am not an electronics expert. I have built over 100 pedals so far (with many failures) but never have i seen a resistor smoked like that. In a tube amp, yes, pedal, no.


Are the trannies secured to the sockets. I had one fall out one time. Fortunately, it was sent to a friend.


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## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

jimilee said:


> Are the trannies secured to the sockets. I had one fall out one time. Fortunately, it was sent to a friend.


They're not but a transistor out of a socket would not cause resistors to burn.


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## Popnfreshbass (Jan 16, 2022)

Two words. 

“As is”


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## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

Well, he posted a reply about this power supply set up. Reply and photos pasted below.

"Not a problem, thanks for quick reply. These are the 2 power supplies i used on bench, due to multiple loops. Both Truetone cs12. It was running on a 100mA 9v. Everything was 9v( the delays took up the 250/500mA no 18vs), i used same outlet and cable(after checking) for a solidgoldfx if6was9 right after. Hope that helps. I'm not freaking out or anything, I was interested in hearing it"


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## jimilee (Jan 16, 2022)

Pauleo1214 said:


> They're not but a transistor out of a socket would not cause resistors to burn.


Oh yeah. I forgot about that part.


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## Pauleo1214 (Jan 16, 2022)

Welp offered to try to fix pending he covers shipping both ways. I stated I can't accept a return being that it's way outside the return window and that the resistors can only fry when voltages are greatly exceeded which would not occur if he were using with a typical supply.

Thank you all for your input. I've sold on ebay enough that I'm wary of buyers with problems. I hope that this guy is well meaning but I don't have my hopes up either.


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## benny_profane (Jan 16, 2022)

Is there any way that the input tip could make contact with the DC+ in?

Edit: Nevermind—looks like it’d hit ground if anything on the DC input.


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