Winfield bat on EBay

[emann]

Agreed rep is everything..but I don't think he's morally obligated to buy it back

My two cents:

I'd agree overall that the timeline is too long to refund money to a buyer in a "normal situation." I'd say 60 days is reasonable (and probably pushing it)...

But, this isn't a "normal situation" and if his rep in this hobby concerns the seller that issue has now been amplified to some extent because the forum members now know about it—he should offer to refund half the original payment to Worldchamps.

Share part of the hit for moving a fake bat along... We can't be talking any significant amount of money either way. $100 and an olive branch is probably worth it for your rep here, no?

BTW: this forum doesn't need "moderators" it needs "mediators."

[GoTigers]

Not a problem.. If you've seen my eBay listings, I usually say "if this item fails any reputable 3rd party auth. I'll buy it back". On items I offer that on, there is no time limit. Although I'll probably change that now.. I'll probably give the buyer a year to send it in and return it if it fails. Simply because if I sell a high end bat, and who knows.. I'm broke 5 years from now I won't be able to account for it. It's not lack of confidence, it's an unnecessary risk to have a lifetime guarantee, and 1 year is ample time to have an item inspected.

Items I don't offer that guarantee on.. I would explain the issues with the item, and all sales are final. I would not offer a guarantee on this bat, because I know it would fail based on not matching records.. That doesn't necessarily mean its bad though. In these cases the final decision lies with the buyer.

[Nnunnari]

Regarding my initial post in this thread, I was going off of a vague, five year memory in thinking the bat was slightly shorter than a typical Winfield gamer. In finding my old email to Bill, I see that it wasn't actually shorter, the bat just wasn't found in his shipping records.

I honestly thought it was a legit Winfield gamer which wasn't in his records, that was my mistake and I am frankly embarrassed by that mistake . Any buyer who knows that this bat was not in his shipping records, is free to draw their own conclusion based upon the use of the bat and player characteristics and judge whether or not they believe the bat was used by the player. If Bill had come back to me a week later after receiving the bat and said "Nick, I'm not confident that this bat was used by DW, please refund my money." Sure, no problem Bill.

Where do you draw the line? It's been 5 years. If I refund the money now, am I leaving myself open to anyone I've sold to in the past coming to me and saying they don't like the bat I sold them?
Nothing I stated was factually false, my personal opinion was wrong about the bat but the facts were correct. The buyer needs to take responsibility for their personal assessment of the item at some point.
Taube made all sorts of mistakes back in this era along with other "experts". If I stated that the length, weight, model of the bat were different then they actually were or that the bat did match shipping records, then absolutely I would refund the money but not when it was an error in the assessment of the use. Unless someone saw this bat in action, there is no concrete, right or wrong answer on whether or not DW used this bat, only opinions.
I have seen countless bats pass 3rd party authentication which I can guarantee were not used by that player, but the bats specs checked out. Then what happens? At the end of the day, it is someone's opinion against another person's opinion. The buyer needs to make their own judgement through research and homework.
I am a big fan of this hobby. Plenty of people know me and what I stand for and how fair I have always been. I know the feeling, it sucks. I'm sorry it happened but I just can't justify this one, not after five years and all that took place at the time of the transaction. Feel free to judge me if you wish.

[Roady]

Maybe I missed it or maybe it was never posted but how much did Bill buy the bat for from Nick.
I understand it's none of my business. Just curious.

[TwinLakesPark]

Nothing I stated was factually false, my personal opinion was wrong about the bat but the facts were correct. The buyer needs to take responsibility for their personal assessment of the item at some point.

Well said.