I don't know what the "standard" is, but it seems to me that the buyer is entitled to an "as-advertised" product delivered to him/her, so in this case it would seem that it's his discretion as to whether he wants his money back and be completely out of the deal, or if he wants to pursue getting the piece repaired and continue to work with you. You could make the argument that buyer and seller are "in this together" and need to jointly deal with the issue, but from my vantage point, there's no way I'd risk leaving a bad situation in somebody else's lap. That said, I've been on the receiving side of this same situation twice and ended up dealing with it myself. The buyer's main obligation, in my mind, is to understand the situation and trust you as the seller, as well as not spread bad comments as long as you're working through it.
A bad situation
I'm looking for opinions as to how to resolve a situation that arose recently. I sold a preamp to a gentleman here on Audiogon for $150. From what I can tell he wanted to use the preamp as an inexpensive phono section. He sent me a money order and I in turn sent off the preamp via UPS insured, packaged up with plenty of bubble wrap so (in theory) it wouldn't get damaged. The preamp arrives, but, the selector switch is broken and evidently the switch is an oddball component that cannot be sourced. I know the preamp was working fine before I shipped it, I sure wouldn't sell a piece of broken equipment, not even for a $150. What's the equitable thing to do in this situation? Make a claim with UPS? Pay a tech to hardwire the premap, bypassing the selector switch? Refund his money and throw the thing away? I know, it's only $150 but at the same time there really ought to be a code of ethics we all try to follow. I understand the buyers disappointment and he may even feel like he's been screwed, I want to make this right. Any and all opinions are welcome. Thanks, Jeff