NEED ADVISE ON AN AMPLIFIER TRANSACTION

" I have to disagree with the above two responses. According to Audiogon policy, the buyer's money should be refunded before the amp is returned."

It's easy to do the right thing when it's not your money. If it was AG's money at risk, do you think they follow the rules they set for you? You're obviously not trying to take advantage of anyone here, so protect yourself.

As far as the rest of it goes, you need to be careful. First, its not an international sale. You shipped the amp to Miami, not S America. Assuming it was damaged in shipping, which shipping company was responsible for the damage? The one that sent it to Miami, or the one who sent it to S America? No one in their right mind would ship a used amp like that to another country without checking it first, so you have to assume the damage was done after your transaction was completed. And that would be when the amp was delivered to Miami. What happened after that has nothing to do with you. 

Also keep in mind that the "shipping agent" (most likely a friend or family member), was too cheap to get the proper insurance when they sent the box to S America, so they're using you to fix a mistake you didn't make. 

" Ahh, but Sean did make a mistake, he agreed to sell to a buyer in South America. 

I have shipped many items all over the world, but I have never shipped electronics or speakers out of North America. I'll ship cables, cords, fuses, outlets, phono cartridges, etc., anywhere. When YOU put yourself in a difficult position, YOU should assume some responsibility.

That is my take, though I see that it is unpopular here. It seems there are some shady sellers here. "

First, the OP made no mistake. He didn't make an international sale.  He made an agreement with someone, took payment on the amp and shipped it to Miami. You're letting the story cloud your judgment as to what really happened. 

What the buyer did with the amp once it got to Miami has nothing to do with anything. How could the sellers liability go beyond that in any way? The story is irrelevant. Only what took place is. What if some college kids father in Canada bought an amp listed on AG in California and shipped it to his son at the University of Miami for his birthday? The same exact thing took place even though the story sounds different. Either way it doesn't qualify as an international sale. That's the whole reason the buyer had the amp sent to Miami in the first place. He didn't want to make an international sale with someone he didn't know. Better to send it to a friend or family member in Miami that knows the rules for whatever country it was sent to.

This has absolutely nothing with my opinion or your opinion. Only the facts matter. The story has nothing to do with anything. Also, I know you mean well, but when you quoted AG's policy, you mislabeled it. If you read the quote, AG says they're tips. Tips are not policy, and policy may not be law. So if the OP decides not to refund the sellers money first, he disregarded a tip from AG, and nothing more.

Its your decision to refund, but if you do and there's any type of shipping claim, both parties have to work with the shipper in order to process any type of claim. If you refund the money before a claim is settled, you lose. 

In the event of a claim, what I do is get the process started and tell the shipper not to send payment to me, but have it go right to the buyer. Then, I contact the buyer and give him all the info on the claim so they can follow the process themselves. This puts the buyer at ease because they can see what's going on and not wonder if you are telling them the truth. The buyer will also be required to fill out paperwork and make arrangements to get the amp back to the shipper. This way works well because you already got paid for the amp and you have leverage with the buyer so they follow through on their end, as well. The whole thing just takes care of itself.

I'm assuming, of course, that the amp is still in the US and a legit shipping claim can be made. If the amp is somewhere in S America, keep your money in your pocked and the above infor for future reference.

" So the buyer has not made any sort of claim with PayPal, so far."

I forgot to mention this before. I would strongly recommend that you don't let money sit in your PayPal account. Just leave a few dollars in so you have a balance. In the event of an incident, they pretty much do anything they want. PayPal has nothing invested in you, so they have no problem refunding or seizing your funds without much investigating to determine the validity of a claim.  Its not like a bank issuing a credit card, where they lend you money every time you use it. If you have an issue with a transaction where you paid by CC, the bank is far more likely to be aggressive, because its they're money. If something happens on a transaction made with a debit card, they don't care. (I'm not saying they won't do anything to help you, they just do a lot less because the bank is not losing any money over it.). PayPal has the same attitude.

Here's a couple of examples. I went to an audio store and bought a $1600 component with funds in my paypal account. When the transaction was processed, there was no approval at the stores terminal. I checked my PayPal account and it showed the $1600 removed from my account for the purchase I just made. To make a long story short, they removed $1600 from my account 5 times, yet the vendor didn't receive any of it. They only thing PayPal could tell me, is that they had no idea where the money went, but it wasn't they're fault. After spending a week on the phone with them, they somehow figured out what happened and put the money back in my account. To be honest, it wasn't the mistake that pissed me off, it was their attitude.  It was like they enjoyed watching me get upset.

Then there was the time I got up one morning and saw $5000 missing from my PayPal account. Same exact story as above. No idea what happened to my money, but they knew for a fact it wasn't their fault. Another week on the phone.