Knife sale question

Leu Custom

Leu Custom

Joined
Jun 2, 2007
Messages
1,354
Hey Guys,

I have a question regarding knife sales.

Lets say someone contacted you to purchase a knife from you...ANY knife they could get their hands on but in the process deceived you about their age, you sent the knife out only later to to find out they were 16 years old. The knife went to Canada and was received nearly 2 weeks ago. You specifically asked them to let you know when they got the knife and they did not bother till 12 days later when you get an email saying that they can't find the time to use the knife or some jargon and they can't justify buying a knife for such a dollar amount and letting it sit around as a show piece and want to send the knife back and get a refund. After they lied to you, basically laughed at you that it was too late that the knife was sent to them and was on its way (to the buyer) and then almost 2 weeks later, want a refund.

What would you do? Give them their money back or tell them to go pound sand?

Thanks,

Pohan
 
I am no lawyer but I would Only correspond with his Legal guardian on the phone at this point. Then explain the mess that his 16year old got into.
If the guardian ok's the return and he pays the shipping "insured". take the knife back and refund the money. But Deduct any damage to the knife and any cost you incurred.
In the refund make the transfer of funds to the guardian and not the 16yr old. Also keep all the records on the deal for awhile.
This is my opinion!!!
Good luck.
 
If it were me personally, I would tell them to send the knife back and after it being inspected then I would send them their money minus any shipping charges I had incurred, I'm sure the knife will sell to someone else, you aren't losing anything then its not that big of a deal in my eyes... If you get the knife back and it has been used, and you can tell(I mean any usage at all)is not in the SAME EXACT CONDITION then I would tell him he can have 75% of his money or you can send the knife back, now if it has been used extensively I would inform him that the knife is in unacceptable condition for a refund and send him the knife back... In the end it is all about you saving face and for most of us knife makers our reputation is all we have.

About his age, if he is purchasing items over the internet from you and stated that he was of age then you have nothing to worry about, it is not your responsibility, his parents should be monitoring his internet usage more closely. Now that you know his age though, you should speak with his parents or guardian about the exchange or anything further from this point. Also you may want to put an inspection period clause into all of your sales so this doesn't happen again, I have a 3 day inspection period in place to prevent this type of thing from happening.
 
This is just my thoughts. I would have his parent or guardian contact you. I would give a refund when the knife is returned.(If in good condition) The price of one knife is not worth any ?'s on my reputation. Take the high ground.
 
sharpeknives said:
This is just my thoughts. I would have his parent or guardian contact you. I would give a refund when the knife is returned.(If in good condition) The price of one knife is not worth any ?'s on my reputation. Take the high ground.
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Sounds good and thanks for all the replies!
 
Sounds absurd to me. If the payment for the knife cleared, I'd forget about it. Kid needs a lesson-- if indeed he is a kid. Did you make it to the Spanish Market and see Duran and Cordova and others? How was it? I couldn't, alas.
 
well he keeps claiming he's 18 year old. I told him the situation, he understood. So case closed :) He'll probably end up making money on the knife anyways!
 
I would definitely keep a file of emails on this one. Print them out and hang on to it for a while to make sure this one don't come back to bite you! :eek:
 
This is so frustrating. Legally, you sold the knife in good faith to a person who claimed to be of legal age. I think in Canada you can buy a knife at 16, as long as the knife is not a switch blade, Butterfly or gravity knife. Since it went through Canada Customs okay, then the knife is legal in Canada.

The young man probably had some buyers remorse and wanted to see if he could get his money back, like at Walmart. Some people buy stuff, play with it and return it to the store.

If he has decided to keep it, fine. In the end, you supplied a product and he paid for it.
People are all different.

Frank
 
Frank Barron said:
This is so frustrating. Legally, you sold the knife in good faith to a person who claimed to be of legal age. I think in Canada you can buy a knife at 16, as long as the knife is not a switch blade, Butterfly or gravity knife. Since it went through Canada Customs okay, then the knife is legal in Canada.

The young man probably had some buyers remorse and wanted to see if he could get his money back, like at Walmart. Some people buy stuff, play with it and return it to the store.

If he has decided to keep it, fine. In the end, you supplied a product and he paid for it.
People are all different.

Frank
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I would have had no problems taking it back had it notified me within a few days, but it had been almost 2 weeks and I knew he had received it. I would love it it was like Wal-Mart!
 
richard thurman said:
and this is why I make sure that all of my internet sale clearly state as-no rufunds.
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When I make custom blades to a customer's specifications, refunds are a bit more hard to give back especially if it's some weird design that would be hard to sell. I usually play it by ear and if the person isn't jerking me around cos they want to buy some other knife, then i'm more than willing to help them out.
 
Dixieblade57 said:
I would definitely keep a file of emails on this one. Print them out and hang on to it for a while to make sure this one don't come back to bite you! :eek:
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yes. definitely will be doing that. as the guy keeps claiming he is of age, then I will treat him like an adult and not a child.
 
Leu Custom said:
When I make custom blades to a customer's specifications, refunds are a bit more hard to give back especially if it's some weird design that would be hard to sell. I usually play it by ear and if the person isn't jerking me around cos they want to buy some other knife, then i'm more than willing to help them out.
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I agree with you too. but I still state that just for a back up. I have refunded people money to them because they said it arived broken and I test out every single knife/switchblade before I ship it out.
 
Not sure about the US but Canada does not have an age law when it comes to buying knives. Guns yes, but not knives. Misrepresenting age is illegal, especially when it comes to crossing borders.. Then it becomes a federal crime in both countries. It all depends on what your policy is for selling. I say take the knife back, any damage and don't refund some or all the money. Send a letter to his home (addressed to legal guardians or some innocuous "resident" thing so he doesn't see it) and you explain to them what happened. If you do nothing, he gets away with it and learns nothing. Just my opinion though. :-)
 
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