Rights for shoppers in the uke marketplace

Seller gets uke back, and besides wasting time and other potential sales, he's out the initial $50 to ship it to the buyer.

Most uke sellers (e.g. Covered Bridge Ukes, Elderly Instruments, Gryphon Music, etc.) -- buyer pays both shipping, out and back (unless it was misrepresented). Makes sense.

Yes, but.... This is obviously up to the parties involved. From my perspective as both a buyer and a seller, it seems to me that since the item is purchased without actually having it in hand, and that the opportunity to do this is of equal value to both parties, that the modest risk of shipping expense should be shared. Just my opinion. But if you ever buy anything from me, rest assured, I will be willing to bear the cost of shipping it to you if you are willing to bear the cost of shipping it back if you don't like it for any reason. And I'm willing to do the same for anything I buy and I appreciate the seller being willing to share the risk.

I've been a seller (and buyer) on eBay since 1997. Sadly, there are many buyers who experience buyer's remorse and want to to return items even when the item is fine and properly represented. In those cases, I have always refunded the buyer their prurchase amount less the original shipping cost. And those terms are listed in the item's description so there were no suprises. I would always expect a seller to issue a refund less all shipping fees if I as the buyer chose to return the instrument becuase I changed my mind or didn't like the item. To force a seller to not be able to recoup the shipping costs on returned items that were properly represented would be a disservice to sellers. That's my $.02 cents on the subject.