Terms of service

Refunds

We're here to make buying an instrument exciting, easy, cost-effective and hassle-free. We're confident you'll love your purchase from us, as we select our stock with a lot of love and care. If you don't love it, here's what we can do.

If your item is not as described, damaged, faulty, or unfit for purpose:
Return your item to the store for a refund or exchange. As we sell almost exclusively used instruments, we do our best to describe and photograph things as honestly as possible. We get a lot of great feedback regarding the accuracy and detail in our listings. If there is some kind of miscommunication and your item is not 'as described', within reasonable margin for differences in opinion, you can return it for a refund or exchange. In rare cases of transit damage, our usual procedure is to return the item to the store for assessment and issue a full refund once it's been checked over. If your item is faulty, please see the section below on warranty claims. In all such cases, we usually arrange and cover the cost of return freight, so contact us by phone or email as soon as possible to get your return moving. Upon receiving your return, please allow up to twenty days to process refunds.

If you just don't like it that much:
We don't offer refunds for 'change of mind'. In most cases, we can offer an exchange or store credit if you decide your new item isn't right for you. We reserve the right to charge a 10% restocking fee for items returned that aren't faulty or damaged. We can help arrange return freight, so get in touch by phone or email as soon as you can. In such cases, all freight charges are the responsibility of the customer, so any credit will be issued less the costs of freight back to the store as well as the original freight costs to get it to you, even if you were offered 'free freight' on the original purchase.

The following applies to all returns:
* Please email or call us to arrange a return before you send anything back.
* Please contact us within seven days of your item arriving to arrange a return. We do not accept any returns outside this time period.
* We don't offer returns to customers outside Australia unless your item is faulty, damaged or not as-described.
* The item must be returned to the store in the same condition it arrived in, so please pack all items carefully. If you fail to take due care in packing your item and it's then damaged in transit, we will send it back to you at your cost.
* We always do our best to make sure you're happy with the gear your buy from us, so please get in touch and talk through any issues and we'll do our best to help.

Topshelf Instruments Shop Warranty
Used instruments are generally less likely to suffer from manufacturing problems, as such issues generally emerge in the first year or two of an instrument's life and are sorted under the original manufacturer's warranty. Having said that, every instrument we sell is in working order at time of sale, with any faults described in the listing, and we're happy to back our claims. We offer a three month warranty on used instruments: if you have an issue with your instrument that wasn't a problem at the time of the sale, get in touch within three months and we'll arrange a fix for you. This covers faults, but not general wear and tear. We also don't cover botched mods/repairs, impact damage, or problems caused by use outside the intended purpose of the instrument.

*Note that new products are covered by their various manufacturer's warranties.

Lay-Bys & Afterpay

We offer a LAY-BY payment plan on items over $100. This is a great way to buy gear without working your credit card too hard! If you want to lay-by an item, you can get in touch with the details and we’ll send you a lay-by invoice; more on that later. Here’s the basic rundown:

25% deposit
Fortnightly payments
2 months to pay
Ships when paid in full

Here’s a few notes on the above to clarify the process.

DEPOSIT: we require 25% to secure the item, upon receiving your details and a receipt for the deposit, we’ll place the item on hold for you.

PAYMENTS: Lay-by payments can be made via either bank transfer or PayPal. You don;t need to send the same amount through every fortnight, so long as you send something through to keep your lay-by moving. All details required to make payments will be in your lay-by invoice.

2 MONTHS: Once you’v made your deposit, final payment is due two months from the original lay-by date. We aren’t able to offer longer payment terms sorry; in order to keep a healthy cashflow two months is the maximum time on offer.

SHIPPING: We’ll add any relevant shipping costs onto your lay-by invoice. As soon as you’ve paid the full balance, we’ll send your new gear out to you!

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS: lay-by is still available; but you can only make payments via PayPal. For a shipping quote, either send us an email or jump on our Reverb store which has rates for most items on display.

CANCELLATION FEES: we charge a 10% restocking fee if you cancel your lay-by. The fee is usable as store credit for up to three months from the date of cancellation. Any other payments made will be refunded to you.

MULTIPLE ITEMS: if you want to lay-by several items, that’s fine. We can send them out as you pay them off if you’re happy to cover the additional shipping costs involved doing so.

So, HOW DO I GET MY LAY-BY STARTED?
Just send an email to simon@topshelfinstruments.com.au with the following info:
* full name
* delivery address
* phone and email contact
* item you wish to buy
Once we have all that info, you’ll receive an invoice via email, and once you send a receipt for the deposit, your item is on hold awaiting final payment. Easy!

We also offer Afterpay via the checkout on our website. Please note that Afterpay is a third party service that imposes their own credit limits depending on your history with them; returning users can be approved for $1000 AUD and beyond but new users are generally limited to under $400.

*We reserve the right to refuse or cancel a lay-by at any point in time. In the case of a shop instigated cancellation, unless the customer is in violation of the lay-by terms, the amount paid up until the lay-by termination will be refunded in full.

TRADES & CONSIGNMENTS

We’re all about helping you get the perfect gear into your hands, and sometimes that means parting with the stuff that’s not quite right for you. As such, we offer trade-ins, and sometimes will buy your gear outright if you’re looking to sell. If you’ve got some tasty gear you’re looking to part with, we’re here to help. We sell items on consignment regularly and have helped a whole bunch of folks find new homes for their treasures.

TRADES

For all trade or selling enquires, please fill in the form below:
https://topshelfinstruments.com.au/pages/sell-your-gear

If you have any trouble with the form or want to provide more details or pictures, you can email simon@topshelfinstruments.com.au

A few things to note regarding trades and selling:
* We’re not interested in buying everything. As a niche, online retailer, we tend to stick to a few categories: used guitars, basses and pedals and drum gear. You can always ask, but if you’re selling a grand piano or a nose-flute, it’s going to be a ‘no thanks’!
* We prefer not to deal in items below certain price and quality thresholds. For example, we generally don’t pursue guitars in the under $500 AUD price bracket as it’s just not viable within our current business framework.
* You’ll clear more money, generally speaking, if you sell your gear privately. We aim to pay 20-50% under the used market value of items so we’re able to make a sustainable margin and keep this whole show going. The longer something is likely to hang around between when we buy and sell it, the more margin we need to make the transaction viable. But, if you sell to us, you don’t have to deal with lowballers, time-wasters, freight hassles and all those other delights you might be familiar with.
* We can arrange inbound freight on items you’re selling outside of Hobart. We won't pay out on items prior to their arrival at our Hobart store. Because we send a lot of freight, we can often offer a more competitive price than you might get dealing directly with a freight company, so hit us up for a rate.
* We don’t do trades or cash buys from customers outside Australia at this stage.
* Sales to us either in-store or interstate are usually paid out within 7 days, but can take a little longer in the case of an admin backlog. At any point, prior to pay out, you may change your mind and recollect your gear with prior notice.

CONSIGNMENTS

* We charge a 25% commission on all consignment sales.
* We will cover transaction fees charged by payment providers or sales platforms like Reverb from our end, unless otherwise negotiated.
* All consignment items will list on our website and Reverb store, offering a significant global reach, as well as going on display in our Hobart store.
* We’re able to offer insured shipping globally on all consignment items, the same as our regular stock.
* The consignee is liable to pay any costs involved in bringing the item up to a sellable standard.
* The consignee is liable to pay any shipping costs involved in store acquisition, return to the consignee, or to and from specialist repairers in line with the previous term.
* Consignments are paid out within 7 days of receipt by the buyer.
* We reserve the right to refuse or terminate a consignment agreement without notice. We will pay return freight to the consignee in the case of a store instigated termination.