Not a lot of love for the seller in the thread, but here’s a perspective from a guy who’s been in this spot many times before as a buyer and seller of pinballs, arcades and other large things.
Border is open for shipping.
Buyer needs to pay for shipping to get it out of there. They can pay and ship to a storage unit worst case. They probably don’t want to pay to ship to Canada because of cost / customs. Figured they could save shipping to family and haul across border themselves later.
Free storage for 90+ days from the seller shouldn’t be an expectation unless agreed on up front preferably, but at least mutually under all circumstances.
Being a Canadian who buys massive and odd stuff from the states all of the time, I’ve never expected a seller to spend more than a week or so dealing with holding the item without explicitly agreeing on a plan. If for no other reason than once I’ve paid, legally it’s my issue to deal with. No insurance and little obligation for someone to deal with my problem for me...
Seller could refund and find another buyer, but this hobby isn’t chump change and seller sold for a reason. Could offer to resell and refund original buyer or a dozen other variants of the same solution.
I’m up for the opinion that the buyer paid, 90+ days free storage not agreed on upfront is not the seller issue to deal with anymore. Sounds like seller has been fair and reasonable. Tell buyer to figure it out this week and everyone moves on.
This is a main reason I only buy my pins cash on glass. Even if that means I’m doing a 24+ hour run to get it. It’s a part of the hobby for a Canuck. Crappy times with the border closed to personal travel via roads, but if you’re willing to pay thousands of dollars to buy something you should be willing to pick it up in less that three months or live with the consequences of your actions.
If the seller wants to cave to arguments they should store it indefinitely because someone paid them for it, it sounds like you have some room in your garage for more pins to be stored for free. Just let me know when I can start shipping stuff there and I’ll let you know when I can pickup sometime in the next two years.