Ebay Warning

[Cees Klumper]

Hey Rodd - I am definitely not an expert on options when wronged on Ebay, but my guess is that you will have to incur quite some time, aggravation and cash expense if you want to get your money back from this seller. It may not be worth your trouble and of course unscrupulous sellers KNOW this. The cost may just be prohibitive, factoring in also the chance that you may not actually win the argument in (small claims?) court.

That said, do the wheels themselves fit? Are they a very close match to the real thing? If so, you may want to accept that you have bought good copies, and chalk this one up to experience.

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[hauser]

Rodd I am sorry to hear about your misfortune with these wheels. Did you use paypal to pay for this item? Sometimes there is a feature you can use to gaurantee the satisfaction of the item for a fee through the paypal. Was there anything like this? If so you can contact paypal and let them know. I think I have the phone # to paypal, I'll have to look.  

You also can contact ebay's customer support, it doesn't always work. If the guy won't take them back you can always put them back on ebay, maybe you can break even.  How many bidders on this item?  Contact the the second highest bidder, give him a break on the price.

Rodd you're not the first guy to have this happen to him and you won't be the last. Know what you're bidding on. Look for similar items that others are selling. Compare prices. If it looks too good to be true? Most of thses sellers it's all about the money.Check the sellers feedback rating.  


1969 280sl 5 spd        1999 ML320          Gainesville,Fl.

[rwmastel]

Everyone,

Thanks for the feedback, both here and to my personal e-mail account.  It's all helpfull.  I'll let everyone know how it works out in the end.

Rodd
Powell, Ohio, USA
1966 230SL, Euro, Auto, Leather, both  tops
1994 E420

[France]

Hi Guys, (yes, there is a girl out there; it's not just gentlemen)

Not to drive this into the ground, but there is another point to Dr. Benz's argument.  It's a balancing act:  If we become dependent on just a few sources for parts, prices will surge.  If we can distribute our trade over many smaller businesses, they will have the incentive to continue to carry parts to supply us.  Simple economic fact that supports many of the different opinions below.  If you don't like someone's practices, go elsewhere.

Having said that, I love eBay, and I did the ultimate lunacy, as you may see in the next edition of Pagoda World:  I bought a whole car, sight unseen.  Call me crazy.  In the interests of honesty, I'll tell you I paid $15,900 for her.  She is in beautiful shape, and in over a year of driving has cost me a whole $0 in repairs.  She got stuck in reverse once, and my Sarasota master racing mechanic came out and repaired the linkage quickly for free.

She has no rust, dings, or mechanical problems, and has new everything, including pesky and expensive chrome.  I know I was very lucky, but I'm married to a crack amateur mechanic with the ultimate headache car (an e-type Jag), so I had a safety net!  Plus my seller had over 3,000 positive ratings and no negatives.  Plus I got him on the phone, so I could ask intelligent questions and judge his response.  Clearly he is a professional seller with that many sales, and his description was absolutely on the money.

Rod, eBay prides itself on dispute resolution...someone recommended contacting the 2nd-highest bidder, but I think that falls outside eBay's rules because it deprives them of the sales fee.  However,I'm sure people do it all the time.

And I agree we don't do enough trading amongst ourselves...

Trice
1968 280SL US, signal red/bl leather, auto, kinder

[n/a]

The parts business has been easy for me. No real problems for 31 years, except I'm starting to forget stuff !! It's just that most dealer parts people aren't enthusiats and they're uneducated on older models. And most of them are too greedy when they do take the time to help you.

tom in CA
2003 C320 Coupe

[Benz Dr.]

Yes, but are you a re seller or working at a dealership? There's a difference which I'm sure you would know about and understand.

Daniel G Caron

[Tom]

I recently had a similar experience with this vendor-asked if they have pictures of the sunroof hard top that they are offering *during the restoration*.  Their response was "no, why?"  Frequently, email can be misinterpreted as to tone and maybe he was just trying to get through a lot of mail.  But for $8,000?-Please, I need a little love to become separated from that much cash!!!!!

Spending $8,000 on anything is a lot of money-seemed like a fair question to see the work done for the price offered.  If not done right, the top would leak or rust-there are drain holes that are in the headliner.

I have a lot of experience with our vendors and generally I am pleased with the vendors that serve the w113 community.  They offer great products and a good attitude.  This vendor is more of the exception than the rule-at least when it comes to fielding questions from interested buyers.  I would not pester a vendor for a $10 purchase, but for $8,000, I would expect a little more TLC.

Best,

Tom


1971 280sl Tunis Beige Metallic (restored & enhanced)
1971 280sl Tobacco Brown (low mileage stock)
1970 280sl Deep Red (Project Car)

[pagode.info]

My experience watching "new parts" on German Ebay is, that most of the new parts were sold at much higher prices than the same part costs in regular dealers price lists. It seemes to me that people on Ebay do not compare the prices on Ebay with regular prices
any more.  

My experience watching "used parts" on German Ebay is, that people, who claim to be a private person, are taking the chance to sell hundreds of worn out items in an anonymous way and without "money back guarantee".

Buyers accept parts, that they never would accept from a dealer. I wonder why (?)It seemes to me, that on Ebay everything is "upside-down".    
 
I don´t love it. I don`t hate it. I´m just wondering :-)

Tom

posting from Daniel G. Caron:
 

quote:The one problem I see ( aside from being cheated somehow) is the naturally corrosive effect ebay has on prices. This may seem good at first but if someone has a few parts left over after a big restoration and sells them on ebay just to get rid of them, they may sell at half the price of retail. While this may look good to the buyer, and it does, what happens is your regular parts resellers ( Ray,K&K,Millers,Gernold,SLS,Will,myself and many others ) just lost that sale.

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