Anyone been "johnny Rottened" with a car from epay???

Heres my story...
Back in april right before easter, I saw a 55 ford customline "california car" posted on ebay (I call epay, because you pay through the nose!) Well, it was going for like 800 bucks... Ad said runs good. I could see the front end was nice, bumper was straight, and those are parts I needed. So before I bid, I called the gentleman in MI, and asked him some questions. I asked how bad was the rust... His reply was, needs floor boards.. I asked him how the 1/4s were. He said "dime sized rust". I was excited... I also asked if any of the gl*** was cracked, he said it was all good. I couldn't tell from the ****py pics he took.
So, my dad and I took the journey on easter morning at about 12:30 am, to northern mi. We got there to find the guy who wanted his money in the mcdonalds sight unseen of the car. I bid this thing up to 1600. I said lets take a look, because the whole deal seemed a little shady... We got to the car, and I did a walk around it... and saw the 1/4s were completely rotted out. I just started to laugh... I looked at him and told him, "you said dime sized rust... those are some pretty big dimes you guys must have!" He didnt find it too funny. I opened the door to reveal both door gl*** broken, one vent and the windshield... Now, this is primarily the reason I bid on the dang thing, for the windshield and the front bumper/splash pan. So, he said he'd take 1500 for it... I laughed and said no way. I told him I was the gentleman he talked to on the phone. So I asked him to hear it run, being it "ran good". Then he came back with.. "well, umm... "we had it running off a gas can". I was almost ready to just go back to chicago, when he said the magical words... "Well, I was offered 960 fer it from someone round here." So I turned and told him Id give him just that. So after about another 1/2 hour, they finally agreed. Got it home in time to go to bed, to get a couple hours of sleep before going to work.
Now, I left him a fair feedback (the car was listed by his brother in tx, and this guy lived in mi) that facts were left out, but sale was negotiated. This sob leaves me a negative feedback that I screwed his brother out of 600 chips... Well, his brother screwed himself out because he shouldnt have lied in the first place. Needless to say, I got my front end parts, and some extra little doo dads that I needed... Paid too much for them, but I got them. I will never buy a car sight unseen on epay anymore... Nothing like someone peein in your wheaties on easter morning!
Anyone else got a good epay story??? I just wanted to share, because to this day I am still poed about this whole deal..... feel free to vent.... Gary

 

str8axleford,

I remember that car, as I was watching that specific auction too. I tried to ask the seller a question and he was a total **** about it. If I remember correctly, the pictures really were poor but they made the car look pretty decent.

This guy is a ****. He screws up, totally misrepresents the car, and then has the stones to leave YOU a bad feedback. His mom must be real proud - she's probably wondering why she didn't put him in a gunny sack and throw him off a bridge when she had the chance.

Hearing about this kind of **** really rubs my fur the wrong way.

Thor

 

Yep.. thats the one.... He was ignorant... I had to deal with him for about 2 hours himmin and hawwing about it... It was a joke. But I got some parts. Almost done stripping it. I started stripping about 2 weeks ago, here and there... Need to get rid of it for some space!

 

I have bought 13-14 trucks off ebay over the last few years all out of state and i always imagine the worst when i bid on them and when i go to pick them up i'am not upset if they are bad usally happy that they are better then i thought. I did buy one from oklahoma and it was stated to be a shortbed with a Camero clip installed in it. I emailed the seller if the clip was done right and he said yes my buddy installed it and he is a professonal and has done alot of them. I get there the truck is a cut down long bed its over cut and badly done at that (the angle of the pics in the listing where bad and you couldn't tell if it was a short or long bed) and the correctly done clip install looked like a child with no welding skills installed it, at least most of the body was in good shape. I ended up cutting the ch***is up and using the body parts on another truck.

 

So now you know.

 

It was a LONG lesson! 12 hours of drive

 

My question is... If someone is buying something, and are coming to pick it up... why lie? Can't cover up a hole my arm can fit in and call it dime sized...

 

ive seen some cars on ebay that leave me scratching my head in confusion, youve all seen them

 

Bought a mustang that way guy said it was stored 20 yrs . Well with the car i found out it was stored in a back yard for 20 . As with certain Stangs i still made some money . I ran it honest when i sold it needed total restoration . My A was off ebay and it was better then i thought being very clean 30 minutes south of me .

 

Good ol rustangs... I know all about them.... lol

 

bought a 62 c-10 off there..huy said the same things, runs good, shifts nice, minor dings and dents rust free texas truck yada, yada..drive6 hrs to pick it up, get there and both bed sides are as shaky as a bowl of jello..take it home anyway, get it off the trailer, and the bed sides had shifted from the bed floor..come to find out that the drywall tape, and bondo they used didn't quite secure the bedsides to the floor..ended up taking quite a loss and sold it with a better description..but i have also found some nice gems on there also..

 

This wasn't a car but fuel injection. Buddy of mine bid on Hilborn injectors. He bid $600 but got outbid. Few days later, he gets a second chance offer. He wires the $600. Needless to say, he was scammed. I asked him if he ever read the warnings. He said no. Tip was the guy claimed he was in New York but wanted the money sent to England.

I only bid on thing that are within 1 hour of my house. I had one scammer offer me a second chance. I told the guy, "Great, I'll see you in an hour. Give me your phone number". He never got back to me.

 

Put that clown on the front line, aye?

 

this is what "a little rust in the corner of 2 doors" looks like after removing the rear gl***...

 

Sweet.... I bet the fairy dropped some rust dust on it right before you got it... they swear it wasnt like that when they had it! lol

 

i have a friend that bought a divorce sale cobra kit car.tried to talk him out of it, car in mi., wife in tenn ,husband in another state. wouldnt let him look at car. and he still pays 27k for it. what a POS, only things worth saving is the crate 514,wheels and tires. they have a trans from a f250 coupled to a open 7.5 rear. gas tank welded to the frame and it leaks, fram has a notch thats over half the height of the frame to make room for the side pipes. and thats the good points.
egays buyer protection plan gave him 6000 back. his estimates to fix were 18 to 20 grand. now it is taking space here in my garage

 

you shoulda bought the `55 2dr I had on here a few months back.....had it on here for less then $1600 and from the sound of it,was waaaayyyy nicer.....guy drove from OH to get it and had no complaints...

 

eek.
those are all reasons why i hate ebay....

 

Bought alot of parts off of ebay but only one car. Turns out the guy lived less than 10 minutes from me & I was able to see it before I bid. Otherwise I think there are just to many roaches out there to take a chance with my hard earned $.

 

Bought a set of split '32 wishbones once. The ad said "it appears that a bracket was welded to one of the bones at some time, should grind down and clean up easily"...

I get the wishbones and the spot where a "Bracket" was tacked on at one time is where the wish bone was cut in half and welded back together!

I call the seller, who by the way answers the phone with the name of an early ford restoration shop (I'll leave the name out), I mean if you can't tell that this wishbone has been cut in half and re-welded back together, and poorly I might ad, then you probably shouldn't be running a business restoring cars that use these parts.

I explain the problem and he tells me to send them back and he'll send me another set. I send back both halves of a '32 wishbone and get one half of a model A wishbone back in the mail. Even better for a shop that builds and restores early fords...

I call back, argue for a bit and finally get a refund sent to me and I return the half of the model A wishbone.

So here I am with my coupe on hold waiting to find a '32 wishbone, I think I have a line on one that isn't plated in gold. Wish me luck!

It takes years to build up a good reputation, ripping people off and conducting shady business can get you a bad reputation in a matter of days. I just don't understand where the pride people used to have in their work and their good name went.

 

yep, i got screwed on ebay before as well. '62 Cad that was listed with "no rust" and ended up being a bucket. gave it the nickname tet****. not worth putting the time / money in, so i went through the mechanicals, got it running well and resold it & recovered the money. then found a nice one in socal (miss that car...)

-scott noteboom

 

Yeah got stung with a 66 Cadillac Coupe de Ville from a guy at Dana Point CA.I am in Australia and my fault for being too trusting.Guy says it was his daily driver and photos looked great.Bright red,20inch wheels red and white trim.

Get it here and paint is stuffed,rust in various places,wired up by a mexican(lucky it didn't catch fire),tyres worn out on the insides,
springs lowered with a torch while in the car(he said the suspension was professionally done),brakes shot,carburetor shot,plugs and points needed.He hadn't driven that car for over 12 months.

My estimate of cost to buy and land here has blown out by $5,000
to $6,000 for repairs needed.

I believe in karma and he will get his one day.

 

Interesting subject since I am driving form Michigan to Indiana tomorrow to pick up a 51 roadmaster I won off of ebay. Seller is the daughte rof the owner who is battling cancer. It is only a parts car, I only really need the dash, steering column, pedal ***embly, "moustache" and some misc. trim pieces and it is only 350 bucks. She seems honest and it would be hard to get too screwed on it, but this is my first car purchase off of ebay. I will let you guys know how it went.

 

I got my Dodge off ebay. I told myself if it looked like the pictures that I would be happy and not to expect anything more, it did. Was missing a lot of trim, hub caps bumper part etc. in the pictures but when I got the car home everything was in the trunk. Guess I was lucky and the seller was honest.

 

No offence but your friend is just crazy paying that much $$$ and never seeing the car till AFTER he pays?!?!?!

I have bought lots of stuff on Ebay,cars,parts,bikes, maybe I have been lucky?

Bad pics are a bad sign and it is for sure done with a reason.

 

I bought my Model A off ebay... me and a buddy drove from AR to MN to pick it up... we looked at the pics, and they were pretty good, we could tell where the rust was, and could tell all the garnish moldings were there... Got there and it was in the shape that we thought, even the subframe was in good shape, original wood in the floor.... so sometimes it works out....

 

We all have bad ebay stories....but it boils down to one thing. If you don't go look at the item or have someone do so for you before you pay, then it is YOUR FAULT! Sure there are scammers out there, but if it is a poor deal, then walk away. Just remember, that if you are the high bidder and there are other bidders, there is someone right in line to pay the same amount you won the item for. unless is is very very misrepresented, then it is worth what you bid. Sure, I have been stung, but I have had FAR better good experiences than bad. I have a pile of really nice stuff I bought off of ebay because stuff was poorly listed...'56 tbird I won for about 2/3 less than it was worth, '63 factory big block 4 speed mercury that is VERY solid and has the ch***is already detailed and painted for $800. Complete Hemi Dodge Royal with ***le I am picking up this afternoon for less than the hemi is worth. Never used Huth pipe expander, very hard to find unless you buy it from Huth, that sells for $1400 for $340 shipped...and the list goes on and on.
The epay and egay stuff gets old. It boils down to how stupid are you to bid on stuff for top dollar that you don't know anything about. If you aren't willing to take a chance, then don't bid. I would bet that the percentage of bad transactions is much higher in Hemmings where you don't know the seller, see pictures and have no feedback to see.

 

Yep, everyone has some ePay stories including me. But we dont have the time to go into those.

My rule is, Negative Feedback on me don't mean a damn thing. I'll take a Negative Feedback for walking away from something that isn't as expected or advertised on ePay. I typically do not leave Feedback if the deal doesn't work out and we split ways. You know "Let sleeping dogs lie". But if the guy comes back and hits me, I slug away on his Feedback.

Just weight your $$$'s going out for junk in exchange for a positive feedback......whatever. I work too hard for my dollars.

And as said "NEVER BUY SIGHT UNSEEN"

 

caveat emptor

drama, ebay, closed.