Help! car came from Ebay. F@#cked

Should have flown out for another $400.I am willing to look at any cars in western Washington for who ever. when ever? Never buy a car you can touch. Ebay sucks I am fgihting with some one over a $4 photo as I type this.

 

like was said,build the car or flip it,whinning about ebay,sometimes ya win sometimes you loose,it is what it is,a big fuckin gamble if ya dont do your homework.

 

It does not look too bad in the pics,get it driveable and you might be able to get your money back out of it.

 

I purchased a Mercedes SL500 on eBay that was totaly misrepresented it looked outstanding in the pictures but mechanically it was CRAP!.....I went through eBay buyer protection and they tried to get it resolved with a partial refund from the seller.....he promised to pay then cut off all communication with me and eBay......eBay told me the only way to get guaranteed protection is to have the inspection done before purchase then they will get your money back.....I finally sold the car for a $4000.00 loss.

 

Sorry to hear that! A good friend of mine egot burned on a Charger, ad said "little rust" and when he got it the only think NOT completely gone was the roof and door shells, seriously!

 

My opinion is the best thing to do is try to move beyond the fact that the car didn't meet your expectations and chalk it up to a lesson learned. Ruminating about it is normal,but not healthy.
The car doesn't seem to be all that bad, but I'm looking at the same pictures you looked at when you bought it. Pictures are very decieving. However, it seems that if you put some money in the right areas, you should be ok with it.
Also, aside from out and out scammers that sell cars E-bay or anywhere else, there are guys that just don't know shit about cars and don't see the same thing that experienced car guys see or accept. I once knew a guy that paid a supposed "expert" to look at a '55 Chevy before he bought it. The "expert" gave the car a big thumbs up. When the car arrived, it was way less than expected and a huge disapointment. The quarter panel had more waves than the Atlantic Ocean, but the shitty body work didn't show in the pictures.He paid top dollar for the car and also paid this dip-shit a fee plus expenses. The "expert" was more culpable than the seller at this point.

 

Sorry to hear about your issue. I've bought more than five cars on ebay, one was not as described and I couldn't use their protection plan because Ihad paid by cash. Still have the car and it's been a good deal but anyway.

When I do buy a car on ebay, I do not pay anything until the car has been inspected, by me or someone else. Many have told you that here already so this is for others who might read and want to do something on ebay.

After you've won, contact someone to inspect the item. This someone can be a paid someone or another car guy, HAMB'er or whatever. They should be someone who knows what they are looking at. Only after you receive a report do you pay any money. If it's not as described, just walk away from the deal. I've done that multiple times and all they could do then is give negative feedback, now they can't even do that.

 

Old Cars Price Guide.. I probably should buy a new one, this one's from June 2005..

49-50 Ford:

Deluxe #6-#5-#4
2dr bus cpe $840-$2520-$4200
2dr sedan $764-$2292-$3820

Custom Deluxe
2dr Clb Cpe $880-$2640-$4400
2dr Sedan $824-$2472-$4120

Deduct 5% for six-cylinder

#6 is parts car, #5 is complete but needs complete restoration, #4 is drivable/functional but not perfect, deteriorated older restoration, mostly usable as-is but has obvious problems even from 20 feet away.

Wiring harness and maybe brakes, tires you have a #4 car there, more or less. For about what a 3 1/2 year old book says it's worth, if you include your shipping costs.


A lot of people here don't seem to get this - you need to inspect the vehicle before bidding, because if you win the auction, you've entered a contract to buy regardless of what's wrong with the car.

 

I don't get it. If the seller said "rustfree" I'd have an issue, but apparntlly he said it had rust. ??? what's the big deal, covered or not it still need patch panels, whether its pinholes or big holes it still going to need rockers, lower 1/4s floors ect. IF you are planning to fix it right. Are you really going to have more work then expected or were you planning to just "patch it" too?

FWIW I guess I should turn you guys onto some Shoeboxes that show up around here for sale, for $3000 we have rust free desert cars, course being in the SW I'm spoiled!

 

Sakowski didn't call you a tool, but I definately will. You sir, are a complete tool. If you know your ass from your elbow with building a car as you say you do, that car is WELL worth what you paid. You 1. did no homework/had someone check it out 2. Id go so far as to not as too many questions 3. got your hopes up off some pictures and 4. are blaming the previous owner after you tried to get a deal on ebay. You took a shot. You missed. Shit happens. Take the motor/trans out of it, air the tires up and Id be damned if even in this economy that chrome/complete interior/body including rust issues doesnt go for $3k. That is a nice looking car.

Point is, you are blaming the PO like he built it, you have no idea what he did, its just some "old car" he had. BFD. You are way ahead of teh game with what you paid for a complete shoebox with nice chrome, get your pro ass out in the garage and spend a few solid days weldng in the super easy shoebox inner rocker/outer setup and quit crying. I HATE when people try and snipe a deal online and then cry about it later. You are no victim.

 

Draw a line move foreward as long as the frame is sound. Give it a whack and pack, Bag it get her laying on the ground so nobody can see under it ! ! Sounds like a GOOD candidate for a radical custom !

The karma Gods will work over the pole smoker that mis-represented you..........Unless you have the Gods after your ass bro ? ? Just my two cents, dont know you from atom.

Personally ....I have had lotts of fun with cars alot worse....

 

checked your ebay feedback and (sorry and correct me if im wrong) didnt you have the same complaint against you? i think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. wish my 56 mainline was that nice when i bought it but it wasn't and i love that car, fixing it up a little at a time and im not a bodyman. learning to lead though. if you notice H.A.M.B. members are split on wheather you got hurt, as i believe they should be. personally i dont see where you got hurt. i can see why because its your $ and maybe you expected to much. dont see where the guy lied. dont think he should give you the money back. when you buy something like a hotrod, mc or whatever sight unseen it is pretty much a "pig in a poke" (there's a good car name!) and in your case a deal that seemed something cool with you dreamin' about working on your bitchin' hotrod pretty much turned to crap. i say get over it and start the building before its to late to love the old car. im sure you'll be happy in the end. if you dont think so then you will probably never be satisfied. im sure someone will take it for the same 4000, with all the problems, and be happy with it. just my humble opinion. no offense...good luck

 

I have a classic Pontiac listed on ebay right now and everyone's welcome to inspect it first. Hell, pretty simple I think. I've sold a few cars on ebay over the years, never had a problem.
You should've been scared by his crappy feedback rating.

I list things on ebay based on Karma. Seems to be 100% for me!

 

$3,200 for a 1950 Ford Tudor. Seems fair.

 

I'd feel the same way. It seems that the majority of people that sell on ebay take deceptive pictures at every possible angle except the shot that shows the flaws in the item. As a seller I do just the opposite. So far no buyer complaints, but I know I could get more by using small blurry pictures.

The economy is tough and some people will do anything out of desperation....here are a few flags I look out for now -
"Minor surface rust in rockers and lower areas"
" The guy I got it from said he rebuilt the engine"
" Probably just needs some carb work and a tune up"
' I can give you a BOS getting a title should be no problem"
" It originally came from Alabama and they don't have titles"
" I'll mail you the title when I get it"

and finally.... The car has such low miles cause my grandpa only drove it on Sundays....... a 1/4 of a mile per time.

 

1. I did talk to the seller 20 times before I bid and paid.
2. yes I can fix it, just more than what I wanted to get into.
3.I will not just piece it together and resell it because I dont want to screw any one.
4.yeah I have 2 feed backs on ebay that are negative, 1 was for a 32 truck that was blasted and bare metal it was in awesome condition, no rust holes and sold it complete for $3000 great price
and the other was a guy trying to sell a car (that was stolen in the 70s) with out a title, although in the auction he said clear title.

I am not trying to debate if the price was good or not. my point is that the work that was done, was done to be deceptive.
That is what the problem is.
I hate deception, some may like me some may not. But I am always upfront, and people know what they are getting from me. some people get upset when you tell them what they dont want to hear.
I posted this on here to see what people thought, and Im good with everyones opinion. Life goes on.

 

Sorry to hear about you (or anyone for that matter) who gets screwed like that. One option might be to look for another good body & use this one for parts....Good Luck!

 

I got half of my money back on a $9000 car . It was listed as no rust or bondo rebuilt with less than a 1000 miles . Had a lot of tar roof flashing for a trunk floor ,and a bend in the frame . They won't warrantee rust on bodys, if frames are damage you are stuck for the first $1500 , But they paid to rebuild the engine and to reinstall .Also the block was cracked so they paid for the core . All this took about 2 months.

 

Napoli or Crabtree?, gotta differentiate which shifty Black Hills Dealer we are talking about!

 

I hope Nitro-Flattie1 doesn't mind me posting this, if so I'll cut it. A link to his build or rebuild I should say. I don't recall him complaining, he just got to work. Check out this post. Great job by the way.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311030&highlight=55+ford

 

Another case of;
"Never do business with anyone you can't reach across the table and punch in the nose."

 

I found three of my cars on ebay, but I went to look at all of them. You can only trust yourself, unless someone else is paying for some of it. The guy with the "vested interest" (money into it) is the only reliable source to look at what your getting - thats you!

 

have you called eric johnson?

 

I am not as clear as you on that the work was done to be deceptive.

To me, it looks like the work was done years ago. I am guessing that the person fixed the car the way they were comfortable with and used it as intended. Everybody has their own views on how something should be done. Some may not be in agreement with your opinion on how it should be done but not neccessarily deceptive.

I prefer to buy a car with mostly original paint to get a better feel for the condition.

Personal experience. When buying cars through e-bay, autotrader, or here on HAMB; expect a few surprises. My emotions will tend to convince me that it is a great deal verses the little things that I choose to overlook.

You bought a car with a few surprises now move on.

Neal

 

Sorry for your loss of cash. If I can't touch it, I can't buy it. Too many theives in the world (as you have recently learned) too trust someone you can't see or something you can't touch with your hard earned cash. I hope you get some satisfaction out of this transaction.

 

1. You should have gone and looked at it in person.
2. Then you should have gone and looked at it in person.
3. Presenting it honestly for what it is is not screwing anyone, especially if they come look at it in person first.
4. Two old negative feedbacks don't mean much relative to this issue.

I doubt the work was done to be deceptive just to screw you, it looks like old work to me, someone's backyard restoration that was driven, enjoyed, and left to sit. Had you gone and looked at it in person you'd have seen that stuff right off. If anything you decieved yourself.


Hell, I bought a Rambler on eBay a few years ago, a car I had seen in person a couple years before that and recognized, and I get it on the trailer and discover the unibody is shot in it. Did I complain? No, because I didn't look at it first, I'd never looked underneath the car. And here again I didn't pay a whole lot for it. Sooner or later I'll find a car to rip apart to re-frame the bottom of it, and then I'll do something with it.

 

The true losers in these situations are the honest sellers and buyers out there. Yeah, I'm being selfish and speaking my mind. I think this thread ran its course....

 

I don't see making a federal case out of this, you bought a car from crappy pictures and it's not as nice as you expected. Consider it a learning experience and move on.

Calling a lawyer would be the dumbest thing you could do. Clean it up and resell it with a better description, you'll probably make money.

 

Then don't buy stuff off of the internet sight-unseen. Not saying that to be a smart-ass by any means. It's just the bottom line. Unfortunately the internet has ushered in a new era of buying things without actually seeing them first, and the shit-bags (like the guy you were just screwed by) have come out of the woodwork to take advantage of what is essentially one big honor system. It's a buying-selling format that couldn't be more perfect for guys who would rather not show their faces, rip people off, and remain anonymous.

Before the net changed everything, years ago, I found & almost bought a 65 SS Impala convertable from a guy in Detroit that I found in the Classic Auto Trader. I mostly spoke to his wife, who was a very well-spoken, pleasant woman, who occasionally dropped bible quotes & seemed to be a genuine, honest person. She said that the car was in "mint" condition (which jived the photo they used in the ad) and in perfect running order, without any rips or tears in the interior. The price was 15k (which, at the time was ALL the money in the world for that car) but there was something about the pic that was bothering me...like, it looked like an old picture for some reason. Anyway, I'm about to pull the trigger on this deal, and I decide to send an appraiser to look at it. I figured that if I was about to drop 15k, gambling $150 wasn't a bad idea.

So, I send the guy, and he calls me back literally laughing. The car was sitting next to a house in a seedy part of Detroit, the convertable top was in tatters, the interior was rotted, it didn't look like it had run in years, all 4 tires were flat, and it had MAJOR rust issues. The dude I sent said he wouldn't pay 2k for it in the condition it was in.

So I call her back to advise her that I had sent someone to inspect the vehicle & that I was no longer interested in the vehicle, and she instantly turned into white-trash. She started cussing like a sailor and told me that (even though I never agreed to buy the vehicle) we had a "verbal contract" and she was going to sue me. I remember my exact words to her: "lady, are you on crack???". She yelled some more and I hung up on her.

Either way, sounds like you learned the hard way. Sorry your deal went bad, but that's what happens when you trust people.

 

Did you keep the e-bay auction, if so, create a link so readers of this thread could see the actual ad.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture can also be taken to hide & deceive.
Hopefully this will work out for you, but if there is a lesson to be learned, it is that when buying a vehicle on e-bay, ALWAYS get someone who is trusted & experienced to look over the car for you, in person and then report back to you.
Good Luck!