My wife sells used parts on eBay, so maybe I can lend some insight.


- we are hyper vigilante about inspecting and testing parts as we do not want to create a hassle for the buyer or us. With that said, we have sold a few duds over the years but have had more items returned "falsely" because someone installed incorrectly or simply lied as they wanted to return the item on our dime(if it's defective the eBay seller has to pay for the return shipping). It's frustrating as we think this is unfair, but have chalked it up to the cost of doing eBay business.

- in this case, it's a tough call. The part "supposedly" arrived damaged and the way it "should" have been handled was to be returned at the time of arrival for a refund or exchange. I use those words in quotes because I understand the flip side. Your mechanic gets the part and trusts that it has been vetted and is ready to install. Removes the steering wheel and old clock spring to find the replacement damaged. The last thing he wants to do is reassemble and have your car sitting there for another week waiting for the part, white not getting paid for the time he just spent. So he does what he is supposed to do and fixes it.

- for Marty, he has to deal with some justified and some fraudulent returns on eBay items on a regular basis. He too knows that he can make mistakes and I'm sure would have processed the return if you had proven so. But, he has to have the default that what he shipped is good and who is to say that your mechanic didn't damage it during the install and then charge you for his mistake? Or how does Marty know that you didn't use his fully functioning part to repair your broken one then try to get some money from him?

- lastly eBay is able to read all messages, so when you messaged him and said you modified the part, according to the eBay rules you are in the wrong that is why they sided with him and they removed your negative feedback.

ebay is usually very accommodating to the buyers as they want the reputation that it is a safe and secure place to buy items, but when you put in writing that you modified the part and stil wanted some money back, you lost your chance at a resolution in your favor. Sorry, you should have bought from us!!! Jk. Marty aka kyscrap has very competitive prices and sells a ton of parts compared to us. It is sometimes frustrating to see how "affordable" his parts prices are when listing a similar item. With that said, i have bought parts from him without issue in the past.

 

I love it, the guys joins the form just to bash me. I did sell this to him. The first I hear from him is him opening an ebay case saying he wants 40 dollars back on a 50 dollar part. He says that while his mechanic was taking it apart a connection broke. There is no reason to take this apart, and ebay agreed that since they broke it they didn't get their money back.
As my transaction with the OP shows, I'm a reasonable guy. Stuff gets broken in shipment sometimes. Stuff fails under warranty sometimes. Every now and then something that we tested before we took off doesn't work when it gets to the customer. I go out of my way to work with people. This knuckle head broke my part and tried to get his money back while keeping my part. This kind of crap happens all the time. I get people claiming stuff is defective then sending me their old parts back. I get people who buy the wrong parts for their car then act like its my fault they didn't know their 97 Discovery wasn't a D2. Sometimes its just part of being in business.

 

Don't worry to much, it was pretty clear from the get-go that this dork was in the wrong. But yeah, to hunt up an old topic and post in it years later...my first thought was...this guy is quite the looser. Especially, over a fifty dollar part...really?

Brian.