Help!
Every time I go on Ebay to just poke around I end up buying parts for my old W123 even if it doesn't need them yet. Case in point, today I just quickly wanted to check prices for thermostats and ended up buying an unneeded thermostat housing assembly and a spare power steering pump! $100.00 spent and I still haven't bought the actual thermostat!

At least I didn't buy another W123 (been there, done that, got the T-shirt).

Oh Well, better to have it and not need it I guess :-)

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1985 300D 197K - Semi-Daily Driver Diesel
1998 Volvo V70 AWD 226K - Daily Driver 2
1998 Volvo S70 140K - Wife's DD
2003 GMC Sonoma ZR2 Option - Rusty Truck
THE BABY 1958 220S Sedan 66K All original, never restored and never will be.

I'm selling a power steering pump

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

If you can buy it on Ebay, you can sell it on Ebay.

Damn, sorry I didn't know that, I'm in Canton MA, not too far away from you. What color is the inside? The kick panels and plastic stuff like that? Got lower kick panel screw covers, the three on each side? I've had this current W123 for only about 25000 miles and have next to no trouble with it. May tackle the A/C next year. Did the tach work in the CD? Hmm, it's an 84 right? Mines an 85 busted tach but totally different system. Good luck selling off the parts.

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1985 300D 197K - Semi-Daily Driver Diesel
1998 Volvo V70 AWD 226K - Daily Driver 2
1998 Volvo S70 140K - Wife's DD
2003 GMC Sonoma ZR2 Option - Rusty Truck
THE BABY 1958 220S Sedan 66K All original, never restored and never will be.

Getting burnt on ebay someday/sometime will slow you down. Logically it is a great venue for people of low character. What is considered good protection for buyers can be worked around by a skillful crook easily enough. This is not cynical just the way it is and really unfortunate for those sellers in the majority that are legitamate. Buyer beware is not an obsolite concept.

Considering that buyer protection is provided by Ebay, how is it "worked around" by a "skillful crook?"

From my experience - once you get to the stage where everything is in bits and you can't get in the garage anymore you kind of think...




...may be it is time to slow down a bit on the new parts acquisition phase and get building and writing up those DIYs...

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I on Nov/19/12 I won a Mercedes Service Manual for about $7.50 with free expidited shipping.
The Seller realized He/She was going to lose Money on the Deal and refunded (did not ask if I wanted a refund) My Money and offered the Manual back to Me for a Higher Price.

Bacause the Money was returned when you try to file a Claim it won't work.
I could have paid the long distance call and Phoned in my Complaint but decided just to leave Negative Feedback.
The same Seller did the same to someone else at about the same Time. Before I left Feedback the Seller had a 90% rating.

I had another Seller in a similar situation where the items sold for way less then I had seen the sell before. The Seller stalled for like 3 weeks and did not answer my Emails; perhaps thinking I would gat mad and ask for a refund and He could auction them off again. But, that time I filed a calim and eventually recieved the items.

On the other hand I got a Left Side Mirror for $25 and free shipping that is in better shape than the original one. The cost was worth not having to go to the Junk Yard.

If I look at my eBay purchases overall I have to say I have saved a lot of Money.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I know that feeling. I have so many parts that it takes me half an hour to narrow down which corner of the shop has the ten boxes of parts that I need to sort through to find five of the of the identical part that I need, of which I want to pick out the best one. I get a little carried away with parts collecting at times.

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- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

YEAAAHHHH....

When you snap up a MUST HAVE!... then months later when rationalizing the parts containers (AGAIN) because you can never remember what category you put this or that thing into... you find you have not one but TWO of the thing you just bought, already.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Ditto that! At least it's an illness we all can share. With more than one of the same part, it's also twice as easy to find!

Don't stop now... I'm about to start some more auctions as I clean out the parts bin.

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2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid SEL Premium (Sparky)
http://badges.fuelly.com/images/smallsig-us/193500.png

It's a car not a science experiment! Open the throttle!

There are ways. Buyer protection is not always given either. Back up your pay pal account with a credit card. That way if paypal refuses your credit card company will refund the money.

Before bidding look over the vendors feedback. Also his feedback ratio for the last 12 months. Below 98 percent no buyer protection at all the last time I looked at paypals requirements.

Most people that have been stung do not leave negative feedback as they feel they will get the same. So any negatives on vendors ratings have to be considered seriously.

Condition an item is recieved in is subjective as well and may not recieve a favorable ruling for example from paypal on a complaint. Plus you will have to mail it back on your dime. Many people got so sick of all the games they will not use paypal. I will not get into the more serious fraud areas but they exist even as ebay is trying to stamp them out the crooks keep changing their identities.

Again most people are fundementally good. Just do not assume paypal will always be there on your behalf if you get involved with a crook. Overall I too have saved a lot of money on ebay and found hard to source items.

There have been the few random issues though as well. Three to four of them paypal helped. A couple I lost on. The basic problem is if the crook clears your money out of his account right away. Paypal does not like to use their own money to keep you happy.

Paypal has started quite some time ago to keep your money in their hands longer before releasing it to the seller. In the mercedes world a vendor called generally bigaboo on ebay but has many other names cut quite a swath through our members several years ago. As far as I am aware he got away with it. Look up bigaboo in the archives on site. There may still be lots of posts.

you want some resistance assistance... click on the link in my signature...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I find no basis for that claim.

It is not currently possible to receive a negative feedback rating as a buyer.

With rare exceptions, Ebay requires sellers to accept Paypal. It's not optional any more.

That is Ebay's problem. It has no bearing on the outcome of a buyer protection case.

Bottom line: all of your complaints, while perhaps valid years ago, have been addressed by changes to Ebay's policies.