Let's hear your eBay story... - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

mholbrook · #46 02-12-2005, 06:41 PM

Why buy from eBay when you can buy my 1983 300TD, Ivory/Palimino MB Tex now. No rust, 228k, I've had her since about 192k. Never, ever left me high and dry. Replaced door seals, new CD in dash (Becker included), Kamei front Euro spoiler, Australian Lexan headlight covers, Euro H4 headlights with SilverStar bulbs, new hoses, new expansion tank, new AC compressor, new Bilstein HD shocks, new bushings, new accumulators, coco mats, just had valves adjusted and trans service. No known problems whatsoever. I just drove her to Colorado round trip at 3500rpm getting average of 28mpg (75 mph), San Diego - La Junta Colorado - San Diego.

I'm offering this one more time here and then I'm going to put it on eBay.

$3500.00 Firm.

Mike Holbrook
619-670-1238 mholbrook@ucsd.edu

chrisjul · #47 02-13-2005, 10:36 PM

I've bought 5 on Ebay...I was lied to twice (both times by Texans! 3 if you count Dubya) but I still came out ok.....just disappointed that they felt the need to lie. Someone mentioned that if you factor in $500 for repairs and improvements, you should be ok...I agree.

Its a great system...good feedback is critical and lots of communication.

Good Luck,
Chris

CEC · #48 04-29-2005, 01:13 PM

I bought my 1984 230TE with a 5 speed transmission on eBay. I despise automatic transmissions and that makes it tough being a Mercedes fan. So when I came across this 123 gas powered wagon with a 5 speed I had to bid. I threw a bid out there assuming it would go higher. The car was in Rhode Island and I am in Georgia. Well was I stunned when I won the auction. So off I flew to Rhode Island and drove it home to Atlanta. It sure was a great car. I eventually sold it back on eBay though. My wife didn't appreciate it as much as I did.

I had bought this for her to ferry the kids around.

Chuck

Southernstar · #49 04-29-2005, 02:29 PM

I bought my 300D on Ebay. Car is just like the seller represented. But, before I purchased it, I was the high bidder on a 300D in Phil. Pa. I had a PPI and found many problems that were not disclosed by seller. Needless to say I did not purchase this car. AND I saw the same car on Ebay at least 3 more times!

pmi · #50 04-29-2005, 09:07 PM

I've bought two vehicles on Ebay; a 97 Lexus LX450 (80 Series Toyota Landcruiser) and an 83 300SD. The LX 450 came from the Lexus dealer in FL that sold it new and had performed every bit of work on it. When I thought I really wanted it, I talked to their service manager, off line from the salesman, and he put the VIN into his system and gave me the rundown on its excellent history - he was genuinely impressed and so was I, so I told him he had just made a sale for his dealership. It has been a fantastic vehicle and saved me at least $5-7K compared to what they sold for here in CA at the time. Yes, history counts. Confident in its basic soundness, I spent about $10K in mods, and now it is a very capable hunting vehicle - plus it's a real laugh when I pull up with a dead deer or wild hog in the back of a Lexus!

The 300SD is a very different story. I would never buy an old MB sight unseen again, and I bet the folks on this list got a good laugh watching the bidding on that car! I have been telling myself the difference between the car's actual and described conditions was only due to the PO's ignorance, but after all the work I have been doing on it for the last 4 months, I must finally conclude that he was a ****liar. Nobody can be so friggin blind that they don't see, hear and feel the problems this car had. I was seduced by low mileage and good photos, plain and simple. I will end up with a very nice car, but at about twice what it would sell for in a rational market. Again, history counts, and I impulsively bought a car with a huge gap in its history. But hey, in about 20 years, it will pay for itself in fuel savings over the LX 450 gas guzzler.

#51 04-29-2005, 09:20 PM

Several years ago I bought a 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, on Ebay. It was described as 99% complete and almost rust-free. A good driver and in need of very little. An original veloce oil pan, magnesium, etc. Oh, and it probably could use a new cloth top.

The photos (two) show a beautiful car (about twenty feet distance from the camera, in a dirt driveway with a charming red barn behind it. It was in California.

So I bought it and had it shipped across the country (shipping alone was $800). Onarrival the trucker said the guy he picked it up from couldn't get it to run and wouldn't get in it. It took him two hours to winch it onto his flatbed cause it was so fragile and wobbly. My head spun when I saw it. The car was completely rusted out. All the chrome was eaten up and everything was missing. The floor pans were a collage of old license plates glued and welded together. I mean the entire floor! The seats fell through while wobbling it off of the truck into the driveway. The engine didn't start. The car was a complete disappointment.

I will never again buy a car without seeing it, driving it, testing it, looking all through it and underneath it, and knowing the history.

I recently bought a 22 year old 300TD wagon and while I sppent a lot of money making it just right, it was a wonderful buy.

Be careful buying Italian cars on Ebay!!!

#52 04-29-2005, 09:26 PM

I should add that my 300TD was not bought on Ebay, but through Hemmings Motor News.

willrev · #53 04-29-2005, 10:10 PM

I got cheated on my first Mercedes. I bought a 300TD up in Maryland. I gave $500 for the car. It was rusted all to HELL. Whoever backed it off the roll back got the muffler full of damn dirt and an ant hill. I had to cut the muffler off. Windshield was fine in ebay pics. When I got there to get it, it was totally trashed. Car ran, but would have cost to much to fix up. It started up fine.

I paid to have a damn windsheild put in the thing $300. And sold the car for $300. I lost $500. This guy sells on ebay regularly. He cheated the crap out of me.

Johnhef · #54 04-29-2005, 10:37 PM

I bought both coupes I have off ebay in the same auction. I was a little dissapointed when I saw them, the descriptions were not completly accurate.

I found out on carfax one had been in a 'minor accident'

I printed out the auction listing and still have it. (My comments in parentheses)

Car 1: the 1982 300CD;
"This car has a silver repainted exterior (very shoddy paint job, clear coat on only half the roof), with some rust on the underside of the trunk lid (as well as everywhere in the trunk, on the quarter panels and near the hood hinges), there is a dent on the passenger side door (nope, it was the drivers door and I had to replace the whole door), the black interior is in very good shape, the only real area of wear is on the drivers seat where a smal hole has formed (is 6"x4" small???? even the padding underneath was gone!) the sunroof works (uh, no it didn't. even to this day it only slightly works when its warm out). The engine runs excellent and has an original 144K miles" (so according to its odometer it is exactly 0 miles from NY to Maryland...)

Other surprises when picking it up included a completly broken (at least 5 cracks) rear window, non working rear windows and non working climate control (AND it was hot AND it was raining that day, FOGGED windows!!!)

Car 2: the 1983 300CD;
this one was pretty close to accurate, although there wasnt much listed about it.

"car has 282K miles but the motor was replaced about 10k miles ago with an engine with 180k on it and it has new ball joints"

and then we have the usual ebay listing diesel car requirement:
"both of these cars will easily go another 300K miles"

well, I did win it, both cars for $3,150. sold the 83 to my friend for half the listing price. It turned out to have low compression in cyl 1 and lasted about a year. He had actually resold it on ebay and was driving to meet the winning bidder when the engine started knocking and a few minutes later, threw a rod. So now I have it again (he owed me $250 for getting him, and putting in a new torque converter and flex plate when his old one shattered and sheared off all the bolts on the converter since he continued to drive it

) when taking the trans out, I realized the engine was not made to match up to that trans, only 3 or 4 bolts were holding the two together! My guess originally was a 1978-80 300SD turbo engine but I guess it could have been a 81 300TD engine. The strange thing about it, there was no fitting on the oil pan for the oil drip tube from the air cleaner housing, what the hell?!