E-Bay: Alert Thread

EDIT: If you want to see vehicle and parts, they begin at post# 57.


Let's use this thread to post false and misleading sites of Mercedes Benz products on E-Bay. If you see anything on E-bay that looks fishy, post it here, so that all may see. I sometimes miss post about E-Bay Slicksters, because a lot of the post are so spread out. I do miss them sometimes on "Searches".

A lot of times we all go to E-Bay to look for cars, parts or whatever. We sometimes purchase these items only to get burned by the seller. Misleading and bogus statements have ended up costing you money. With as many guys on here that are well experienced at MB products, I think it's deserving to all, that in your opinions, you "alert" others about misleading items, it could save us hundreds of dollars and stress.

It is in my opinion that not all E-Bay sellers are misleading and false, but some are.

So if any of you members see anything alerting, let us know. Thanks!

Originally Posted by engatwork

Another way to use this thread is if there is a car in someones area that they would be interested in having someone from this forum take a look at it for them. They could provide some guidance on bidding.

[engatwork]

I think it is a very good idea and have already tried it at least once. Not sure why people don't want to take it seriously. I think it would benefit everyone on here looking for a part and/or car on ebay. I may even make it a sticky for a few days and see if we get any positive reactions.

Originally Posted by engatwork

I think it is a very good idea and have already tried it at least once. Not sure why people don't want to take it seriously. I think it would benefit everyone on here looking for a part and/or car on ebay. I may even make it a sticky for a few days and see if we get any positive reactions.

There is at least one on going warning........BigBaboon! "Bigbabbo"

Better known as "Benz Baron" or "Import Baron" or "BenzMats" or EBS 1948..........anymore? BB

Originally Posted by engatwork

I think it is a very good idea and have already tried it at least once. Not sure why people don't want to take it seriously. I think it would benefit everyone on here looking for a part and/or car on ebay. I may even make it a sticky for a few days and see if we get any positive reactions.

Thanks Jim. The only intent I have is for member forums to be able to share their possible fraudulent or misleading ads by E-bay sellers who are just out to scam the public. We Mercedes Benz enthusiast would be more likely to be "slicked" by these since we have a higher interest in the Mercedes Benz Automobile. We're always on the look out for a nice Mercedes Benz. Not only can we veiw this sticky, but hopefully guest who have heard of this Forum, can check us out to see what we have to say. It especially is helpful since this site is gifted with so much knowledge on the Mercedes Benz.

Yes Old Navy, it'd be nice if some didn't use this thread to waste time on, but we do have joksters among us.

[dieseldiehard]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7940323238&category=33654

seller MERCEDES991 shipped me an old stock bumper that had severe blistering on the plating, and the rubber impact strip was petrified, old old old. Seller said I was the bad guy after I left negative feedback (which he also left me for retaliation)
He has over 80 negative feedbacks, regardless of how many sales they made this shows a tendency IMHO to rip-off people. BEWARE!
AVOID !

[Old300D]

Originally Posted by dieseldiehard

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7940323238&category=33654

seller MERCEDES991 shipped me an old stock bumper that had severe blistering on the plating, and the rubber impact strip was petrified, old old old. Seller said I was the bad guy after I left negative feedback (which he also left me for retaliation)
He has over 80 negative feedbacks, regardless of how many sales they made this shows a tendency IMHO to rip-off people. BEWARE!
AVOID !

I also have had bad experiences with this seller. I did get my part, but it involved a lot of patience and daily emails and phone calls for 3 weeks.

[Tirebiter]

The first rule in a civil law suit is: Show me the provable damages. Cases of slander (spoken) or libel (written or printed) are damn near impossible to prosecute and win.

The Plaintiff must prove::
1. You made the untruthful utterance or writing that caused him actual monetary damage. Just being insulted or pissed off isn't enough. This damage must be proven by sworn testimony, not simply by unsupported documents. However, by complaining of monetary losses, he opens the door to disclosing his full accounting and banking records that would otherwise be protected because they directly relate to his tax obligations.
2. You knew, or should have known, that your action was harmful to the reputation of the complainant. Actual intent is not at issue.
3. You knew that your statements were false and unsupported by factual first hand knowledge.

Here comes the fun part. Bigbabo is in SoCal down near San Diego? He could file a case and serve it in California against a California resident but the proper venue would be in the defendant’s jurisdiction. This means he must travel and have his attorney travel or hire local council in the defendant’s local court system. A retainer will cost him $5,000 minimum.

As a defendant, you would first demur and make them clarify their suit with specific pleadings. Then, if they got that right, you would answer by cross-complaining and cite his suit as frivolous. This lays the groundwork for you to recover your expenditures caused by his law suit. Then you would lay a mountain of paperwork on him such as Admissions, form interrogatories, special interrogatories, production of documents, witness lists, and then deposition. That should add $10,000 to his attorney’s bill. Most attorneys charge $5,000 a day for actual court trail and three days is a minimum.

If you are in California and 150 miles away from him, he must come to you for deposition. But he must also come to you to be deposed. That gets expensive for him too.

If you live outside of California. Just ignore his California Complaint. Sister States do not honor default judgments where actual or intrinsic fraud is not at issue..

If you really want to stick a brick in his ass. Failure to complete an online auction, or misrepresentation of an auction product is a violation of California Penal Code section 535. Many big city sheriff’s departments have “high tech” crime units with nothing better to do than pursue allegations of online frauds.

[Dance'w'Diesels]

I ordered a set of upgrade fuses, with bank check, from Discorotorman. After several weeks of no delivery I emailed him a few times. He never responded. I found his number and called. He claimed he does not bother with his emails but he will send my product out ASAP. Another several weeks with no delivery. Sent him another email but the usual no response. I've reported him to Ebay. In a few days it will be officially 30 days when Ebay qualifies my complaint for fraud report. However we all know how much Ebay fights for truth and justice for our behalf

In any case, during our phone conversation, Discorotorman was bright enough to admit he uses several other aliases on Ebay. His supposedly "real name" which I used to address the bank check is John Tolosko from La Mesa, CA.

[tsiero]

I purchased from Magic Motors a dealer maintained 300 Diesel. Upon picking up the vechile I noticed leaking fuel Had that repair done but it didn't straighten out the missing and smoking. Dealer said it needs a new pump. Magic motors advertised this as a "10". Dealer wants $3500 to replace the pump. Original pump lasted 24K miles. For your info. Ebay is balking on the "Buyer Protection" coverage. I'll post what happens

[Eskimo]

I've posted this once before in the OD, but this thread might not be a bad place to mention it, too.

Those of you who buy or sell on eBay may find this tool to be useful when checking out the feedback of a prospective trading partner:

Negative/Neutral Feedback Tool

It allows one to view just the negative and neutral feedback left for a particular user, as well as any responses that said user has left in reply.

There's also a Firefox extension for it that adds "Ebay Negs!" to the right-click menu. Highlight the eBay ID, right click, click... and there you are.

One might try "importbaron", for example.

[nazrat]

User fuseguy224 (the buyer in this case) is threatening me (the seller) about a part that he bought, received, and apparently met his approval. He claims that I owe him a shipping refund because UPS delivered it a day after he expected it. So, buyer beware when dealing with this user. I'm now working through the ebay dispute resolution mess trying to get him to stop harassing me.

[Robert W. Roe]

I am in eastern PA.
I would go check out a Mercedes for a forum member too, time permitting.
Weekends would be preferable.
I'd be willing to go look/drive at least for just the cost of my out of pocket expenses, such as gas/diesel fuel.
I do have a local Bosch shop that I trust pretty well with a pre-purchase inspection.
They would very likely find a lot of things wrong and give itemized costs to repair, in writing, for under $100 (he was around $60 in 1998). Good bargaining tool that might pay for the cost of the pre-purchase inspection, especially when you can show the seller that this car will take at least $1000 to pass inspection, and it really could use $2-4K in additional work to make everything work right... etc etc

[PKW]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=7969134508&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

Use caution when using Steelwindow’s intake system. I bought one from Steelwindow (Dan) a year ago. The parts he uses are inferior. The boot does not fit right. He uses air filters that allow fine dirt to penetrate the membrane. He claims I should have known the air filter requires maintenance. (All air filters should prevent dirt from entering the Air intake at all times.) He also makes claims that you will get better mileage - not true. Yesterday, I removed filter and boot to discover there was a large amount of grit at the mouth of air box. It took me an hour to clean it all up. I wonder how much of the grit made it into the engine. I tried to resolve the issue with him he will not take the product back. In other words he does not stand behind his product. He does not care if his product damages your engine. I am a German trained Mercedes mechanic. Contact me I will send you the email thread between Steelwindow and I. Be careful when using with a diesel engine. I got dupe. He made claims that a 190E 2.3 can get up 32MPG.

[thebenzbar]

FYI: Do not buy from eandmautowrecking. You will be scammed. Look at his feedbacks.... just my 2 cents for honest buyers to stay away from dishonest ebay sellers. Good Luck.

[chronicnetguy]

Hi, all.
Just thought I would post my experience, and perhaps let someone else avoid the grief. The odometer died on my 300sd, so I thought I'd pick one up cheap on ebay. I won this item:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=7967855365&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT
from a seller who goes by the ebay ID of "mbzace". The games began almost immediately. The guy quoted me shipping by USPS Priority Mail, so I paid him thru Paypal. Two weeks later, it still hadn't arrived, so I emailed, and find out he hasn't shipped it. Then, he says he shipped, but used regular mail, so no tracking. Finally, I get with Paypal and file a complaint for merchandise not received. They investigate, find in my favor, and tell the guy to give me a refund. He only has like 12 bucks in his Paypal account, so I'm out the rest of the money. In the meantime, the speedometer does show up. I inspect it for about two seconds and see the the pinion drive gear has several teeth missing, and the black gear it drives has a BUNCH of teeth missing in several places. I ship the speedo back to him, Priority Mail with delivery confirmation, so I can prove my actions. What I didn't notice until after the fact: The guy's feedback rating looks very good. Then you click on the "buyers" tab- which shows how many people he's actually sold to. I think there were two.

Long story short: If I had known how much grief this was going to be, I would have just paid the hundred bucks to have the speedo rebuilt. I am not implying this guy is a scam artist (I think that would be too much work), but rather an extremely inexperienced seller who can't bother to do a transaction correctly, inspect his parts before shipping, or make good on a refund if there's a problem.

I have bought other MB parts successfully on ebay, so I'd say the venue is good, just this particular seller might be wise to avoid.