| Re: Use your brain when buying on eBay
If you are purchasing anything on ebay that you consider is a lot of money, I would suggeest that you use an escrow service such as Escrow. com. I have made two big purchases which if I had sent the money, I would have been very upset at paying that amount for what I recieved.
My first purchase was my GT40(See buying a previously owned or partial kit). There were a lot of things that I considered nusance problems that werenot disclosed to me prior to buying(shot bushings in Corvette suspension, calipers that were useless etc.). The biggie was the "newly rebuilt" 351 Windsor(he forgot to tell me he had left it out in the rain).
Because I was smart enough(read fortunate enough) to use the escrow service, he was stuck with working out the amount of money it would take to fix the problems. I saved thousands of $$$. My last experience was buying a "newly rebuilt" 930 transaxel. I used the same service, not wanting to lose $3000. Good thing I did. It was never rebuilt. Worst case senario is that I will lose only the shipping fees and $100 escrow fee. Best case senario, I'll buy it for parts, and trade my two 930s needing rebuilding for one that already is. Rebuilding one can get expensive.(for me anyway) Just parts alone can run upwards of $1500 or more with bearings, sliders, dog teeth and idlers.
So no matter what the purchase is, even if its something being made, if its long distance, its tough getting your money back.
The service is really neat. You decide on the terms(how much,lenght of time for inspection, who pays for shipping, etc.). You deposit the money. The service tells the seller to ship. You notify the service when it arrives, and then you have X number of days to inspect it. If it's OK you release the money. If its not, you reject it and you either ship it back or you negotiate. It protects both the buyer and the seller. Money(either all or part) can't be released in either direction without the aproval of both parties. You do lose a little on the fees and shipping, but thats better than the whole amount.
Speaking of shipping, I had the 930 shipped via Forward Air from LAX to ATL(198# with crating) for, would you believe $52. I had it insured for $1/$100 or $30 for a total of $82. The only catch is, you have to drop it off and pick it up at Forward Air. So It might not be real close to where you are. For that amount who cares. Check them out next time you ship something.
Bill |