Ebay - buyer beware!

[Jon]

Recently purchased a set of the later style 5-spoke wheels for my XJS
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 8064476717
As only one was pictured and the seller advertised the wheels as 'decent' condition, I asked him to elaborate, i.e. what do we have in the way of kerbing and corrosion.

Seller responded that there was no damage to the wheels that wouldn't be fixed with a good clean, so I merrily bidded away.

A colleague of mine picked the wheels up from Coventry, and when I took receipt, I was very disappointed with the condition. The unscrupulous seller had photographed the only decent one of the set, the others are quite heavily corroded and require a refurb to look respectable.

The seller has flatly refused a refund and so I've no option to pursue an ebay fraud claim. Seems I'll finally find out if ebay really is 'safe' or if its no better than a car boot sale. Ho hum!

[dhdove]

The very best of luck to you john unscrupulous traders deserve all that's coming to them.
BTW I have been pursuing several remote key fobs on E-Bay and have been consistently out-bid, one went for £52! A brand new one from Jaguar is £65. You have to get either one re-programmed to use it on your car, so will incur that £25 charge in any event. I can't see how a second hand one is a bargain at any more than half price max.
Mine works but one of the button hinge lugs is snapped, so previous owner has drilled two holes in the top (first one missed!) to access the pipper button, which is off-set. I only want the button and top cover to make one out of the two.
DH Dove

[Brakebuster]

its a shame to hear about your bad experience on ebay,
i hope the settlement goes in your favour , as sometimes they dont, as i have found out in the past....

i buy and sell a lot of things on ebay ( current feedback 697.....98.9%), namley jag parts along with some ford and vauxhall things i find at the breakers,

i only sell things that i think are good enough to fit to my own XJS ( or other cars ) , and if they arnt , i simply dont sell them , i list them with good pictures of ALL parts included and give a full description to the best of my ability,

most parts are obtained for my own use, and then i decide which is the ' better ' , use it and list the other item using the above peramiters,

However, there are a lot of sellers ( and buyers ) on ebay that dont know what they are selling , as they have no interest in the item and are only selling to make money , this is usually demonstrated in ' dodgy ' pictures, mis-information or pure scamming ,

I think my point here is that you can still find bargains on ebay, along with usefull items for our cars that might otherwise end up in the crusher , but you have to research what you are buying , especially the genuine price for the item from Jaguar, and make a decision from there,

but this still wont stop the odd fraudulant item being listed as ' good condition '

just my thoughts

Vince

[poprivet]

I can understand your disappointment Jon, however provided none of them are damaged beyond normal refinishing, £30 a wheel isn't a bad price for 16" ones IMO.
Professionally done and with new tyres they will look the muts nuts.
If however they are distorted or have chunks missing you have definately been turned over.
Pop

[greeban]

I agree with Pop - if the defects are only cosmetic then you cannot really expect a lot more for £120. Any wheels of this age are going to be showing signs of their age somewhere and will require a refurb to look immaculate. I paid somewhere in the region of a £100 for a set of alloy stag wheels knowing that I would have to pay to have them refurbished - when they were done they looked amazing!
It is annoying that these guys on eBay act like politicians i.e. give you the least information possible, but it is expected and if you get them checked out and they are true, put this down to useful experience - you are now a much wiser e-bay bidder - could have been worse and when you have those wheels sorted and on your car, wow!!