Caveat Emptor PSA - eBay foreign sellers

[Gnarlodious]

Learn from my mistake, I lost $350, plus all the time invested, to a German eBay seller of used VW parts (bullizentrale). As a public service announcement, here is how they did it.

Mid April I bought a diesel bellhousing because the part looked great in the picture. The photo showed an early Syncro bellhousing, but the part I received 3 weeks later was a standard Vanagon bellhousing, and in terrible condition (hugely corroded, cracked mounting holes).

The seller cursed at me and called Americans “spoiled and demanding”. I left negative feedback which eBay promptly removed since the seller complained it was unfair. I had to submit 2 letters from transmission repair shops stating that the bellhousing was unusable. Significant time invested in this. PayPal told me to send the part back and I would be refunded cost plus shipping, paid by the seller.

My mistake was that I sent the return via USPS which had the cheapest price at $75 versus Fedex at $253 and UPS at $275. However USPS cannot verify delivery to a foreign address, only to the Frankfurt terminal. All the fraudulent eBay seller has to do is claim that they never received the returned par by accusing me of writing the wrong address on the box. Since there is no proof of delivery the seller wins by default. No doubt foreign sellers know of this loophole and exploit it routinely. Since eBay removes negative feedback of disputed purchases, there is no warning to other buyers. It also means the seller gets to sell the same part twice, if they can find sucker who will use it.

If you ever find yourself in this predicament, spend the Fedex amount of $253, because you will get a delivery confirmation and the seller can't lie. Supposedly the seller has to pay for the return shipping anyway, so you just tie up money for a month waiting. Or alternatively, don’t even send the item back, because you are upping the cost of a gamble.

Its possible I could have won this case if I had taken a picture of the postmarked box with the delivery address on it, which is what PayPal required as evidence.

I should also explain that in this purchase I learned what sort of scam they are running. They post a picture of a nice looking part, then when they get an order they go out to the junkyards looking for the part. This means they can never post a picture of the part you will get, and they don’t have any parts in stock. It also means it may take some time to get the part in the mail.

Stupidity is cheap, knowledge costs money.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[kamzcab86]

Bummer.

[Wildthings]

I won an eBay dispute years ago over a foreign part. I never received the part and the guy immediately listed the identical picture again and claimed it was a different part. He was able to produce no record that he had ever shipped my part let alone that it had been delivered. Not real big on foreign eBay sellers because of that incident.

[TequilaSunSet]

I don't sell to or buy from outside the USA just for the stated reasons.
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Don't harsh my mellow...
1985 Hightower Vanagon 1.8T- Gone
1972 Panel Bus- Gone
1967 Bug- Gone
1964 Euro Sunroof Bug- Gone
1969/72/63 Sunroof Bug- Gone
1975 Brazilian Bug in the Philippines 🇵🇭- New to me

[madspaniard]

The "stated" reasons can happen to you buying online from anywhere, Europe, US, Asia, etc. Don't blame the game, blame the player. I have bought many times from Europe with shipping to the States, including from eBay Germany and UK private sellers. Never had a problem. My only online purchase problem (paid and never received the product, never contacted me back, business disappeared) was actually with a US based business. Rotten apples can be found anywhere. Don't we have a full thread here dedicated to one US business that has consistently ripped off people? Just an example...
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1991 Westy auto w/ Peloquin TBD

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad” - Salvador Dali

[Gnarlodious]

I have bought from German, UK and Canadian sellers with great results. My purpose for this PSA is not to discourage foreign purchases but to warn of loopholes known and exploited by foreign sellers. Specifically, that the United States Postal Service cannot verify a return delivery to a foreign address.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[metropoj]

[Ahwahnee]

The loophole I fell into when a purchased part did not arrive was PayPal repeatedly telling me that I had not allowed enough time to pass before filing a claim.

This went on for more than a month until they finally told me I had waited too long to file a claim (as I recall 45 days was the magic number).

In the end the seller (a poster on Gerry.vanagon.com) collected the insured amount from the Post Office but for his trouble kept both my payment and the Post Office reimbursement. I got bupkis.

Had to write it off to the hazards of dealing with people you do not know.

[ach60]

I have bought tons of stuff on ebay from all over the world, and I know this sounds awful, but I will not do business with German eBay sellers or buyers.
My ebay experience with German eBay sellers has been 100% negative, I simply will not get ripped off again by another German eBay seller.
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Good Luck
Al

[jspbtown]

I tie my PayPal account into my American Express. My history with PayPal dispute resolution sucks. However, AMEX is awesome.