Need some ebay help, bad seller

A friend of mine bought a set of struts for her car on eBay. Just a month after buying them the tab for sway bar link fell off of one of them The welds never penetrated the metal. They sent her a new strut with no problems. Then the second one fell off of the second strut. Now they won't return calls or emails. Anybody know what she can do to get either money back or a new strut? I'm not familiar with ebay so any advice is helpful.

In my experience ebay has always sided with the seller and Ive ended up out of pocket.

I personally have never had much luck getting a remedy from eBay. The thing I hate the most is you can never talk to a real human so I prefer Jegs, Summit and Speedway mainly. So far they've been more than willing to help!

EnglishBob said:

In my experience ebay has always sided with the seller and Ive ended up out of pocket.

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Same here!

Zipper

I got ripped off once on EBay, but they make you wait so long before you can file a complaint that by then the person was long gone. Ebay said they would ban them, but big deal, they were already gone, and didn't care. And my money was gone, too. After that I started only dealing with sellers who would accept payment through PayPal, but I've not had an occasion to try out PayPal's guarantee. I use EBay as little as possible, and if I have to, I check out the person's references pretty carefully. But I realize that I could still get ripped off again, no matter how careful I try to be.

I use eBay all the time.
But I also look to see if they have good ratings.
Many times I have bought from a real business not a person.
But check the ratings

Sounds more like a manufacturers defect then the seller. If they were cheap parts and they replaced it once that might be all you get out of the seller. Might try the part manufacturer.

Neto said:

I got ripped off once on EBay, but they make you wait so long before you can file a complaint that by then the person was long gone. Ebay said they would ban them, but big deal, they were already gone, and didn't care. And my money was gone, too. After that I started only dealing with sellers who would accept payment through PayPal, but I've not had an occasion to try out PayPal's guarantee. I use EBay as little as possible, and if I have to, I check out the person's references pretty carefully. But I realize that I could still get ripped off again, no matter how careful I try to be.

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Agreed, use Paypal when possible. 21willys, did your friend pay with paypal? If possible, she might be able to file a claim that way to get her money back.

Well, hate to say it but that's the risk when you buy cheap parts off ebay. I've had a few wakeups on the cheap stuff too, like wrong parts or stuff that's not OEM quality, but hey, I took the chance because the part(s) were a fraction of the cost. Then it ended up costing more than a good part in the end.
Oh, and if you sift around long enough on the site map you can actually get a phone number and call them. They are pretty prompt and don't leave you listening to elevator music for half an hour either.

She paid with her credit card and bought from a company.

I told her worse case I will take the parts with me and show up at their office. They can't ignore me when I drop the struts in their lap. [ddd

What we often don't realize is those parts are probably drop shipped. As in the seller really doesn't pwn or warehouse the stuff, he's just a guy with a computer who forwards the order to a big warehouse company. So the actual ebay seller only has a certain amount of options. If he's a big seller, often they just issue a refund and don't want the part back, roll with it and move on so to speak.

eBay claims buyer satisfaction guaranteed, but I don't believe it. I bought a cell phone case, supposed to be soft silicon but turned out to be hard vinyl. Seller claimed it was right, but I could send it back for a refund if I wanted, but it would have cost as much to send it back as I gave for it to start with. Then they had the nerve to threaten me to get me to remove the neutral feedback I gave them. I said screw it, I paid for it, so I'd just use it. Reported them threatening me to eBay, they did nothing. They are still listing the same case that I supposedly bought, even though they told me they were sold out. If eBay can't get a dollar out of it, they ain't interested. It's a sewer compared to how it was a few years ago...

Bamamav said:

eBay claims buyer satisfaction guaranteed, but I don't believe it. I bought a cell phone case, supposed to be soft silicon but turned out to be hard vinyl. Seller claimed it was right, but I could send it back for a refund if I wanted, but it would have cost as much to send it back as I gave for it to start with. Then they had the nerve to threaten me to get me to remove the neutral feedback I gave them. I said screw it, I paid for it, so I'd just use it. Reported them threatening me to eBay, they did nothing. They are still listing the same case that I supposedly bought, even though they told me they were sold out. If eBay can't get a dollar out of it, they ain't interested. It's a sewer compared to how it was a few years ago...

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My same experience and why I don't use them any more unless it's something I can't get any where else but I also consider their feedback which I've found can be bogus as well. They only care about sellers but where would sellers be without buyers.

Toad

Contact the credit card company for a refund

problem with chinese stuff is there is no manfacturer's insurance and the distributor is liable for claims. rememver the issue with the chinese leaving out the gum rubber layer in the tires that seperated? the chinese didn't have to pay it was the US distributor.
Hope that identifies the right target for a lawsuit

If by paying with a credit card through Paypal, you will have a set time period to make a claim against the seller, through Paypal. If the claim time has expired, your simply out of luck. Yours is a bit more unique with the fact that they did do something for you already, but if your claim time is still valid you may have a leg to stand on. From the Ebay page, go to the Paypal section and it should have a claim section to follow. In the comment area, mention you would like to talk to a Paypal rep to explain your case. If you have a case they will contact you by Email with a phone number and time to call them. Have all your information on hand and be ready to give part numbers and amounts etc. The reps I have dealt with in the past have been fair and listened to what was said so they could make an informed decision right then. Best of luck.

Toad said:

My same experience and why I don't use them any more unless it's something I can't get any where else but I also consider their feedback which I've found can be bogus as well. They only care about sellers but where would sellers be without buyers.

Toad

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As a seller, I have to somewhat disagree. We can no longer leave negative feedback on buyers like they can for us and there are just as many bad buyer storys as bad sellers, like buyers who claim something was defective and send it back with the good parts obviously replaced with broken ones.
I had a guy a few months ago buy a Ford spoon gas pedal. I had the shipping at $11 for everyone. So it actually cost 6.78 in postage and he want a refund. I told him no and he left me a negative feedback stating I overcharged him on shipping 50%. Now I just add the shipping in and call it free shipping.

Well the seller answered the phone (believe she caught him off guard as he seamed surprised it was her) and he said that he will be sending a new strut to her. It's been three business days now so Monday she should have a a strut.

The seller will have their warranty posted and there return policy. It is still within that time frame.
I sell a lot on eBay, and don't have much problem at all.

Sounds like she is gonna get taken care of.

Well the new strut finally came yesterday. Once I went to put it on I realized that they had changed the design of the sway bar link mount. The old one was stronger but needed more weld on it.



The old style had ears on it that where just tack welded on.

They also upgraded the studs on the top from 3/8" to a metric size that's a bit bigger.