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Bought a Phone on ebay, when it came in the return button and home button wouldn't work, contacted the seller because it was suppose to be "Mint" and that was what I payed up for. I told him to fix it would require a new LCD screen (because most of the time you crack it trying to get it off) and a usb module because those buttons are integrated into the USB module. I told him I could repair it but the cost would run about 35 bucks and I would have to much in it at that time so I had just as well return it. I'm not sure he knew about the problem or not but if he had booted the Phone up he would surely have known about the problem. He contacted me back and ask if I could repair it, if so just keep it and he would refund the full amount anyway. I contacted him later after I repaired the Phone and told him what had happen to the Phone was water damage and had corroded the Aluminum Body of the Phone and in-turn affected the USB module and buttons. He contacted me back and said "Thanks" it's good to know we have good Buyers out there that are honest, he said he didn't have the skill set to have fixed the Phone and it would have cost way to much money to have someone fix it. I went away from the deal a happy camper and I hope he went away with the satisfaction he had satisfied a Buyer.
 
Ebay is better than Amazon as far as price and if one knows what they are looking for. On some things. Chain saws on Ebay not so good. I tried Ebay used chain saws for a while and ended up buying new locally. I think the chain saw Ebay sellers and buyers do this to, well to tell the truth, I really haven't figured out what they are trying to do.
 
Used chainsaws are a difficult product no matter where you buy it. If I work on a saw, I like to take it out and actually cut with it for a tank or two to make sure the bugs are gone unless it's new. It took a few trips with my 575 and 272 before I was confident. Both came from Ebay and both had issues. I was stung years ago on an 028 Super with a fuel tank leaking at the seam. I've bought others since then, just been more careful and keep a cost buffer in mind. I figure if a saw arrives toasted, I can get my money back parting it out if Ebay doesn't take care of it.
 
Never bought a saw off eBay, but I have bought many new and used parts and haven’t had a problem.
 
I don't think I'd buy anything with an engine off of ebay unless it was just parts.

I've got a neighbor down the street here, a couple in their late 50's or so. She does ebay, he works on a trash truck.
Nearly everything they sell comes out of the trash. Its not all junk, but they wouldn't have a clue if it was or wasn't.
He has no clue about chainsaws, tools, or anything for that matter. His wife is worse. She's constantly setting things on fire, falling off the deck, falling out of windows, getting tangled up in the clothes lines etc. Yet they manage to sell quiet a few items on CL. They give very vague descriptions. At first I thought it was to be 'safe' not to promise too much, but I've come to realize that they really have no clue what half the items are that they're selling. If they plug it in, and a light comes on, then it 'works' as far as their concerned. If it starts and makes noise, then 'It runs'. Neither of them would know the difference between a good running engine or one that's barely alive. Not to be mean, but I'd venture to guess its a IQ thing. I was painting the trim on my garage over the summer, he come over and says he's got some paint brushes I can have, he hasn't been able to sell them. He brings me a dozen or so various size paint brushes, each one completely hardened with old paint. He said they're like new, you just have to get the paint off them. He tells me he was able to soak one clean using a gallon of acetone. He said you just have to soak them for a year or so. Another buddy looked at me and couldn't believe he was trying to sell them on CL. He lists broken bricks and cinder blocks, broken tools, bald tires, everything. If I don't sell, he gives it away or throws it back in the truck at work. He has no clue what is good or what is bad.

Just imagine buying a used saw of that kind of seller? Lately they've been doing more flea markets than eBay, he told me that almost everything they sell comes back and they weren't making any money. Most of what they sold was clothes and kitchen stuff but they sold their share of tools and car parts too. More than once they listed a 'starter' and the pic showed an alternator or blower motor. They just didn't know any better.
 
I have over 500 transactions on EBay and the only problem was years ago when a turntable I bought was damaged in shipping. The seller made it right. I always use the seller’s rating as a guide.

If it wasn’t for Ebay I don’t know how I would ever find parts for my projects. Where else would I find exactly what I need for vintage motorcycles, saws, model engines, guitars, tractors, etc.? In my opinion, EBay is what has made the majority of my restoration projects possible.

If not EBay, where do you guys find replacement parts that have been obsolete for years?
 
The problem lately is that there's more Chinese sellers than guys just selling off older spare parts. Even when there is something from a regular guy just selling from home, you get bombarded with all the Chinese crap first.

Of course, over the years, I've had more issues with dishonest buyers than I have with sellers overall. I shipped a new in the box motorcycle hub to a guy on the west coast and as soon as it got there he claimed it wasn't as described and wanted a refund. He shipped me back a box with half a brick in it and Paypal issued him a refund. I eventually got my money back after Paypal saw that he was returning every item he bought but if I hadn't had a perfect feedback score over so many years I don't know if my argument would have been heard or tended to.

The big thing lately is bait and switch scams. They show one item and ship something else, this combined with some creative photography, and you have a lot of disappointed buyers.

I've bought a few things from Chinese sellers, but only if there was no other option, out of maybe a dozen items two turned out to be total junk.
One was light bulbs, the other was a fishing reel. Both sellers eventually refunded me and told me to scrap the item.

The biggest problem is a toss up between sellers not having a clue what they're selling and sellers who have a completely different opinion of what is considered 'good condition'.

For me, if I'm looking at a saw, first and foremost to be in 'good' condition, it has to run, it shouldn't have any drop damage or broken bits, and it should start with minimal effort.

I've always been into old motorcycles, I can't believe the state of disrepair I find some bikes in. Missing parts, wrong parts, duct tape, hose clamps, and spray paint seem to be the norm lately. I've owned dozens of motorcycles, I've never once felt the need to remove and throw away any parts that it came with 'because they were in my way'. (Looked at a bike the other day that had no air cleaners at all, and apparently hadn't had any for a long time).

I looked at a four year old truck the other day, it supposedly had only 33,000 miles on it. The first thing that turned me off was the cheap steering wheel cover that didn't fit right so they wrapped it with duct tape. It had cheap camo seat covers, and it was missing both front arm rests, the console was cracked, the radio was dead, and they had some cheap Chinese air cleaner kit on it with loud exhaust. In the ad they described it as being 'low miles' and in immaculate condition. I've seen old farm trucks in better condition. My question was how on earth do you do that much damage to a truck with only 33,000 miles in just four years.
I think it sort of goes back to the low IQ thing, or maybe heavy drug use?

The way I've always looked at eBay, flea markets, or used cars for that matter is that people generally don't sell something they like or are happy with. They trade in their cars when they start becoming a problem or they need more money than they can afford to fix them. The same with anything else.
Most people don't get rid of a perfectly good running saw, they get rid of them when something about it made them move on to a new one.

Buying anything used is a matter of figuring out why they got rid of it in the first place and then deciding one whether its worth it to you do deal with that reason. In some cases that reason may not matter to the second hand buyer, but in most cases, they're dumping their problem on the next guy.

Personally, I've got a low tolerance for something that gives me grief, maintenance is one thing but if something doesn't do what I bought it to do, its out of here. I sell it, or return it and get my money back any way I can and buy something else.
 
You do have to watch out on ebay, but at the same time the buyer bears some responsibility. 95% of the time you can weed out the crap and the crappy sellers if you poke around the ad and especially if you contact them. Yeah, some people are just hocking junk, but many are honest people that will do what they can to make the situation good. If you're worried about something, ask. I've asked for pictures of cylinders before, or ID tags in carb boxes. If they don't reply, I move on. I've had a couple raw deals, but that was mostly on me for not doing due diligence - or for rolling the dice on a "here are the pics, good luck" auctions.

As a buyer, you're very much protected. People don't want bad reviews, and ebay will back the buyer before the seller if something is awry. I do like Amazon as a buyer because they'll take pretty much anything back for any reason, and they'll pay shipping.

The same goes for reviews with Amazon. If you read the reviews, it's easy to weed out the BS ratings, as well as the "I'm rating one star because I'm a dumbass and can't use a toothbrush without hurting myself" types. Or the "I'm rating this 5 stars because fedex just delivered it" reviews. You used to be able to downvote reviews - I wish they'd bring that back... I guess too many people got butt-hurt about it.
 
The fleabay situation is definitely worse for sellers. I see over and over again where Paypal yanks back the payment for a refund because the buyer changed their mind. Most buyers don't seem to realize what used means. Used is rarely 'perfect'.
It all went wrong when they took away the ability to leave negative feedback on a buyer. From that point on it became fair game on sellers.
I see the same attitude from buyers at the flea markets and even at yard sales here. People buy something, take it home and come back the next day wanting their money back because they changed their mind or they found something else they wanted to spend that money on.
I had a plow for a tractor listed on CL, I have one guy who constantly emails me ads of others that are cheaper to see if I'll lower my price. Its never a one to one comparison and each time I tell him to just buy it then, mine is $x.xx take it or leave it. Yet he continues to make idiot offers.

I have a couple dozen old Mac saws that I inherited from a relative last year. They're look to be in decent shape, all have compression. Most likely need fuel lines, a carb cleaning, and a good sharpening. I listed them in one ad for $40 a piece with the thought that if someone wanted more than one I'd make them a deal. I had a father and son show up, (wearing McCulloch shirts, hats, the whole bit), and they went through the lot of saws, the guy pics out four saws, all smaller Mini Mac models. He tells me he'll give me $15 each if I'll guarantee that I'll give him his money back plus anything he spends on them if he's not happy with how they run when he's done with them.
I told the guy they're used saws, being sold AS-IS with no guarantee. And that I'd take $60 for the four saws he picked out. He declined and said he wasn't going to buy anything without a guarantee.
I sold one of the saws he had pulled out of the pile yesterday, another guy had showed up with a spray bottle with some premix fuel in it, he pulled the air cleaner, shot some fuel at it and it barked, so he took it. He later emailed me that he replaced the fuel hoses, cleaned the carb and it runs great.
This morning, the son of the guy from the other day comes by and wants the four saws they had picked out the other day. When one was missing he got an attitude and left. He hadn't called, he just showed up here. no telling where he came from or how far he drove. But I suppose in his mind I was suppose to just save those four saws for him just in case he changed his mind?

The big problem is that I'm seeing more and more buyers like that. They think they're the only one out there and that the rest of the world should cater to them. I have no problem giving someone a deal, and I've got no problem going back and forth on a deal if the offer is reasonable but when did it become the norm to expect a warranty on yard sale type items.

The local flea market even put out a policy that states that sellers must accept returns. Those who don't are asked to not return as a seller.
The whole mess was brought on by a guy who bought a lawnmower, in running condition. He took it home, hit something, bent the blade and crankshaft, then tried to return it to the seller later that day. When the seller told him to pound sand, the buyer called the police and insisted that they press charges for fraud. He later took the market to court and won. The market subsequently banned that seller who had sold there of and on for 20 years. They also have been cracking down on knock-off products, but only if they're being sold by an individual. They seem to look the other way if a weekly vendor has a counterfeit item for sale. This sort of thing has all but killed the local flea markets here.
 
I rarely sell anything used anymore, and when I did, I would spend quite a lot of time bringing up every blemish or flaw that I could find, which also hurt the price.
Then buyers started finding things that they didn't like, even if it was correctly described in the listing, and "want their money back"...
Then the scam would start from there, in the end, try to get their money back, and get to keep the part, as the shipping costs have become so high.

Find a "flaw" so they could make it "not as described", etc...... Knowing that the seller wouldn't want to add the return shipping onto his obvious, already cosiderable, losses.
Then when it all said and done, and the seller is totally screwed, the ******** gives a negative feedback to boot!

And the seller has to put up with this ********, cannot give anything but positive feedback.

A reason that I don't even fark with the feedback, as it is worthless.

No way, would I ever think about trying to sell a used saw anymore.
 
Oh, well. If it wasn't for eBay I couldn't have got my Sachs Dolmar 133 or my Makita Dolmar concrete saw running. I've been buying off eBay for 20 years with only a few problems that weren't worth wording about.
 
Bought a so called running mint husky 350. First the clutch bearing rus ted, new drum and bearing fixed it. Next the brake spring and cover missing in clutch cover. Now it won't start. Plenty of compression. New girl line, filter clean carb.
This is a running saw as described. The saw looks clean like new.
 
Personally if I sold a saw that was supposed to run and a guy said hey it needs a carb kit, pay for the kit, I wouldn't be mad about it at all unless I knew for sure it ran great before hand. I'd be happy they knew what they were doing and didn't want to return it! I never buy used carbs on ebay anymore... I do buy parts here and there though. I recently bought a echo cs-490 that they guy just shipped in the original box, no extra packaging. Which should have been fine except the delivery person set it on my porch straight up, which damaged the handle. Guy was nice enough to give me a partial refund though and I fixed the handle with some used parts. I sold an old big ass Poulan S6000 to a guy and listed it as FOR PARTS explicitly and said it ran on a prime because it did but that was the extent of my testing other than adding a new fuel line. Guy was a real piece of work and claimed it should have ran and that the bolts for the cylinder were not only loose but also stripped. OK bud. How did it run on a prime at all then? I could go on with that story, he was a massive (man's pelvic area part). I barely won that case when I had listed it as for parts to begin with. Apparently he had abused other sellers as well and that's the only reason I won the case, because he was literally banned from making any more cases. It was a fiasco though. Took up a huge amount of time. So, I've had it go both ways I guess. I sold a really cool old Homelite... oh what was it, the one that is like the 540, its like an 87cc or something. Really cool old desirable saw. Sold it to a guy named Randy, nice guy, listed it for parts, had a burnt up cylinder. He actually messaged me and said he got the cylinder & piston cleaned up and it actually ran! Gave him a great deal on that saw too.
 
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