Sometimes its a bitter pill to swallow. But it sounds like you've taken the hit and are getting on with it.

I sold my old Skyline GTR R32 on ebay and the guy that bought it was ecstatic with it. But to be honest, I dont think I would ever BUY a car on eBay. Less so having read your story. Having said that, who knows.....

You might have considered the 'naming and shaming' option a little earlier in the process. But mileage gained out of that now would be limited and you have to think seriously about legal implications etc etc.

Good luck with getting the car up to where it deserves to be.

 

Hi roadhogg,
I too got taken by an Ebay seller. The deal was done outside of Ebay, so I can't blame them. I took my chances and lost. I paid $9500 for a 2002 XK8 convertible. With shipping and repairs I am in it about $11,200. But it is a beautiful car, and rust free and straight. So it will be OK in the end. I hope this makes you feel a little better.
p.s. this is my third car bought sight unseen. I got screwed on everyone of them. so it could be worse.

 

We have bought five cars off of E-Bay, and not one has been a lemon or not as described. Four of the five were from Dealers all with 100% ratings, and one private seller. It's imperative to deal with a long term highly rated E-Bayer, and don't try to deal outside of E-Bay to save a buck. There is usually a reason. We did go and examine the cars before purchasing, but everyone told us if it wasn't as described they would refund our deposits.

 

Well, the key words here are that you checked the cars out in person before purchase. That should be a hard rule for everyone. If that is just not possible, then an independent inspection report might do. I have no experience with that but it has to be better than nothing.
The dealer I used has a 100% rating on Ebay. It was his idea to drop the price by $1000 for an off-ebay sale. This should have raised a red flag for sure.

 

I purchased my STR on EBAY, and did not see it before hand. Nor did I have it checked-out. I DID however do a little research on the seller before I sent any money (not before I won the auction, as would've been smarter). He was a frequent-seller of higher-end cars, with great feedback.

And I couldn't be happier with my STR. it was precisely as described.

to the OP: sure sorry. I feel your pain. But I'm glad you've got such a healthy attitude about it, as you might as well enjoy it now.

 

With all the faults on the car, the last thing he'd have wanted was a professional inspection. I think he'd have given the inspectors the run around.

The seller had about 35 previous transactions at the time, all of which were positive. Most of those transactions were purchases though, rather than sales.
I noticed through his transactions that he'd sold 2 or 3 other cars recently and suspected he was a part time trader, but he didn't deny "knocking out the odd car now and then".
There were pictures posted of the car, but the drivers side was parked close to a tree, so the pictures were all of the front, rear and left hand sides.
When i went to see it it was covered in a layer of dirt, like it had been left out in the English winter for a few weeks (and probably had been).
This made it difficult to see the overspray on the drivers door and the big blow-in mark on the rear quarter panel.

It became more and more obvious as time went by, that the seller hadn't missed a trick in doing whatever he could to disguise as many of the faults as possible, give me as little time to inspect it as posssible, and wanted cash not to save on commission, but to evade the ebay protection scheme.

I've had the car for 10 months now, and the time for whinging about it has long since passed.
It was parked up in May 2012 pending the necessary work to make it driveable, which is still not done, but at least i'm close to completing the new timing chain, tensioner and guide job, plus new thermostat housing, water pump, hoses etc. and a good clean up of the engine, which due to water and oil leaks, looked a real mess.
Once that's done, i need to do the steering rack, upper and lower bushes and ball joints, and get the floor welded, so i can drive it.
The other stuff can be done later.

Regards ebay, there are many genuine and honest traders on it, but sprinkled among them are rogues that will con people by any and every means possible. I was just unlucky to buy from one of the latter while being inexperienced mechanically and in the use of ebay, and far too trusting.

It won't happen again.

To Frog:
I did download the advert pictures but shortly after the purchase the hard drive on my old computer died, so i no longer have them.

But i've put some pictures below.