As one of our members sells somewhat rare B-King parts on ebay and I had contacted him thru the site, I want to add this experience as a cautionary note. Though the amounts are small, no telling what could be listed in the future.

I had purchased a tail cap, exhaust covers, and belly pan from sgtbn82 (Duane Stone). All items were listed on ebay and only the tail cap went to final auction which I had won. He had cancelled the others on the last day as presumably he did not want them to sell for the minimum bid in the no reserve auctions. The tail was listed 'like new' while the other items were lsited in good condition. I contacted him thru this site and ebay to arrange a deal for all items including the shipping.

I noted that the return policy was stated as money back so I took the descriptions at face value as they were not as-is.

After we arrived at an agreeable transaction amount, he contacted me before the items arrived pleading/asking for an additional $20 for shipping. I obliged the request and sent $20 as a kindness.

All items where sent in a package together and found that they were all cosmetically damaged, with the belly pam being in the worst shape. The belly pan had serious gouges from running over something and the side peiced was seriously acratched as if sand paper was taken to it. The Exhaust covers were covered in scratches. And the tail cap had scrapes on the top and bottom edges.

I contacted Duane to notify him that I was not happy with the peices and they were not as described and asked what he thought would be fair to resolve the situation. He did not offer any resolution, rather debated word choice and after some emails arrived at the parts were in great shape and I did not know what I was tallking about. When I brought up the gouged up belly, he did finally admit that he was aware it was scraped up, but that it did not matter as no one would ever turn the bike upside down. His take on the items appreard to be they were such good deals that the condition did not matter.

As he never offered a solution, I offered either a refund for returning or return of $50 out of $130. He felt I was ripping him off though I reminded him if I was intending to do so I would not have sent more money after the fact out of kindness. At that point I had no option but to file claims thru ebay and paypal as he had no intention to allow a return even though him. Though more principle, its unfortunate he did not want to work this out as it seems pretty straight forward and i was willing to make a compromise of some sort. I would see these are painter pieces at best.

I would caution anyone dealing with Duane to be caution and get high resolution photos or any other confirmation as he may not have the same interpretation for condition and will not work with the buyer after the transaction.

Here are the ebay listings
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290363947665
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290363948962
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290363949664

And here are the items as they arrived

Feel really sorry for you ...those parts are far,far,far from good condition.... got screwed over few times myself, so I know how you feel....

So, what did E-bay or Paypal do about the transaction?

I am thankful it was a relatively small amount, but I have to say I have never had someone deny the condition like that. On his behalf he did admit to the belly though still didnt want to offer a compromise.

Considering I have bought online for over 10 years and can count bad transactions or ones that could not be dealth with thru the seller on one hand, I think thats pretty good.

lefty, I just filed with ebay and paypal so we shall see. I waited for several days as I was hoping the seller would address it. Its been my experience that given the chance most folks will try to do the right thing. We shall see what they say or do. Best case I am out shipping to send back.

What's his eBay feedback like? I've bought something off him in the past, with good experience and didn't remember anything sketchy with the feedback rating - thoughts? I remember him being a man of few words though!

The images in the auction are of poor quality. At least for the belly pan you can see the damage on the under side when viewing it enlarged. That belly pan and side piece are no where near good. I would say he miss represented the auctions specially in the case of that belly pan and side cover. The other stuff should have been listed as fair with light scratches. It never hurts to ask for better photos of the parts. Live and learn. This has happened to me before but in both cases the seller and I reached a agreement on a re-embursement of funds and I left posative feedback.

Karma is a double edged sword. Screw people and sooner or later you will get screwed. His day is coming.

wow - good to know I also contacted him about the parts. This was AFTER he ended the auction. I asked if he still had them available and he said yes, and to make him an offer....
The communication itself was short and abrupt from him so I decided not to move forward with the deal...good thing I didn't b/c if I had received those parts I would NOT be a happy camper....

I wanted to follow up on a deal gone bad as I finally got a response related to my appeal from these items, but the thread was locked:
http://www.suzukib-king.org/sale-reviews-f7/bad-experience-with-sgtbn82-t2309.htm

Today Ebay decided in my favor and has refunded the amount I paid to the seller on the only actionable transaction they could interceded on (tail cap). The grounds being item matierially different.

I had appealed the 2 other items on the same grounds, however they were not actionable due to Paypal policy. Unknown to me at the time, Paypal does not allow appeal for damaged items or merchandise quality when the transaction is not part of finalized ebay transaction (good to know). As I worked directly with the seller outside of ebay and we only used paypal to tranfer funds, they closed for not being valid to appeal and were never reviewed. Turns out they only allow appeal for paypal (non ebay) transactions if the goods are not received by the buyer.

I think that last bit is important to note as the seller followed up on the above thread indicating Paypal closed the case in order to support his false assertion (pictures tell the whole story) that the items were not damaged. The implication being the case was reviewed and decided in his favor. I wont bother to address the rest of that reply as with the paypal issue he is leaving out important facts, using misleading bits when it suits the need.

So gents, if you didnt know it, be careful as Paypal protection is limited when you dont give ebay a slice of the pie. If you are just using Paypal to move funds, basically sellers can put almost anything in a box and ship it to you. If they have a tracking number and it says it got to you, you are pretty much stuck with it.