First off, this is definitely thirdgen related.

I won an auction for a new Holley AFPR for my GTA ('told ya it was related... lol). Immediately after the auction eBay suspended my account for false/missing contact info, which I'm trying to resolve. eight positive, no negative or neutral, yep, I must be up to something.

Anyway, the seller was up to continuing the transaction regardless. We worked out the total, I got the bank draft, and the night before the morning I was to drop it in the mail, his e-mail address became invalid (all messages bounced back) and he hasn't contacted me since. I have his name and address but I'm kinda leery about sending roughy $100 Canadian to someone I have just lost contact with.

Any advise? He has a good record with eBay, but only five transactions under his name. So, what would you do?

 

The circumstances you're describing don't sound too good.

 

How about sending him a letter first & asking him to do a COD?

 

If you get a hold of this guy tell him you would like to go through paypal. If you send him money you may never see it again, cod is good too. If he has a paypal account and you pay him at least you will be insured through paypal and you will recieve your money back, though it takes time for this prcedure.

 

Well my first option is always Paypal, but this is one of those times that the seller doesn't have a Paypal account. when this happens I always just send a money order/bank draft.

This guy's e-mail address is up and running again, with no explainations thus far. I received a message from him this afternoon (I haven't tried to send anything since Thursday, when it was still invalid) and sent a reply with no troubles. Odd, but we're back on track now. Thanks for the opinions guys.

 

I'm still a bit leery of Ebay... I'll try to give you my story in a nutshell. I bought my '89 IROC off of Ebay, with the seller describing it as needing some paint and cosmetic work. Everything else mechanical is sound. That was a total crock of $hit. I have had to replace:

brakes
brake lines
MAF
tires
multiple relays
throttle valve cable (wasn't even hooked up and wrong length)
ignition
air conditioning system ($$$)
tune up items

There is also a bunch of suspension work that needs to be done. Thankfully I can take it off my Trans Am and swap it. The ball joints seem damn worn as well as the tie rod ends. One of them is even missing it's grease fitting and has a cracked boot.

And, to top it all off after about a week of having the car I took apart the dash to see why the SES light didn't work. It turns out the light was taken out of the socket. Upon reconnecting it, guess what? Code 36. Replaced EVERYTHING but the ECM in that circuit but there is still a code 36. Irritating to say the least. Then, about 2 weeks ago the RTV on the back of the intake gave out so I had to replace that as well. Now I'm having some driveability issues...

But, what can I do about it? I've had it for about 2 months now trying to work the bugs out. Just my personal experience with Ebay mind you. I'm sure everybody on there isn't a communist rip-off artist!

 

EBay isn't usually that bad. I've been using it for years (My other account has something like 150 positive feedbacks, zero neutral, and zero negative). I've only been ripped off once so far, and that was a guy in Edmonton who took my money order but never sent the processor. For a "measly" $80 no one could do much of anything...

I wouldn't buy a car off of eBay without inspecting it though.

 

Did you actually go and see the Iroc before you payed for it?
If you just mailed a check, without going and checking the car out first, sorry, but thats your own stupidity.

Ebay is great. It's just like every other merchant. You have decent ones, and you have shysters. You have to choose carefully. Like everyone knows, if you put a piece of dog shizzit on ebay, there's always someone who'll buy it. It works the other way around too. Some people make something look too good to be true. You buy it you get it and find out, it was...crap.

Good with the bad...

 

To update, the AFPR arrived today safe and sound. Now I just need to find some fittings so I can hook up my pressure gauge, then I can install it.