Has anyone been ripped off on EBAY?

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John Walker

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Well, I got hit for the first time. I got a real nice Alpine (MRV-1507) amp off of EBAY. The guy dances around delivery, but it finaly comes today. Hook it up all nice and then I put the fuse in and a small puff of smoke comes out and it smells like burnt electronics. I imediately do a paypal report and email the seller with the complaint asking for a full refund. I send him pics of the install to show that it was hooked up correctly. My CC said they will give me a conditional credit, but I'm holding off to see if the paypal dispute pans out. I don't think the guy has anything to stand on.



Any insight?
 
>> I don't think the guy has anything to stand on.



John, what were the terms of the sale, and given said terms what are you expecting the seller to do for you?



TJR
 
I haven't been yet. Knock on wood. (my head) But I have been seing a disturbing trend within the last year on there. The shipping time, communication, and feedback leaving has gotten horrible.



As for your claim, unless they warrentied it, I don't think there is much you can do. Hopefully they are a seller that wants to make buyers happy and will at least give some money back or replace the item. I did have a guy send me a car stereo that was DOA and I contacted him and he told me no problem (even though he didn't guarantee the stereo against DOA), he'd send a comparable unit out ASAP and to just send the old one back. 4 days later, had the other stereo and it worked perfect. So hope your seller is like him. If not, I don't see much help for you if they didn't guarantee a warrenty or against DOA.
 
Sorry about your problems John. I've used ebay for years and only got ripped off once (a cheap pair of fog lights), knock on wood. I only buy from people with a great feedback score, especially if it's something costly. Bought my Alpine amp on ebay 3 years ago and it still works perfect. Yes you can get ripped off but some of the best deals I've ever gotten were off ebay.
 
Here is the discription he had on the item:

"For auction is a used Alpine MRV-1507 2 channel amplifier in perfect working and cosmetic condition. Alls you need is a 80amp maxi fuse and she is ready to go. There are no scratches, dents, or dings. This is one of the cleanest and most powerful amps Alpine has ever produced. I think I still have the birth certifecate and the box still. They will be sent with amp." It states perfect working order, guess wht, it does not work! The picture he used is not what he sent either, it was of the box, amp, eq cover and allen wrench. He sends the amp with out eq cover and scratches, missing 2 of the 8 screws to attach the wires and the 2 addaptors for the power wires that are in the picture.
 
There is one problem with what you said above.... might just be a misinterpretation.



You hooked it all up nice, then put the fuse in, and there was a puff of smoke.



You shouldnt put the fuse in while the amp is ON.



Ive done it before, and nothing happened, but this could be the reason for it smoking like that.



 
Ive bought quite a few things on ebay, atleast 20, and have never been scammed. But the clear corners that I ordered are taking FOREVER to get here, 2wks+ now.... maybe this is it? :( I hope not.



 
Chris, spend over a month waiting for autoexotic (or some seller on eBay like that) to ship me ventshade visors...finally got my money back. Some of these auto parts sellers take a loooong time.



TJR
 
I got ripped off last just last week..I bought a GPS system, paid with Paypal within minutes of end of auction and heard nothing from the guy so I emailed him to ask when he intends to ship it....no reply, then I found out he has been kicked off Ebay for selling the same thing more than once.. I`m now waiting for the 10 days to pass so I can file a complaint and get my money back........First time in 5 years ive been stitched up.

Best of luck with it.



Englander:(
 
I used to by a lot of stuff off ebay and another auction site, then I got burned about 3 years ago on a purchase of a mini Digital Video camera. It was listed as brand new but the box had been opened.



When I got it, there was no owners manual in english, several accessories that are part of the kit are missing, and the worse part is the camera is broken. It appeared that someone had used a screwdriver or similar tool to pry a tape out of the unit and severly damaged the tape transport mechanism.



I contacted the sell and she said no problem. She said she got it from her supplier and nver opened the box. So I should just send it back and she would get me another "New" one.

I send the broken camera back and never heard from her again.



The ebay ad said the camera was located in Phoenix AZ but her address was a post office box in a little town on the Mexican border just inside the US. When I got all her contact info from ebay she had a Mexican telephone number, so she obviously lived in Mexico and set up a post office box across the border in the US to make it look less sinister. I called the telephone number and the woman who answered acted like she only spoke Spanish and did not understand anything I said, and I did not understand her.



When I bid on the camera the seller had a great feed back rating and only one complaint in the last year. After I won the bid and got the broken camera, she started getting only negative feed back because she started ripping everyone off the last few weeks she was on ebay.



PayPal did nothing because they said that they are not responsible for the condition of the merchadise when received. My CC company would not remove the charge because PayPal did nothing wrong and only acted as a middle man to deliver my payment to the seller, which they did. My credit card company would not even give me a letter stating that the denied my claim against PayPal, so ebay would not do anything either.



...Rich
 
Not exactly ripped off per say but jerked around twice now, back to back:



I bought an ipod adapter kit. Paid immediately with paypal, never heard anything back. Sent numeroud emails and finally got an email back 2 weeks later saying the items were back-ordered and he wouldn't be getting them for two more weeks, then would be another week to get it shipped to me. I told them I wanted a refund as it was unacceptable, no reply, another week goes by and I get an email saying an "unpaid item dispute" had been opened by the seller through ebay. Then 2 days later I get my refund in paypal. The unpaid item dispute saved him from getting a negative feedback as I had no recourse since a transaction was never completed in ebay's eyes! What a crock of shit! I paid minutes after the auction ended, he did not complete HIS end of the sale!! Atleast I got my money back but still very irritating.



I am currently involved in another of these situations with KJMotoring and the Air Intake kit for the sport trac. Against my better judgement and the warning from Griff on this board I went ahead and bought one. Same situation so far, I paid immediately, two weeks went by I emailed him 3 times for status with no reply. Finally got an email saying sorry for the delay I would get a refund. I replied saying I did not want the refund I wanted the product instead. I pointed out the fact that in the mean time they had listed two other auctions selling the same parts that he obviously did not have in stock to sell. Another 3 or 4 days had went by got another email saying he would be shipping it out the next day (2/7/06) UPS. I replied asking for the tracking number and so far have not heard anything else back or recieved the intake..



I have been an ebay member for years and up until these two incedents have never had a single problem or issue. I think I will be taking a break from ebay for a while once this last issue gets straightened out!
 
So far so good, but have only bought 11 items so far, waiting on three items right now. One of them is a GPS, Magellan 300 ... says it will be here tomorrow via UPS so I hope everything is good w/that one.
 
Used electronics is a gamble, at best. I sell a lot of projector parts on the 'Bay, but I have had people incorrectly install parts, cook them, then send them back saying they didn't work. If the person seems sincere, I will usually try to accomodate them, but I have even had buyers try to return their bad boards saying that they were the ones I sent them. Luckily, the bad ones have been only a small part of my sales.



The only bad buying experience has been when the seller didn't like the price the auction ended at, so disconnected his phone and quit answering emails. I had his address, but wasn't spiteful enough to drive 2 hours to go visit.
 
John,

Not what you want to hear, but I would suspect you wired it in wrong.



In a previous lifetime, I was a component level electronics bench technician. Big amps and such don't usually fry twice. An audio output IC would destroy itself by internal or external forces, smoke, burn a couple supply resistors, and it's all over with in 2 seconds. That is the norm. Apply power to it after the fact, as many times as you want, it will never smoke again. Just dead.



The key indicator here is you saw the smoke, and I would assume the damage occurred during power up in your possession. Again, these things usually smoke for 2 seconds and its all over.
 
Chops, said:
Apply power to it after the fact, as many times as you want, it will never smoke again.
Click to expand...



That's because there is a finite amount of smoke in each electronic component. Once you damage the component by wiring it improperly you let that smoke out. The components need the smoke to work right. That's why they stop working and you don't ever get more smoke out of them.



I learned that in my electronics class in college.



:eek:



Seriously though, one of my college buddies was a lab instructure and actually explained it that way to a freshman who fried an IC chip. The freshman believed him.



TJR
 
TJR,



That's funny. When I was getting my first electronics degree, the professor referred to it as "The magic smoke" that is in all electronic components. I used that same terminology, years later, when I was working as a Teaching Assistant for one of the EE profs.



"Don't let the magic smoke come out of the components."



That is nothing compared to blowing up an electrolytic capacitor and watching the wadding float down in a cloud of smoke.
 

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