Ripped Off

[Benz]

Just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention. A forum member has not returned my airbag which I sold and got refunded his money. The buyer had a detailed description and would not return my item. Then escalated the situation and now I am out of an airbag and my money. I am very unhappy with the situation. I have never had an issue with anyone on here but there always has to be someone thats can not man up to their mistakes.

• Buyer's name: Elias Bisharat
• Buyer's email: bisharatautosales@gmail.com

https://www.500eboard.co/forums/ind...lack-w124-w140-airbag-with-chrome-star.12659/

 

[xfadmin]

I hope you both are able to remedy the situation so that everyone is happy. It's too bad that it had to become public.

We have generally not had problems with forum members not honoring deals, so this is new territory.

If it does become a recurring situation, then that would be of concern to management here.

-- 500Eboard Admin

 

[Benz]

Unfortunately the buyer demanded I pay for the return shipping which would have cost me more than the airbag is worth and he was the one that made the mistake. He could have easily resold the item clearly his intentions were not good.

 

[outrbnks]

I just read the entire linked thread in your first post about this sale gone wrong. This scenario simply points out why the USA is so badly entrenched by the legal community on everything we do. Personal entitlement and the belief of being legally right have overtaken old fashion morality and common sense teachings like "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Anyway, that's why you see all the big sellers on eBay have large print disclaimers on all their ads about the buyer being responsible for fitment. I didn't know about the different year changes until I just read that link, but it appears that not everyone knows that either. Regardless, it is the buyers responsibility to do his own homework. All the buyer had to do on that original thread is publicly ask, "will this airbag fit a such and such car I'm trying to sell? We should start a new pool, "Who has the worst reputation, a Lawyer or a Used Car Salesman"? Trivia from many years ago, when driving through the deep south on a trip to visit grandparents, I remember some local radio station ad that went something like this with a worthy southern drawl; "This here Chevy is in tip-top condition, it was driven by an old school Marm it's whole life--yada..yada..". I remember laughing out loud, visioning an old lady teacher rolling down a street a 10 mph with white knuckles and barely peeking over the dash board... lol. My opinions of used car salesman started way back then... This thread begs for a "How To" for changing steering wheels. I had been reading odd threads talking about the horn ring swap, but never came across air bag mounting parts swap before... I'm actually looking to put a wood/leather SL600/S600 type wheel on one of my 124's, sounds like I should do more homework, maybe start a new thread myself asking "How To"..
Anyway, sorry to hear you got screwed, and I hope the buyer will at lease negotiate, but if he already has the money I doubt it. good luck...

 

[Trae]

So sorry this has happened. . . I have bought many parts from forum members through the years without a hiccup.

Hopefully this will be an anomaly that is not repeated by this community.

Relationships are built on trust, and, until now, most all the members were trusted.

 

[Benz]

I just read the entire linked thread in your first post about this sale gone wrong. ... good luck...

Good post yes people in are too privileged now. He could have easily resold the airbag. I hope Karma comes his way.




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[Benz]

So sorry this has happened. . . I have bought many parts from forum members through the years without a hiccup.

Hopefully this will be an anomaly that is not repeated by this community.

Relationships are built on trust, and, until now, most all the members were trusted.

Same here but what can you do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[500Eboard]

Everything will be fine, and the individual in question will be watched carefully in the future.

 

[JC220]

Benz – how did he get his money back? Was it a paypal dispute he raised?

Just curious as I would not have refunded until I had the item back or at least valid tracking information for it on it’s way back. Did he agree that he would return it to you - if you first refunded him or what way was the refund agreed?

 

[Benz]

It was a paypal direct payment like as if you sent money to a friend since paypal has that option now. He disputed it with his bank so of coarse theyre going to take his side even with proof I sent images to paypal.


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[LWB250]

A good reason to never accept money or pay using the PayPal "gift" option. If someone requests it I pay the fees myself. Far safer in the long run.

And yes, sadly, PayPal and eBay are both prone to side with the buyer from my experience.

Dan

 

[gerryvz]

Just so you guys know, the buyer is an active member on this forum, and does log in regularly. We'll see if he posts his side of the story -- it's always good to get both sides, as long as things don't devolve into name-calling and get emotional.

That said, this is a good instructional lesson on what can happen when a transaction goes south. Fortunately this has been very very very rare in the 10+ years this forum has been around (at least, involving forum members directly). Plenty of people have non-500E horror stories regarding eBay and PayPal, and the like.

One of my pet peeves is when someone sends me a PayPal payment for something, and sets it so that I have to eat the fees. When I get paid for a $10 item, and then have to eat $2.00 in stinking fees, it angers me. Either set it up so that YOU pay the fees, or set it up as a friends and family transaction so that no fees are charged, but don't expect ME to eat the big fees on a transaction. Particularly when I'm not being greedy with the deal in the first place.

 

[LWB250]

As an example, I'm active in a Mac owner's forum that has a "marketplace" for buying and selling. A lot of people there do the PP "gift" thing to avoid eating the fees, but I just offer to pay them and the seller is more than happy to let me. That being said, I do use the "gift" route with people I know, but if I don't, I'll gladly cover the fees. It's not like they're a significant amount to begin with, anyway.

There are a number of fee calculators out there that allow you to figure out what you have to add on top of the selling price to cover the fees. For example:

http://thefeecalculator.com

Lesson learned. Pay the fees or don't accept PP gift.

Dan

 

[Stevester 500E]

Ebay scams continue to rise. A buyer can claim that their package arrived in an empty box and Ebay will side with the buyer.