In reply to dculberson :
I’m looking for an MR2 Spyder, if you’d like to pass it along...
In reply to dculberson :
I’m looking for an MR2 Spyder, if you’d like to pass it along...
In reply to SVreX :
Dang, I'd love to but it was an iaai auction that completed.
I spent two hours making a box.
the worst part is that I enjoyed it. Off the shelf boxes are never quite the right size. Shipping this thing in a generic box was going to cost me wayyyy more than the customer got charged so I made one the right size. I swear I went through two sticks of carton staples. I hope it makes it ok. I'm mostly afraid of the box coming apart. Maybe I should put some banding around it or maybe a couple wraps of duct tape. Saved myself about $30 for the box and $100 in shipping. Lesson: have the box you need to ship this stuff handy so you're not scrambling last minute.
Did you even need to box it at all? It's not like it's gonna get damaged. Maybe wrap it in bubble wrap, then in that packing saran wrap stuff and slap a label on it? I've done that when I've shipped exhaust parts...
In reply to docwyte :
Maybe not, but FedEx tends to frown on "irregular" packages. I prefer to get things inside a carton for their own safety and for ease of handling. I considered it but just couldn't come up with a way to do it without a carton that I was comfortable with.
I've always shipped irregular items in boxes, just to make it easier for me AND people doing the shipping. It sucks, but whatever. Gives the item just that little bit of extra protection and gives the buyer that little bit more of trust in you.
Well, eBay closed the return item case and refunded the buyer's money despite me not having my part back. I'm trying really hard to keep it in perspective and not have it ruin my day/week/year but it's still $143 out of my pocket, into a fraudulent person's pocket, facilitated by eBay and their terrible policies. I'm going to appeal, but have to assume that there's no way I'm getting that money back as they've already refunded it to the buyer. I'm sure my part is living on in the thief's car, hopefully it received my ill will and drains his battery every time he leaves the car.
In more positive news, there's another $200 in sales, but it feels bittersweet due to the loss of $143.
Perspective, perspective, perspective...
Had this happen years ago. I don't get mad. I had fun getting even. Oh and you will need a VPN if you decide to go that rout.
Yep, your money is gone for sure. I had a similar deal go down a year ago, and had to chalk it up as a loss. It soured me on eBay for a few months, so that was a few months of stuff I didn't buy on there, so it's probably for the best.
On the flip side, eBay refunded my money (as the buyer) when the seller had misrepresented the product, accepted the return, then sent a label with the wrong return address on it. Then he refused to update his address and send me an updated label or reroute the package once I told him I was using the only label he provided.
So while it sucks that you got scammed, eBay helped me from losing a large sum of money when the shoe was on the other foot...
Similar deal; I sold a BRE RLC Datsun 510 hot wheels car and the seller claimed "six months later" that he never received it. eBay ate it, they gave him his money back and I kept mine. Luckily since they were about $500 at that point. Sometimes you lose a little on eBay but I always win overall.
docwyte said:On the flip side, eBay refunded my money (as the buyer) when the seller had misrepresented the product, accepted the return, then sent a label with the wrong return address on it. Then he refused to update his address and send me an updated label or reroute the package once I told him I was using the only label he provided.
So while it sucks that you got scammed, eBay helped me from losing a large sum of money when the shoe was on the other foot...
Yeah, because you were the buyer. They ALWAYS side with the buyer, which is incredibly frustrating when you are an honest and diligent seller. This is a clear cut case of fraud where the buyer admitted in writing on eBay's messaging service that he shipped the wrong part back and yet they refunded his money. If you E36 M3 in a box and mail it back to the seller they will refund you. That's not "good," that's "the customer is always right" taken to its ridiculous extreme.
@chandler: Yes, I am with you there. I've made way more money than I've lost. But it would be nice if the service that I pay hundreds of dollars per month in fees to would at least consider that I might be telling the truth and be in the right in a conflict.
I gather you have the buyer's address? Sign them up for every berkeleying thing you can.
In reply to dculberson :
Yeah, that's bogus. They have access and read all those messages too, so there's no way they didn't see that admission.
Holidays meant it was hard for me to get motivation to list the remaining parts, and also hard for me to update this thread! Sales have ticked along and I've managed to sell a couple big things. The most valuable parts I've sold were the ignition/ecu/key combo ($300!) and the exhaust mid-pipes with cats and resonators. Lots of other little parts from $20 - $70 too means the new total is getting satisfying. I've almost forgotten the lost money from the fuse box. NOT REALLY I'LL NEVER FORGET.
I'm now at $5,694 in sales and still have a ton of stuff left. The biggest being the engine and transmission.
Updated numbers:
I cleared off one of my rolling carts of misc little pieces, and some of them sold right away.
Important lesson: keep an eye out for little hardware from big damaged pieces, it might be worth good money. The hood was pretty well mangled, but the latches (two primary latches, one secondary) were in good shape. The individual pieces didn't seem to sell for enough to be worth listing, but I decided to throw them all together as a set and see what happened. $50 - SOLD in less than 24 hours. Same with the hood release setup - three cables and the handle, bunch of 'em sitting around unsold at $25-$30/ea. Listed the whole shebang for $50 - SOLD ! That's easy stuff to ship, too; throw it in a box and it fits in the mailbox out front; I don't even have to take it anywhere to drop off.
The windshield that I removed "just for practice," I managed to sell locally for $75! Funny thing is, I had it sold on eBay but the guy didn't pay. I had accepted his offer of $100 + $165 in shipping. And the $165 is not marked up! The box was going to be enormous and FedEx charges pretty stiff oversized fees. After eBay fees (10% of total including shipping), PayPal fees, and an hour or more making a box for it, I would've had a pretty lousy net. Instead this guy, with some hand holding and question answering, came by and picked it up. Saved me a bunch of time and netted me just as much money (or more!).
I have someone saying he's going to come pick up the passenger seat which is another tough to ship item. Hopefully he comes through. That's a $150 sale if so.
Hood latches:
Cable set:
You can see my window shade backdrop is getting pretty dirty. Gonna have to replace that soon. At $5, it's served me for two years so that's pretty good.
New numbers update - I broke the $6000 barrier in sales! I still need to list the transmission and engine. For some reason I have a block there. I think it's the hassle of shipping it.
Oh yeah! I need to get the tires pulled from the wheels and get the wheels listed. I think they'll fetch a few hundred bucks based on other sales. There are only three good ones, but they're in decent enough shape. Those and the engine and transmission and I think 100% of the parts are listed. I hope some of the old listings start selling; there's a lot sitting on my shelves right now.
What do you use as a backdrop to take pictures? I'm currently using a medium-ish cardboard box with an old white shirt cut up for holes on the side w/ an LED on each side pushing light through and a white poster board on the back/bottom.
But this limits me down to small items. Anything bigger, it goes on the floor and doesn't look as professional.
@FuzzWuzzy: Sorry I didn't see this sooner! I use a white roller shade from Lowe's that was about $10. I think it was Draper or Levelor. I haven't been 100% happy with the hardware - it's a cardboard center tube which is prone to warping since it's a big shade and so it hits the window frame and fights me going up. But at $10, I'm mostly happy with it. Here's a couple shots of how it works:
That way I can still use my workbench for workbench stuff then when I need a photo I pull the shade down, take a pic, then roll it back up. You have to keep your workbench clear which I consider an ENORMOUS plus, I've historically been a workbench piler and this (coupled with a personal resolution) has disciplined me to keep it 100% empty. That alone has made this "parting cars out" thing pretty rewarding. A clean bench is a blank slate for awesomeness when it's time to work on something. Oh, you do need to wipe the bench down and clean the shade from time to time since it picks up gunk from car parts, etc. My shade is about worn out, but it's pushing 3 years old. $10 every 3 years isn't terrible.
A good lesson; don't give up on a part just because it's damaged without doing some research. The driver's seat had a pretty good tear in the bottom cushion. Junk, right?
Well, I did some research and it turns out the components to the seat sell for more than the whole seat is worth. So far I've sold the seat upper back and the power seat base (track, motors, wiring harness) for a combined total of $350! Plus shipping! And there's a couple more pieces to sell. I have the passenger side seat, which is in good shape, listed whole for $300. I'm actually planning on pulling that item, stripping the seat down, and listing it in pieces. That'll net more money plus it's easier to ship! It takes an hour or two to strip it down and post the items, but it's been listed for a few months with no takers.
Those sales, coupled with some sensors and other small sales, have pushed me to close to the $7k mark in total sales. Still lots to go!!
(sees parts sales total:)
I'm really impressed by how well you have done. Sure, it's been hard work... but it's still "wrenching work" and not like "real work"!
$4000 can buy a lot of fun!
Very impressive!!!
Thanks guys! @Torkel: Yeah, it's still time in the garage and good for my sanity.
In reply to dculberson :
Ooooo I like that! A whole lot better than my current set up! Might create a separate work bench strictly for this, but I sure do love that. Thank you!
Another lesson. The passenger front seat was in good shape so I listed it complete but shipping was a killer. ($200 or so!) The seat just sat and sat and people were making offers like $150 which is ridiculous for a power heated seat from a relatively modern Mercedes in good shape, and it would take me hours to ship the thing. So, I took the lesson from my driver's seat example and tore it apart and listed the components. So far I have sold $210 worth of easy to ship parts from it. And have another $300 worth of parts still listed from it. I'm pretty glad I didn't take the $150 offer.
Someone finally bought the rear bumper, but they haven't paid yet and the purchase was at 3am so I'm not going to count it until it is paid. So these numbers don't reflect the rear bumper:
How did this end up for you? Did you get the motor and trans sold off yet? This is a very entertaining read. I am pondering a side hustle to take on this winter to keep me busy and productive, and hopefully, keep the winter blues away!
You'll need to log in to post.
