eBay

quadcitypickers · ‎10-20-2025

Someone messaged me before purchasing a set of brake pads for their car if they would fit their car.

I told them these pads ONLY fit your model of car with a 3.6L V6 engine.

Buyer buys them, then opens a return "THEY DO NOT FIT!!"

I ask them what engine they had and they reply "2.0L 4 cylinder".

I ask them why on earth would they buy something that I told them would only work with the 3.6L V6 engine and then demand a return?

Even worse, I put in the description "please look at your current brake pads to ensure they fit". The brake pads for the 2.0L 4 cylinder look COMPLETELY different.

They got mad at me and basically said "I can buy whatever I want, even if you tell me it don't fit and return it, it's my right".

Every day I lose a little faith in people..

psfhobbies · ‎10-20-2025

I just had a lady buy 10 3d printed resin hooks we sell for model cars and or whatever they want. These are about 6mm in length. The photo shows them next to a penny and one on my finger for size comparison. She says she wants to return them because they are tiny and she needs 2 inch ones. Im speechless where did she get the idea they were anywhere near 2" in size. Has she ever seen a penny!? ..only on Ebay

christworks · ‎10-20-2025

People who ask questions about car parts are signaling to you they don't know what they are doing.

People who know what they are doing can look at the listing and will know whether or not that part fits their car, assuming you have provided the information. In fact, people who know what they are doing will trust their judgment over yours.

Start blocking these fools. You will save yourself a big headache and, believe it or not, your sales don't suffer.

broto_64 · ‎10-20-2025

I would check and see if that buyer can be reported for abusing the returns system, because I believe the buyer's behavior qualifies. We are not in the business of shipping things around the country on our dime so buyers can sample merchandise from inside the comfort of their home, that is not how this works.

broto_64 · ‎10-20-2025

@ednkarens wrote:
The Best thing to do to prevent this type of sale is right when someone buys a car part, send them a note that before you can close the sale and ship you must have their car's VIN number either from the plate on the dashboard inside next to their windshield, or from their auto insurance card. This way you can do a quick VIN search and it will tell you the correct year, make, model and usually 99.9% it's right on the engine size. You can also call a local national auto parts store and ask whoever answers if they have the brakes for that specific car and let them quickly search the VIN number to give you more peace of mind.

If no one gets back to you with their VIN number within 48 hours, then you can send them a polite note that you are still waiting for their VIN and if you don't hear from them within 24 hours, you'll cancel their purchase due to lack of confirmation.

Of course they might get mad and give you a Neg, however, if you respond to their feedback by stating you can only ship a specific part with confirmation of a vehicle's VIN, then anyone who reads your feedback should hopefully see how professional and thorough you are.

The problem with that is a buyer can report you for not wanting to complete the sale, because unfortunately there are only two reasons you can use to cancel:
Damaged / out of stock (which means you get a defect)
Problem with buyer's address OR Buyer asked to cancel (which is not something all buyers take lightly).

chapeau-noir · ‎10-20-2025

@roccotacodad54 wrote:
"Every day I lose a little faith in people."
I lost that long ago.
A very wise woman I used to know (RIP) told me once that if I expect people to act civilized I will be setting myself up for dissapointment. That it is better to be pleasantly surprised than be dissapointed by expectations....................

Expectations almost always lead to disappointment. It's why I expect little and am grateful for everything.

_______________________
“I have a year, and who knows what might happen in that time. The king might die. The horse might die. I might die. And perhaps the horse will learn to sing.”

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.

chapeau-noir · ‎10-20-2025

We're buying some car parts online - the part we need for our '97 Subaru is no longer made, and me with the lead foot is driving around without a speedometer.

It seemed like it was pretty easy to purchase what we needed here, all it took was some patience to locate the parts, and there was the fitment chart included. All we needed was the make/model/year of our wagon and do a little matching.

I'm not sure how people can skroo this up, but maybe the parts we needed were just more obvious or something.

_______________________
“I have a year, and who knows what might happen in that time. The king might die. The horse might die. I might die. And perhaps the horse will learn to sing.”

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.

mustang707 · ‎10-20-2025

You have had your share of bad buyers lately. My only advice is to be more direct with your answers to these questions. If they say "will it fit this ABCX engine?", and you know it won't, then just say NO rather then come back with "it fits WXYZ engine". I agree with @christworks -these people don't have a clue to sizing parts for their cars.

christworks · ‎10-20-2025

@ednkarens wrote:
The Best thing to do to prevent this type of sale is right when someone buys a car part, send them a note that before you can close the sale and ship you must have their car's VIN number either from the plate on the dashboard inside next to their windshield, or from their auto insurance card. This way you can do a quick VIN search and it will tell you the correct year, make, model and usually 99.9% it's right on the engine size. You can also call a local national auto parts store and ask whoever answers if they have the brakes for that specific car and let them quickly search the VIN number to give you more peace of mind.

If no one gets back to you with their VIN number within 48 hours, then you can send them a polite note that you are still waiting for their VIN and if you don't hear from them within 24 hours, you'll cancel their purchase due to lack of confirmation.

Of course they might get mad and give you a Neg, however, if you respond to their feedback by stating you can only ship a specific part with confirmation of a vehicle's VIN, then anyone who reads your feedback should hopefully see how professional and thorough you are.

I read this post earlier and an hour later I'm sitting here doing listings...and came across a car part to list. In my research I found this listing where the seller does basically what you've suggested. Just scroll down to their description.