Advice - Ebay deal going bad

[CAL30M1]

I have a Remington 700 that I wanted to have a Badger Ordnance knob attached to the handle before the end of deer season. The wait time from Badger was two plus weeks without shipping so I found a guy on ebay with 100% feedback. He supplies the Badger knob and installs it onto your bolt. He stated his turnaround time was 48 hours so I decided to go with him.

this is a link to the auction

<broken link removed>

I won the auction on October 12th. He received it on the 16th and I still don't have my bolt back. After many days of emailing; he finally responded last Monday and said I would have it by this last Thursday. He apologized and said the problem was a mis-communication with his wife. Well here it is Saturday, (first day of elk season - deer season already over) and still no bolt.
I politely asked if he hasn't done the work to email the bolt back and refund my money. Still no reply.

He has great feedback and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt but I'm guessing he either flubbed the bolt or lost it. What would you do? Emailing him isn't working. Getting Ebay or paypal involved could be tricky since we are dealing with a gun part.

-Bob

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[sheepdip]

I would contact your seller one more time and tell him that you are going to file an item not recieved claim with ebay and see how he acts. if you dont get any response then i guess you have very few options than to go ahead and open a claim with ebay. I dont think you will have any problem with ebay, they sell gun parts all the time. the one thing that may be a problem is getting the same part you shipped to him back. the whole thing stinks, good luck.

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

gun parts/accessories are okay on ebay, if it wasn't allowed, he wouldn't be on there.

so contact ebay.

 

[CAL30M1]

Thanks for the advice. It looks like ebay has relaxed some of their rules and dealing with bolt and barrels is now permitted. I sent him one more email through ebay if I don't get a response I'll open a claim through ebay. If he lost the bolt I'll have to send the rifle back to remington to have a new bolt headspaced to the rifle.... I'm sure that will be spendy.

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

hope everything goes well.

next time search for reputation gun smith / machining company.

 

[lamrith]

I see a feedback on him for a slower than 48hr turn around, looks like he had a death in the family.

 

[keystir]

I'm sorry to hear you're having such an unfortunate experience through ebay. I think you're probably right he either messed it up or lost it, what is troubling is his lack of communication and responses to your inquiries. I would definitely attempt to contact him again with specific expectations of what you want regarding response/follow up time. At that point if that doesn't work I don't think you have any other choice but to leave the appropriate feedback and contact ebay/pay pal to get a refund.

If indeed he had a death in the family then that would fully explain what is happening. In the future I would hesitate having this kind of work done with the kind of time requirements you were expecting. When you are completing a transaction like yours over the internet there are multiple people touching your item along its journey that make just over minimum wage and could care less about your hunting dates or the sellers 48 hour return time. 9 times out of 10 you'll get your item on time as advertised but rest assured that 1 time you don't is a situation like this where you need it and you don't have it. If you wanted it for this deer season you should have sent it in right after last season ended.

Good luck with getting your bolt back I hope everything works out in the end, it usually does!!

 

[Baggerman]

I would get his contact info from Ebay and give him a call. Search contact info at the following link.
Online Customer Support

 

[Sgt Nambu]

You sent a fitted, head spaced rifle bolt to some dude on the net? Wellllllll?

 

[lamrith]

Give the internet thing a rest folks, we all buy stuff off the net, so save the "only buy local" soapbox it is worn out and about to crumble.

Face it cost of living here in WA is pretty high as are some of the rates of tradesman (only makes sense since they have to make a living here like we all do.) Most of the good gunsmiths locally have LONG wait times as well. There are quite a few good gunsmiths and companies all around the country that people send thier guns to for aftermarket mods. I personally have only purchased my firearms locally, as I have most of my parts for them, but that is because the stores I frequent are very competative with thier pricing and they give me good service.

The OP found a person performing the work he needed at a very good price, his turnaround time was good, AND with great feedback/references thru Ebay. His timeframe however was tight and as Keystir said, it is always that one time it will bite you. I deal with it at work every day, UPS Ground is 1day from portland. I can ship 40 shipments ground and the ONE out of that 40 that does not make it in a day is the one were the customer is machine down and needs thepart RIGHT NOW.

Probably the biggest lesson to learn is It would probably have been better to wait on doing this until after hunting season regardless of who he had do the work...

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Buying off the Internet, heck yeah! Sending a fitted part to the cheapest quote on the net, heck no! And supporting a local CRAFTSMAN heck yes! Especially for some need it now, cosmetic work! Oh, buy the way, never said buy only locally.

 

[CAL30M1]

Well, I got eBay involved and finally opened up a case this morning. No response yet... big surprise. Then again he has until 11/14 to respond before the next step is taken... whatever that is.

 

[CAL30M1]

Buying off the Internet, heck yeah! Sending a fitted part to the cheapest quote on the net, heck no! And supporting a local CRAFTSMAN heck yes! Especially for some need it now, cosmetic work! Oh, buy the way, never said buy only locally.

Believe me, I wanted to use a local 'smith. Most said because of deer and elk season the wait would be 4-6 weeks. Badger ordnance said 9 working days for the same price. I really wish I had gone with them but I really wanted it for deer season so I got duped into the 48 hour promise this supposedly reputable seller was promising.

BTW, not sure where the "cheapest quote" came from. The price I was paying was just about the same as anywhere else.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Believe me, I wanted to use a local 'smith. Most said because of deer and elk season the wait would be 4-6 weeks. Badger ordnance said 9 working days for the same price. I really wish I had gone with them but I really wanted it for deer season so I got duped into the 48 hour promise this supposedly reputable seller was promising.

BTW, not sure where the "cheapest quote" came from. The price I was paying was just about the same as anywhere else.

My mistake I missread. Guess Iamrath pushed my button! I am sorry you are missing Elk season! Luck!

 

[Burt Gummer]

All I can say is that I been using Ebay for a long time with 100s of purchases and went years with no issues.

Just in the last month I've had 2-3 attempted scams. One from a seller with lots of 100% feedback also (NEVER buy anything from any seller with under 5 or so feedbacks).

Scamming on Ebay and Craigslist is running rampant right now as people as more are more desperate to make a buck without really earning it.

 

[iamme]

Not to "rub it in" but FWIW- I sent my bolt handles out to a member from the Hide who makes his own knobs- he received the handles on Thursday and they're on the way back to me as of Monday. Sorry on your luck OP and hope it was just a tale of mishaps

 

[CAL30M1]

Whew!!! After 1 month my bolt arrived today sporting a badger handle and nice new scratch without so much as a "Sorry". Negative feedback left.

 

[CAL30M1]

But at least it's back.

 

[Velzey]

Well at least its back! Scratches can be fixed easier than a new bolt!

 

[CAL30M1]

something crazy happened today. The seller offered me a full refund if I changed my feedback from a negative to a positive.
He took all the blame and was very apologetic. I accepted his offer.