eBay engine seller tried to scam me

[Jonny69]

At the end of last week I spotted an early Pop engine on eBay. I've been getting desperate for a while and sent a mail to the seller for the engine number on the off-chance it was a later engine.

This is the item: click

Description as follows:

Ford anglia popular 8hp sidevalve engine **LOOK**

A ford 8hp sidevalve engine all complete apart from starter and dynamo, however fuel pump,clutch plate and pressure plate,dipstick,plug leads,etc are all included with it. as for the engine itself it had been reconditioned a short while back but the little ford it was in was sold and converted into a hotrod. it was a very sweet little runner £300 start price which is cheap. collection or uk post is £40 can send anywhere please email for quote

Turned out it was a later engine after all and I gave the guy a ring and arranged to go and see it. Apparently it was reconditioned with a rebore and white metal on the bottom end just a few thousand miles ago, quite expensive at £300 but if that work had been done then it was actually quite a steal. The thing is I'd been warned about spending too much on old Ford sidevalve engines because they can only do about 50,000 miles before they need completely rebuilding, so at that price I'd either need proof of the work or I'd want to strip it down so I could inspect it myself. The guy wouldn't let me do that, I looked at the auction again and again and decided I might be smelling a rat. The paint on the engine is new, it has not run with that paint on it. The gaskets I can see are all clean and un-used, so it's not run with them either and all the nuts on the head studs are brand new as well. The guy had no proof of the work as he'd acquired the engine from the car that had been rodded. I called the visit off.

It was still at the back of my mind that £300 is a good price for an engine that has had that work done so I thought I'd be resourceful and ask on the Popular Front on the NSRA forum because there's a lot of Pop owners there and one of them might know the engine or the seller. They all pretty much thought the same as me, an expensive unknown engine that the owner won't let you open up is as good as scrap. Then a couple of them went through his past feedback history on eBay. This is what turned up:

CON. £336 RECONDN car engine had WORN OUT parts inside.
Waste of time avoid!!!!!
untrustworthy ,buyers beware.do not bid,
Seller ignored e-mail/instruction Damage to item wasted £365
BUYERS BEWARE ITEM INCOMPLETE
sold to me as recon engine! now in my car! not working! no respose from seller!
Seller does not respond to emails to discuss any dispute - Buyer beware!!!
Seller returned chq then accused me of not paying and left neg feedback? Beware!
tryed to contact no responce after 7 days DO NOT BUY WITH HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
item not as listed, badly corrioded,wouldnt answer emails
Reply by raechal2005 (12-May-07 22:12):
item 250082543381 I wish I had kept them for a mere £10.49 what a joke
an obvious disagreement over the term good condition.
item nearly 60 years old what does this person want 25010420649
would not respond to E-mail's. Did not dispatch Item and went back on teh deal

Etc etc.

Well well well Mr. raechel2005, the story unfolds... it's a prettily painted dead engine.

I think the moral of the story is if you don't feel comfortable with something on eBay don't take the risk. Always look at feedback, I didn't even think to check the feedback but with 97% positive I probably wouldn't have thought to look anyway. Don't forget there are forums to ask on, especially if it's a specialist part because the scene is quite small and there's a high chance someone might know the seller or the part.

I've reported the seller but the bit that makes me laugh the most is I have his name, email, phone number and home address. If you're going to scam people at least don't give that out to people, especially who are local to you!!!