I will be leaving a big stinky neg on his feedback the instant I get any sort of confirmation from the bay that my monies are in escrow (or, as another poster pointed out, not in escrow because he cleaned out his account). It will be quite unmistakable, mentioning rust, dents, and stripped threads.

I sorta figured I'd leave it as the last thing I did, a kind of send-off party. Right now, there is no chance for a positive or even neutral.

I'll be okay if I don't get the money back. It will be fun to saw the frame in half, and I'll give what looks okay to some local kids who mash weld up bikes. I'll keep a couple of parts, and view it as a learned lesson. Enough good has happened to me in this hobby over the years-- and enough good will happen in the next year and more-- that I'll view it as just a bump in the road. I never know when I'll find the next yard sale Merckx. But I do think I will be limiting my frame buying to the T-town and Westminster swaps from now on, or locally, where I can assess the frame. Plus I found a really cool stray dog a month ago, best thing ever I found in the trash (really). More than balances a crappy ebuy deal.

I'd rather ship the thing back, though.