I'm thinking most or all of the damage was beforehand too, dweenk. It sure looks like it was ridden while damaged, but that fresh groove in the steer tube is tough to figure. It almost seems like they would have had to ride with the fork backwards or twist the fork back and forth in the headtube with the fork direction reversed for that amount of groove to be cut on the front of the steerer. The bike was shipped with the fork inserted in the head tube facing backwards and tightened down in that position, but I just thought they were making all the parts fit in the box better that way.

I'm out $400 for the bike and shipping, but I really can't prove anything since I didn't take photos at the time of unpacking. I compounded matters by not making a detailed inspection until 2 months after receiving the bike. I just opened the box to ensure all the parts were there, but didn't bother to examine them trusting that everything was all right. I just looked at the old photos of the original listing of the bike today. I can see the abrupt change in angle of the fork blades in the photos now, so evidence of a problem was present, but I missed seeing it originally. Whether or not the Seller knew about it or considered it significant is not relevant to me now since my position is weak. I'm considering it an expensive lesson, hopefully learned though I'll have a hard time walking away from the next one too.