I've had the worst luck with eBay for bike parts recently.


Over Thanksgiving, I bought a set of Speedplay pedals/cleats off eBay. Used, of course, because I wanted to give them a try without having to take the hit on new price if I didn't like them. I hadn't received a shipment notification and today I noticed that the seller is no longer registered on eBay and the listing has been deleted.


The rub is, the seller was overseas so the arrival date is estimated as 12/9-12/30.


So, what is the cutoff to call foul and request my money refunded through eBay/PayPal? I've got a feeling that they'll want me to wait until the estimated arrival date and I want to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that my pedals are in the mail but this is starting to look like a scam right now...

If eBay has no indication of a scam, they will likely make you wait. But if they already know the guy is a scammer, you could get satisfaction immediately. Start the complaint process and see how it works out. You may have to search out their hidden phone number and give a call. The auto-system online will likely just keep telling you to wait until the posted delivery date.

I have had TWO buying deal fall through on E-bay.
Buying something right now.

Buying a used set of speedplay's from overseas; there's being frugal, and getting what you pay for.

OP: I can feel your pain.
I am going through EXACTLY the same crap with eBay right now.
They made we wait until the end of the expected shipping date range completed, (from China), even though the seller is no longer registered!
Then once I filed the complaint, they made me wait a week "for the seller to respond".
HOW THE HELL IS HE GOING TO RESPOND WHEN HE ISN'T REGISTERED???
Then at the end of that week, I was finally given the opportunity to tell them that "I could not reach an agreement" with the now non-existent seller.
Now for the past week, I login to see "Hang on, we're still reviewing your case. We'll be in touch with you soon".

I have no confidence eBay is going to do the right thing, because the last time a seller sent me a piece of junk, and was suddenly unregistered, eBay response was that because the seller had sent "something", then they considered it a valid purchase. Morons.

ETA timeline:
Oct 16 purchase
Nov 16 filed initial complaint (told to wait for seller response)
Nov 22 filed second complaint (could not reach agreement with seller)

The purchase price is low, and I fully expect to lose the money, but this is only the second time I've had a seller unregistered, so I view it as a cost of doing business on eBay.

Sure, I buy from China too, and I have had my share of problems. But I am prepared for that going in. If the price is going to be substantial, I stick to experienced US sellers with high positive numbers.

If it is any help, I bought a non-cycling item for an experienced seller on Ebay based in the UK. Waited over a month for the item then contacted the seller who responded saying they shipped it but then would no longer respond when I requested some sort of confirmation of the shipment. Ebay immediately refunded my money nearly two months after my initial purchase.

That's being cheap. There is a difference between being cheap and being frugal.


See, e.g.,
5 Major Differences Between Cheap and Frugal | Spending | US News

Ebay will make you wait and then some. If you used a credit card on PayPal, then you can simply challenge the charge with your credit card company and PayPal will do a chargeback to the seller. At least is works this way domestically.

So I guess you guys only buy new things then? I don't see how buying used parts makes one cheap. I really don't see the point in paying new price to just try out a pedal I may or may not like.
I didn't pay any attention to the sellers location because I've not generally had an issue with purchases on eBay. The price was on par with other completed auctions, in fact the morning that I won it I was kinda regretting my last bid and not just letting the other bidder take it.

Thanks for the helpful responses though. I guess I'm stuck waiting out the delivery period. Who knows, maybe the seller did send it before he/she got suspended . Fortunately I did use a credit card through PayPal so I've got plenty of paths to take it seems.

I've reached 650 purchases in eBay and only had to contest 5 of them, I got refunded on all 5. Those people at eBay aren't stupid and they are pretty quick at responding...but you have to wait for the arrival window to expire. I received the refunds within hours of submitting the complaint and it the dollar amount doesn't matter.

I didn't pay much attention to reputation or location until the first time I got burned--then I really started to pay attention to number of feedback. Trust me, you're going to do the same from now on too.


Oh, I must be cheap too because my two CF Specialized frames and most all of the parts that I built them up with were used or take-offs parts from eBay auctions.

Gosh, if only there was a place you could go and actually see and try the goods you wanted to purchase, maybe even develop a friendly relationship over time and have some assurance that the seller would help you if you had a problem. Gosh, if only there were brick and mortar stores full of actual people and inventories...

Yeah, the LBS's around me don't have crap for inventory either.


.....Oh wait you were being sarcastic!

eBay is pro-buyer. I have no doubt you will get your money back if there is any problem with not getting the item.

With Paypal you have 90 days in which to file a complaint. If you used a credit card with paypal then you also have the ability to challenge the charge with the credit card company.

Now....speaking as a seller who uses Paypal as my credit card processor for daily business....

Once you open up a dispute with Paypal/ebay they instantly take the money that is being disputed and hold it in their own account. You don't have the money and the seller no longer has the money. Paypal is holding it in "escrow" because it's "disputed". This is true even if the transaction was 100% legit and the buyer didn't recognise the charge on the card so challenged it, etc.

Most buyers don't take that into account. As a seller - once the money is taken from me then I have little to no real drive to get to a swift resolution on anything. 1. It's already gone. 2. Even if you provide tracking numbers, pictures, emails, etc....paypal will almost always side on the side of the buyer - even when the buyer has failed to even return the merchandise. 3. If Paypal does come out of it on the seller's side - the credit card company can still reverse the charge to Paypal whenever they want. Paypal has no recourse with them - or at least says they don't - and will therefore instantly settle it in favor of the buyer.

I have had a situation where there was an item or accessory on the invoice that was not going to be in stock so I offered a refund to the customer on that part - they say cool but then file a dispute thinking that is how they start the refund....then they write the story to paypal, I write the story to paypal....the stories are the same, we agree. should just be a quick partial refund but Paypal will sit on it in arbitration for the entire time limit they give themselves. The entire time all of the money is in their possession. Honestly it's a huge racket.

So...as a seller....before EVER involving Paypal/e-bay with resolving anything please take the time to communicate directly with the seller. If you can't get a response then involve the other guys. Also FWIW - not hearing a response you like doesn't mean the seller isn't working with you.

It's a statement about the state of who we are when the first reaction is to assume a rip off and to go to the middle man first instead of the actual seller.

The seller not only didn't send it, they never even had it. Who knows? But that is as good a story as any until your expected delivery date passes. I missed it. Did you get shipping information on eBay?

Rob, you are ignoring that the subject seller was thrown off eBay. How will OP communicate with him if he can't message him through eBay? Also there is unlikely to be any escrow of the payment. The seller most likely already withdrew it from his Pay Pal account. And the seller likely has no more payments coming in to Pay Pal for them to confiscate. eBay/Pay Pal is going to have to take the loss on this one.

Indeed - totally missed that the seller is deleted. Saw it in one of the other posts - didn't realize the initial one had a deleted seller as well. Yup - just file it now. They may make you wait but go ahead and file as you know it's going to be a crap show.

Sure, I'd love to find a LBS that will let me take their product, install it on my (older, also bought used) bike, ride it for a while, and then if I don't like it take it back? I suppose I could do that with Performance Bike, but that just doesn't seem right to buy a part entirely on a whim that I want to try out different pedals.


With a used part, the depreciation is already built in. If I don't like it and don't ride it long then I can resell it for approximately the same price. Can't do that with a new part, it's only new once. Plus, Speedplay's are stupid expensive new. At new Speedplay prices, I'd more likely just stick with the used Look Deltas that I currently ride.



If I've got 90 days, I was still thinking to hold out hope that the seller wasn't a scumbag. I guess the consensus is not. I guess I've gotta start paying more attention to where the seller is located in the future...

I've all but given up on eBay and Craigslist.

Guy tried to pass a bent frame.

Another guy tried to sell Speedplay X-Series pedals with Zero cleats. When I called him on it he threw the pedals into his Mercedes and screeched off in anger.

Dura Ace shifters "work flawlessly" and then don't when actually in-hand. Seller goes completely dark.

And on and on...