Update: I just figured out what happened. Dude sent me the wrong wheels. He had the Elites listed in a separate auction. So now he has two buyers with the wrong stuff.

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A couple of weeks ago I bought a set of supposedly new Ksyrium Equipe wheels off eBay.

I paid immediately after the auction ended, and the seller emailed me to indicate the wheels wouldn't ship for a whole week.

I got the wheels today, and you can see some pics below. They look newish, but not new; as you can see, they are Ksyrium Elites, but perhaps a couple of years old. Maybe one of you can tell the vintage from the hubs and/or the stickers.

I'm wondering if I'm getting hosed here. I realize Elites are more expensive than Equipes, but these don't look new from what I can tell-- maybe they were cleaned, but they have seen some use-- and I was wary of buying Elites, as I am a clyde, and currently weigh 190-200 lbs. Is $212.50 a great deal for a set of used Elites (shipping included)? It looks like it may be, judging from completed auctions on eBay, but the age/used status of the wheels should be factored in, no?

I'm waiting for a reply from the seller, but any helpful advice that you-all can provide would be appreciated. Thanks in advance...

The old Elites are going to be comparable to some 2011 Equipes. As far as what year, they are older than 2006, thats all I know.

elites will definetly support you.

For completeness after the update, they are 2004 Elites. I have some.

I appreciate that. There is a touch of irony here: the seller works for the US Post Office. Maybe I'm naive, but I would think if anyone knows to be careful not to ship the wrong stuff, it's someone who works at the Post Office (or some equivalent).

So what happens now?

Good question. I'm still waiting for the seller to contact me. Tough situation for him... I once made a similar mistake, but I caught the package at the post office before it went out.

In the past, when I have had a problem with a seller, eBay basically says "ship it back, we'll make you whole." But that requires that I again front the money to ship the package. Plus it effectively punishes me for the other guy's error.

It gets better... I didn't notice it before, but the actual shipping cost was $66, not the $35 I paid. No matter what this guy does, it's going to cost him. If he does nothing, he probably gets negative feedback, trashing his record; if both buyers pursue resolution via eBay, he eats $130+ in return shipping; if he gets creative, and convinces both buyers to ship directly to each other, he eats $130+ in shipping costs; if he issues a partial refund to the parties to compensate for his carelessness, he's going to eat that cost... no matter what he does, he can't win.

The moral of this story: if you ship expensive things simultaneously to different parties, make sure you send the right stuff to the right folks.

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Update: seller got back to me, wants to arrange a "swap." This will be interesting.