Monday, July 24, 2006

Buyer Beware

eBay is a wonderful place to find some pretty fabulous things. But, folks can really get ripped off on eBay.

Remember that adorable pink helmet I bought a couple weeks ago? It arrived.

I wouldn't feel safe wearing it while riding my bike on the Silver Comet Trail, let alone riding my scooter 40 mph down Ponce de Leon. It's flimsy, uncomfortable and too light to meet U.S. DOT requirements for helmets. Besides, to meet the requirements, a manufacturer must submit a sample helmet and, if the design meets the requirements, a sticker is issued for each helmet the company sells of that design.

This helmet does not even have a fake sticker attached. The seller outright lied in his ad. I sent him a message about it and received no response. So, I did something I've never had to do in the nearly 10 years I've been trading on eBay: Open a dispute.

So far, a file has been opened and an official e-mail has been sent to the seller. I'll keep you posted on how the process progresses.

1 comment:

Suzy Neal said...

Dang! Guess that goes with the old saying, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Hope you can get your $$ back!