RE: I think we have hit Peak Norvel
I can only think of two deals gone wrong for me on Feebay. One involved a common thief who bought a radio from me, claimed he didn't get it for 3 or 4 weeks, then told me it arrived with broken switches. I offered to have him return it for a refund and heard nothing more until I noticed that Paypal had refunded his money-he played me like a fiddle by dragging the deal out until the protest period was over. I never knew he filed a claim against me until the money AND RADIO were gone for good. Took 12 years to trust paypal again and open an account-and I only did it because you can't do anything on Feebay without it.
The second incident involved an MP-Jet .061 diesel. The motor was R/C and was advertised to come with a CL venturi. When the motor came, there was no venturi so I contacted the seller and was told "well, if I couldn't find it then I don't have it-besides, you were going to fly it r/c anyway..." How he would know what I planned to do with the motor is a mystery, and I figured that it was the last I would hear from him about it. I left appropriate feedback stating that I didn't receive all items described in the listing. I have to say that I was truly impressed, being a cocky blue collar skilled tradesman, at the breadth of profanity that a 70+ year old model engine collector from Pennsylvania can level at you! The ensuing exchange of emails was almost worth the price of the auction, let's say that I had a good time with it-things got kinda petty and out of hand so I let him have it.
Lo-and-behold, a month or two later I get a package from him containing the missing venturi. I attempted to amend my negative feedback, but couldn't. A week later, I found out why he went ahead and sent the missing venturi: He had another person leave bad feedback and wanted to know if I would take back what I left on his account for feedback.
Aside from that, I occasionally get engines that are sold as "new" but aren't or are "used in good condition" and have vice grip marks on the head or drive washer. I those cases I go back to the ad, reread the description and see if I missed something in the pic that would have told me it was @#$%ed up. If I can see it in the pic, I don't bother asking the seller to make it right but if the text is misleading or the pics are taked to hide the damage I always ask (and get) a partial refund or return offered.
The only thing that I would not want to accept as used engine sold as new is a small bore diesel. It's too easy to damage the rods and so many people have a hard time getting them started and running that the engines can be damaged before they reach the top of the learning curve and decide to sell the engine because they just don't understand diesels.