justabikegirl

Just a warning to my bike friends. I wanted to build up a bike for myself so I purchased a "2010 Project 1 Trek Madone WSD" frame on e-Bay at Christmas. The frame arrived and looked good, but my enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that when I turned the frame over there was a big Trek sticker that clearly showed the frame was manufactured Jan. 15, 2008.

I contacted the seller (nixonvw) who told me the frames had not changed since 2008, so it didn't matter. I disagreed, since she advertised it as a 2010 frame. She would not agree to a return or a reduction in price so I contacted e-Bay who I thought had a Buyer Protection plan. Guess what? The seller "escalated" the complaint and e-Bay sided with the seller without ever contacting me for my side of the story. Evidently, once someone escalates a dispute the other person is locked out of the discussion.

What a shame for people legitimately wanting to sell their bikes or components. I have had good luck in the past both buying and selling on e-Bay but this $860 mistake was a HUGE lesson for me. I have appealed their decision, but my shopping days on e-Bay are over. Buyer Beware.