PC bought on eBay turns up dead

**SuperZ** · 27 February 2010, 16:13

Originally posted by worzelGummidge View Post

OK, I know eBay. I have search on this site but have not found anything.

Has anyone else bought a PC on eBay and when delivered it does not power up?

I have just taken delivery of a nice, slightly scratch and but OK Sun Microsystems Ultra 40 but it does not power up.

I have a couple of other Ultra 40's and after trying a few parts from the other machines in the dead one it seems as though it has a motherboard fault.

On powering up nothing happens put there is power going through the power supply. What should happen when powering up one of these beasts is that it initially sound like a small rocket is going off when all the fans power up but then is a quiet as a mouse.

Has anyone had a similar experience? what did you do when the seller was not interested in a full refund? Go direct to eBay or take the seller to the small claims court?

Never had the problem but go via eBay first. A full refund has to be given I believe, it's dead on arrival. They will get the seller to refund you, or their account will be closed down.

**worzelGummidge** · 27 February 2010, 16:20

O.k. Thanks. I will give the seller a chance to refund, then seek help from eBay and then small claims if they play silly buggers.

**pzz76077** · 27 February 2010, 16:36

I had the same with a Sun ultra from an ebay seller a few years ago.

In my case, the whole front panel inc the front of the CD drive was ripped off and several of the larger components had been ripped off the motherboard.

The damage was entirely due to poor packaging.

What I did is to take some pictures and emailed them off the seller. From these it was obvious what has happened and I was not trying to pull a fast one. I gave him the option of a replacement or refund. He replaced with another server a few days later and we both ended up giving good feedback and we have done business (another Sun and a SGi) since.

Most people are understanding when presented with the evidence and will sort things out without needing to go through ebay arbitration service, legal action etc.

PZZ

**Clippy** · 27 February 2010, 17:06

I would not mention that you opened it up and did some troubleshooting if I were you.

When you contact the seller just mention it won't power up and as soon as you realised this, you contacted him.

Otherwise, he may use the fact you opened it up as an excuse not to refund/replace.

**suityou01** · 27 February 2010, 17:09

Originally posted by worzelGummidge View Post

OK, I know eBay. I have search on this site but have not found anything.

Has anyone else bought a PC on eBay and when delivered it does not power up?

I have just taken delivery of a nice, slightly scratch and but OK Sun Microsystems Ultra 40 but it does not power up.

I have a couple of other Ultra 40's and after trying a few parts from the other machines in the dead one it seems as though it has a motherboard fault.

On powering up nothing happens put there is power going through the power supply. What should happen when powering up one of these beasts is that it initially sounds like a small rocket is going off when all the fans power up but then is a quiet as a mouse.

Has anyone had a similar experience? what did you do when the seller was not interested in a full refund? Go direct to eBay or take the seller to the small claims court?

It's been in transit. Try reseating all the cards.

**TimberWolf** · 27 February 2010, 17:14

I had similar with my new desktop, DOA. It turned out that a wire to the hard drive had come loose in transit, partly as consequence of Dell saving 1p on a wire that was too short.

**worzelGummidge** · 27 February 2010, 18:17

Originally posted by pzz76077 View Post

I had the same with a Sun ultra from an ebay seller a few years ago.

In my case, the whole front panel inc the front of the CD drive was ripped off and several of the larger components had been ripped off the motherboard.

The damage was entirely due to poor packaging.

What I did is to take some pictures and emailed them off the seller. From these it was obvious what has happened and I was not trying to pull a fast one. I gave him the option of a replacement or refund. He replaced with another server a few days later and we both ended up giving good feedback and we have done business (another Sun and a SGi) since.

Most people are understanding when presented with the evidence and will sort things out without needing to go through ebay arbitration service, legal action etc.
PZZ

The packaging was OK on this delivery. A funny thing though is the front foot was missing from the server but that would not have happened during transit.

I have checked that all leads are connected. These Sun servers are very well made and leads don't come un-connected very easily. It's a bit of a pain really but I will see how things go with the seller.

Reference the not mentioning the having a tinker comment from someone, you have to take the side off these things to get the disks in. It can take up to eight disks and the whole thing is very well made so if changing components such as fans or power supply then no screwdrivers are required it just plug and play stuff not like usual PC's where the case is too small for the contents and everything is a bit of a mess inside the case.

**suityou01** · 27 February 2010, 18:39

Originally posted by worzelGummidge View Post

The packaging was OK on this delivery. A funny thing though is the front foot was missing from the server but that would not have happened during transit.

I have checked that all leads are connected. These Sun servers are very well made and leads don't come un-connected very easily. It's a bit of a pain really but I will see how things go with the seller.

Reference the not mentioning the having a tinker comment from someone, you have to take the side off these things to get the disks in. It can take up to eight disks and the whole thing is very well made so if changing components such as fans or power supply then no screwdrivers are required it just plug and play stuff not like usual PC's where the case is too small for the contents and everything is a bit of a mess inside the case.

Usual PCs work.

HTH

**BolshieBastard** · 27 February 2010, 19:31

Just raise an ebay \ paypal dispute. Everything is in the buyer's favour now on ebay.

Should have no problem getting a full refund via the disputes procedure. Shouldnt beed SCC.

PC bought on eBay turns up dead