I just wanted to share a recent sales experience with an 1800 owner and warn you about dealing with him on eBay

I sold a somewhat rusty 1800ES to a fellow in Colorado. Aside from some structural rust, the car was in excellent shape and I included many parts that would help the new owner restore the car or restore another with a less "troublesome body". I shared frank and revealing photos of the rust and evey concern and bit I history I had with the car. The extra parts included structural spars, two quarterpanels and a rear valance as well as a lot of other stuff salvaged from my old 1800E.

I offered the package for sale for around $1,750 and after few to no serious offers, I settled on selling the car for the rock-bottom price of $1000.00 - just enough to recoup my purchase cost. The eventual buyer, a certain fellow in colorado, told me a story that he and his son were restoring an 1800ES and that he could really use any other parts that I could send him - especially the gauges and AC. While I could find a use for, or certainly profit from selling the spares I felt that I should encourage this guy to restore his own vintage car by including whatever I had that he said he wanted.

I've been the recipient of many other volvo owners good will and I always feel like I should pass that good will along. My extra parts came from a 1971 1800E that I bought from JohnMC and that I carefully dismantled down to the car body and further down to scrap metal.

Waste not, want not.

I spent at least 100 hours tearing down the car and three packs of broken sawzal blades unmaking the body. This is significant time that I could have spent with my family or working for my own profit. But hey, this guy needed to parts save his car right? I've received parts from BB members and my own 122S came to be from a like-minded seller so I feel obligated to reciprocate.

Well, after storing the car and parts for an extra month beyond the agreed pickup, the seller contacts me and tells me that he's also working on a coupe and that he could certainly use the tudor body-specific parts that I did not initially offer. Like the good-hearted fool that I am, I tossed in most of what I still had from the 1800E

Afterwards, I felt good that I had shared my volvo parts stash and finally had room in my garage for my own 122S project. The guy who sold me my 67 122s did the same for me.

However, a few short weeks later, I start seeing the parts that I laboriously dismantled and packed for my Colorado friend, show up on eBay and selling for reasonable money.

This fellow lied to me about what he wanted the parts for, he cheated me by getting me to store his car for an extra month, he's making significant profit from the sweat of my brow, and to top it off I only received $970.00 for my sale due to paypal transfer fees.

I suppose this is seller-beware and maybe I'm a fool for not trying to milk him for all the money I could get, but I'm not that sort of person. *Many* Brickboard members have shared parts and advice with me for free and I've tried to pass that goodwill forward to others. But honestly, I feel lied to and cheated by someone pretending to be a caring member of the vintage volvo community.

So, I just want ALL of you to know that if and when you buy from this guy, you're paying him for my labor and my time. That is time I did not spend with my infant daughter or my wife of ten years. That's my desire to be honorable and that's my goodwill towards the vintage volvo community.

Enjoy it if you buy from him.

Further, I beleive the original post was to inform the other member of this board to a person who may have loose business morals reguarding his on line sales. I purchased two pieces of trim from him after directly asking about the condition of the pieces on the auction, and bid accordingly. This was before I saw the posting here.
When the items arrived, both had minor surface pitting, but one had a crack, such as a flat screwdriver prying on the piece to remove it from the body of the donor car. The one piece buffed up ok, but the crack in the chrome was not what I thought I would expect for a piece that was advertized free of pitting cracks or craizing.
I contacted the seller and he claimed that there were no defects to either piece that he sent me, and offered at refund my money upon return of the parts. He then send a second email and told me not to swap parts and keep his, as others had done to him with auction items. I'm not going to pay out more money just to have him claim that I've changed parts and refuse a refund.
I've repied that I'm going to eat the cost of these parts, rather than get involved with a flaming match on Ebay.
Had I seen this thread befor I bid on his auction I would have passed on the items. The post would have been taken as a warning when dealing with this person. Buyer beware.
The transaction has left me as an unsatisfied customer. This is my experience with this seller. This is what the original post was all about.

I have been dealing with this seller for a year now and have had no problems at all. Parts condition is always a subjective opinion. Minor scuffs and scratches?? gee I dont know?

As far as selling to him that seems to have been your choice.
I always like to get the most but some times it doesnt happen. If the guy I sell to has the staying power to wait for the higher price or to break bulk and part out well God Bless Free Enterprise.

I am not usually known for chiming in with the crowd and I know I am not
the popular poster here or on the list but you really have to look at the
facts. You sell , he buys, he sells for more.


I buy about $8,000.00 per year on ebay now down from 3 years ago and I buy from him alot. Along with alot of other people. This is the first I have heard any complaints.

I know I am very lucky. I have not had one problem yet. But I do check out my sellers before bidding.

Jim P
Great River, NY

Your points are well taken. I am in the middle of a transaction with this seller right now and could make the case for him taking his time in responding to me. The jury is definitely still out. Fortunately my transaction does not involve alot of money, the item is inexpensive but something I can use. We'll see, won't we?
There was another post in this thread commenting on new E-Bay buyers driving prices up. An item just about to end is currently at over $200, a pair of 1800 tailpipes. C'mon now! That's bordering on ridiculous. If these pipes actually sell for this amount or more, maybe there's hope for the $750 OD that's been on there for months.
--
Roy Olson

Just a quick update on my transaction with Amer Khan. I had to contact him to find out if my payment was received. Apparently it was and when I asked about the item's travel plans, the reply was that it would be shipped "sometime this week". I finally got it yesterday, 5/10. The transaction took almost a month so it's probably good that I didn't need the parts right away.
If this guy is in the business of selling items, I know that he expects quick payment, which he got from me. He should complement that quick payment with some reasonably fast shipping. That's not much to ask. If he's overloaded then get some help. My previous E-bay transactions have been smooth and fast so I guess I won't be dealing with Mr. Khan any more. Just my two cents about my particular experience. Thanks for reading.
--
Roy Olson

I can only hope prices go up. I have a bunch of stuff that I recently decided to sell... :-)
--
(2) '73 1800 ES 'projects', g/f's '73 1800 ES

Hey Jack,

I understand how you feel, and next time you won't be duped, I bet. Unfortunately, you will be feeling less of that *Good Will* you initially felt too, *sigh.*

Well, that's the sad part of it.

I guess the moral of this story is, had you investigated the guy a bit (maybe asked if he could provide a reference or two?) you might have ferreted it out that he is a Power Seller on ebay, and appears to be running a pretty profitable used car parts business.

I have a sneaky suspicion he's done this before, you are not the first. Maybe he goes from one Make/Model to another to avoid being caught?

You can sleep better at night knowing that you sleep well (knowing you help others) and he likely tosses and turns (knowing he helps himself, and then helps himself again to an extra portion).

I can see why you're pissed.

Belinda

p.s. I think it is admirable that you warned everyone about this scam. If more people did that there would be less rat-finks around - well less around getting away with it, anyway. ;-) Also, it was brave of you to confront him. I bet you feel good about that, eh? Oh - and his story about the engine was prolly a lame-a$$ excuse, no? What else could he say. sad, really.

Well, it was a several weeks ago and I've largely let it go. But I did only post on here just in case anyone else was thinking of selling their car to someone in Colorado.

After I confronted him, he did tell me that he was not selling any of the parts that I specifically offered for sale with the car itself (bodywork etc). And to his credit, they've not shown up on eBay. We just don't see eye-to-eye on this

In his mind he gave me a fair price for everything he got. In my mind I gave him everything that I agreed to and (after his repeated request) I gave him a lot of stuff that I did not initially offer - for free - which he intended to sell for his own profit. I've got no ill-will over the car, I'm just a bit pissed that he convinced me to give him all those other parts so he could make a tidy profit on the "deal"

Anyway. Water under the bridge. Lesson learned. I got careless because vintage volvo people are by and large such great people to know.

let it go man...
life's too short to whine about being taken advantage of.
i'm sure we all have a story that didn't turn out as we would have liked.
live and learn as they say.

Chasmataz:
Boy do you have some nerve. You are screwing over Planetman after he went out of his way to help you. How can you treat such an icon of the Volvo community with such disrespect?
Man up and pay your legitimate debts to this man who goes out of his way to give free advice, helps out anyone who needs it, trusts people he obviously shouldn't. Man up and do the right thing or get the hell out of our Volvo world. Precedents have been set in dealing with people like you and yours is coming if you do not right this wrong
TO ALL MEMBERS: Buy nothing from Chasmataz! Weigh in with you opinion on how he is treating Planetman. Stand up for a member who is being taken advantage of by someone who violated the trust extended to him by one of our very best members.

I hear ya Jack. It only takes one sour apple to spoil the bunch.

Now, if anyone has a spare 1800 windshield FOR SALE OR FREE and you happen to be near Santa Fe, NM, could you kindly contact me?

BTW, It's not for me, its for someone else. But I thought I'd ask here.

Thank you.

Belinda
guayule444@hotmail.com

Belinda, there's a fellow named Jason Mack in Albuquerque who was dealing in 1800 parts. He just might have your windshield and he's certainly close enough. You may be able to look him up or, if I can come up with an e-mail address I'll post it.
--
Roy Olson

thanks everyone who responded. I passed this info on. Also, I mistakenly thought the person who is looking for a windshield is in Sante Fe, he is actually somewhere in Texas (I believe near Austin?). Anyhoo, if anyone in the Texas area has a good windshield, send me an email and I'll forward the info on to my friend at work - it's his Dad that is looking for a 1800 windshield.

-B

Hello Belinda,

New windshields are available for 1800 for less than $300.00 in either tinted or clear.

Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90501

I *had* one but it was given away - It'll probably show up on eBay.

Personally, I've never had good luck having a windshield shipped anywhere. I bought one from Phil Stone, but the USPS crushed it flat. I ordered one from Volvo (only about $200.00) and the first two were broken in transit. The third (and last 122 windshield in the USA) finally came unbroken...

You are best with a local person. There must be someone local with a spare.

"last one in the USA"?

Are you saying that Volvo has ceased to import these items?

Just curious. I haven't heard anything like this until now.

The good thing about ordering a new windshield from the dealer is that you don't have to pay for any that arrive damaged - they'll order replacements until they're able to provide a good, undamaged piece.

Best,

Cameron
122SC,444
Rose City

I just want to be absolutely clear about why I am pissed about this. I feel perfectly happy that the ES is gone as well as the body work that I offered with it. He paid his 970/1k for the car and I'm perfectly happy with the sale. He can crush the car flat or dismantle it and sell it if he wants. I don't really care.

I'm upset because this guy got greedy and persuaded me to include a lot of stuff that he only wanted to sell and that he got me to do it by feeding me some father-son project restoration project story - which may or may not be true.

The core here is that he used me as a free parts supplier for his long-standing eBay parts business by being dishonest about his intentions for those parts.

"please include ____, I might need it for my restoration" was the line I kept getting on the phone.

After I confronted him, he tells me that the engine on the ES is not so great and needs a rebuild. If he were selling parts to pay for the rebuild, or to buy a better project car, I can understand and fully appreciate that. But I do not believe that is his motivation.

However, his eBay identity - known to me now - makes it pretty clear that he was milking me for parts to sell for his own profit. That's dishonest. The sale of the ES is really beside the point.

The only motivation I have in sharing all this is to warn any of you that might fall for the same story. This guy probably just wants your car to strip and sell.

I probably could have gotten far more than $250 for my 1800E if I had sold it on eBay in pieces too. But I didn't want a car in pieces hanging around the driveway, didn't want the hassle of boxing up and shipping off a million different parts. Etc. So I basically gave it away, and have no regrets about it at all.

You were satisfied when the sale of your 1800ES was made, don't give in to seller's remorse.
--
'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic 245 + turbo

Hi John, I was wonder if you'd chime in on this since the 1800E orginaly came from you at a low sale price

Firstly, I *DO NOT* regret getting rid of the rust trap 1800 ES. I should have just stuck with the 122s models - those are the cars that I really love.

I regret falling for this guy's story when he kept pressing me to include spare parts that I didn't offer in the original sale. I only offered the car and the bodywork pieces to help restore the ES. He got all greedy and kept asking after the knobs engine, AC, instrumentation and FI system. Fortunately I saved all the D-Jet and Brakework for my 122.

Like the fool I am, I went ahead and gave him all the parts that didn't fit on my 122 and then some for no additional cost. I had no idea he was milking me as a free parts supplier for his eBay business.

Previously, I've gotten rid of a few 1800 parts to a worthy chap (an 88.1 Radio Personality) here in St. Louis who flat-out *refused* to take them for free. But that's it. I knew how valuable those parts could be and know what a pain it is to buy each one individually and I wanted to spare a restorer that kind of trouble. I guess that makes me a sucker. A sucker who's been fortunate enough to meet similarly "foolish" people.

I deliberately did not sell those parts on eBay because I didn't want you to feel like I was screwing you over. Similarly, I really felt uneasy licensing and driving that car after you sold it to me for a junk-car price and when I told you I was buying it for parts for my 122S - which I was. The real heart of the old car now beats inside my Amazon.

I guess I just regret that those parts, which represent a lot of time and effort, are getting "pimped" off on eBay when I could have given or traded them them to some of my friends with 1800s. It seems very "unworthy"

I can understand your frustration, I was just trying to zen you into accepting water under the bridge as water under the bridge.

My curiosity piqued, I looked his ID up on eBay and saw what looked a couple of items that looked like they might be from my old car. The fuel door in particular, I recognized the 'unique' combination of tan and gray primer on it. And also perhaps the horribly faded carpets?

For whatever reason 1800's have utterly lost their appeal to me. Perhaps it's just the sad experience of having two of them die under my care (one violently bent into an 'L' shape when someone ran a stop sign), the other one getting smashed into from behind at a stop light and then succumbing to salt rust. but neither 1800E I had was ever half as much fun to drive as my PV is. I'm not exactly sure why. Of coruse, the PV isn't stock (at all) any more, so it's a bit unfair to compare it to a bone stock 1800E, but even when the PV leaned like a sailboat in the corners and had 90 tired HP pushing it around it somehow was more fun to drive. Now it has 175(ish) HP, corners like a modern spports car, and is loud enough to make Harley riders wince...
--
'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic 245 + turbo

I just wanted to note a small update. Mr. Khan has apologized for saying anything that "hurt" me, which is fine I suppose, but it really doesn't change the fact that he misled me about his intentions and is now reaping quite a profit from my labors.

He tells me the motor in the car needs a rebuild - which is news to me, but I suppose I can understand if he's selling parts to pay for the rebuild. Still, I feel misled and taken advantage of.

Sorry to hear about your experience. That's my main fear with a situation I have. I've got a 99% rust free complete '67 rolling shell (I'm probably keeping the B20/M41) and was going to offer it "free to good home" or $750 with the engine/trans, but am afraid it will get parted out, and since I'm in the SW corner of CO that was the person I was thinking would probably the one to get it. Could you email me with the real name so I can avoid him when the time comes to put it up?
--
Dave Shannon
Durango, CO
'63 P-210
'67 1800s
'88-240
'01 Wrangler
'06 F250 Diesel 4X4
my pages

Playing Devil's advocate here:

I've bought stuff from himm probably a year or so ago. He's an honest seller at the very least - I've never been disappointed with stuff from him. Buying the car under false pretenses is definately a little shady, but posting such messages in a public forum like this, I would say, at best, is potentially equally shady. It's like publically talking behind someone's back. Do they know you've posted this here?

I had a similar experience myself, but it was me. I got a 244 turbo for free. The condition was that I rebuild the car. Supposedly, the car only had a leak in the exhaust, and that was why the turbo did not work (it chugged along with low compression). However, after tearing into the car, I found a bad turbo, bad head gasket, cracked head, faulty idle circuit, bad wiring harness - the list went on from there. The car was said to be "rust free' but after pulling carpet, etc, I found significant rust. I took some parts from the car for the rest of the fleet, took a few to sell, and passed the project car on to a friend.

I never intended that to happen, the car itself was beautiful, but it was just a larger project than I could handle for a car that at tops was worth about $2500, and looking at more than that in repairs didn't seem worth it.

Either way, I am not going to hold this seller to judgement until I know that his restoration project didn't fail for some reason, or become too much. We don't know enough, there could have been a death or illness or accident forcing the sale, we have no idea.

Jim

Yes I suppose it would seem that way, but would you rather that each one of you fall for a similar sad story about father-son bonding and a love for old volvos.
"please include that, I might need I for my project!"

But to be fair,I did tell him that I was going to inform the other members of the community what he'd done. He responded by saying that he's been serving the community by selling parts on eBay. Which is fine if you've not got any old volvos near you.

However, do you want to know that all the parts you've been buying were "given" away under the assumption that they'd be used for a restoration and not as a free-supplier to an eBay busninessman? Similarly, do you like knowing that the guy who grew the beans for your $4.00 cup of coffee only got $.05 for his back breaking labors growing and harvesting that coffee?

Maybe that is a stretch, but I like knowing where my goods come from and where they are going.

Similarly, do you like knowing that the guy who grew the beans for your $4.00 cup of coffee only got $.05 for his back breaking labors growing and harvesting that coffee?

Maybe that is a stretch, but I like knowing where my goods come from and where they are going.

Jack - I totally hear where you are coming from, which is part of the reason I don't drink coffee...

Following the metafore, I generally don't give anything away. I trade or sell. I sell with the expectation of use or the expectation it will be resold, or both. Call me jaded.

Thanks for the thoughts. I wish I could give up coffee, but I'm sadly a coffee addict and I try and buy "fair trade' shade-grown coffee whenever I can.

As far as all this nastiness with free parts, I'm not dwelling on it. It happened and there's nothing that the colorado guy could do to make up for it. I don't want the money, I don't want the parts back. I really want my trust back, but I guess I lost it.

Thanks for listening to all my indignant ranting about this

Nathan,

We thought you knew!!
Ahmer is the 1800 guy on ebay. Well, the only one out of Colorado.

I for one assumed you had reconciled this with your conscience. I think I even said, "well, see it on ebay" when you sold it.

That said I've had seamless transactions with him previously; and I'm disappointed to read your story the way it played, on both counts.

Regards, -Sean
--
1966 122s, 1970 142s, 1974 142e... Blue is beautiful

I know Amer, and I hate to see someone trash him openly on this forum. He always treated me very well, and I never thought he took advantage of me (on the contrary).

Paul

I didn't know, nor did he disclose that he was a parts dealer. He told me that he and his son were restoring his green 1800ES and asked - almost begged me to include anything extra that I had. He said that he wanted to swap my parts and engine (from my old 73ES) into his existing body. I did this, because other vintage volvo owners been so kind to me.

RedwoodChair mentioned Mr Khan as Ammu Manu on the board a few weeks back and I asked how he knew who bought the car, but never heard back.

So this guy "Khaned" me out of hundreds of dollars in parts and labor and I fell for it, because I'm not an suspicious A-hole.

Well, he replied to my angry request for an explanation telling me that he paid good money for a rusty car and that I'm just being greedy after seeing how much cash he's making on eBay.

Figures. Profit, profit profit that's all guys like this care about.
I wash my hands of it.

Nathan,
Sorry, I missed that message.
I just had a sneaky suspicion...
The floorboards may get welded in yet.
We shall see shan't we?
I scored the oil pressure gauge,for the 72-145,
I know it small consolation,and I wish I could
have put some money in your pocket
but thanks for all the hard work.
Ken
--
69-145-S ; 71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES ; 87-245-DL

I know this off the path, but do you still sell the door window molding strips for the 240? I need a bunch of it and have lost my source. Thanks Paul

Thanks. Really it's not the cash - although that does sting a bit. It's more that he lied about who he was and what his intentions were. He persuaded me to give him a lot of extra parts by whining about the cost to ship to him and his father-son bonding project.

He wanted more even more (all my dash switches, for example) but I managed to keep a few things for my 122 brake conversion, D-jet project and a spare rear and side windows that I'll give to one of a couple people here with 1800 coupes.

I feel lucky that I got anywhere near the cost I paid for the car. All I really lost was many hours of labor, sawzal blades, and my faith in humanity :)

There are tons of dishonest jerks like that all over the place. We've given so many things here through "free" lists to people who always come up with stuff like "oh, my husband would love to use this" to just see it up for sale the next day on the net. Tell yourself that those people don't have any trouble looking at themselves in the mirror in the morning and you have to become suspicious, or I would say more realistic about people's intentions if you don't want to be taken advantage of all the time.

I had a similar experience of disillusionment with a Volvo person. I just assumed that anyone into old Volvo's was a real salt of the earth type of person. Sometimes the rational part of the brain gets clouded. Probably due to all the goods times fixing and fighting with these cars had with friends, helpful brickboarders, brothers, kids, and the genuinely friendly people you meet out of the blue that just want to lend a hand. Apparently the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows in its entirety. Who knew? I suppose the one bit of good news is that a few people will benefit from your hard work.

Interesting post. As an eBay buyer, I have had nothing but good experiences with the seller in question and the parts are ones I needed and I felt they were fairly priced. My only eBay issue is there are a lot of "new" eBay buyers who manage to get prices pretty high by their early bidding wars. I also see 1800 parts buyers who are eBay sellers who get the parts and mark them higher. That's okay – if I really need or want a part, I have to be willing to pay the going rate.

That said, if anyone wants to donate anything to my P1800S and P1800Es projects, rest assured you send ‘em, I’ll use ‘em or pass them on. Only $ involved are the shipping costs. I have given and got parts, and so far it has worekd out okay. If someone ends up with parts leftover and wants to eBay them, at least they don’t end up in the trash!

And Repairman jack – hear ya and understand the point of the post! BTW – about that D jetronic unit: -).........

Although I don't sell parts on eBay, (yet); I will sometimes buy a group of parts to get one or two things I need. The things I don't use will someday be sold. You were not given all the facts for sure, but posibly many of what you sold will be used to restore/repair his personal vehicle. If he makes a profit on the left-overs... so what. Understandably you feel betrayed but maybe not as much as you believe.
Someone else wrote, "... move on.", Good advice, learn, and next time ask more questions.