I think we're missing the key point here.
How does the mechanic know 2 balls are missing?
Who is he? A soprano?
Did he open it up to find out?
Know it's no longer in original condition as bought.
SO, now what?
Maybe Mark can let the buyer know that many of those freewheels had some
bearings mising to keep them from sticking.
Sounds were very varied depending on the run and tolerances.
The stuff years ago was not the precision of todays machining.
That's the luck of draw. nice oil, not too much so doesn't run all over
spokes and hub, and that's it.
Remember how some ran nice and straight and otheras had a side "wobble"
motion when coasting or pedaliing.
A nice polite lesson in what the quality was like on that item years ago
would help keep the 100% rating hopefully. If the guy beefs after the free
learning session then maybe charge him a restocking fee because his
expectation is not keeping with a knowledgeble buyer of those type of
components.
If he can't deal with that then he has to go to every swap and spin the
stuff in hand until he finds just what he thinks he wants.
Of course, it may end up costing 10K to find it or his fishook in the
haystack may find the needle first try.
Ted Ernst
Palos Verdes Estates
CA USA
> Cleaning out the bins and ebaying some stuff I don't want / will never
> use,
> off it goes to ebay. Who's not doing it. I have 600+ ebay positives.
>
>
>
> Recently sold a Regina ORO freewheel in the desireable 14-28 ratio -
> complete with box and inner wrapper, box a bit tattered but all there, not
> faded, etc. Went for $130 which was a good bid.
>
>
>
> Pics at http://www.flickr.com/
>
>
>
> Sent the item off and received the following request from the buyer:
>
>
>
> "I'm not happy with the freewheel's quality, mechanic says there are a
> couple bearings missing, I don't like the sound, I want a refund".
>
>
>
> Well I sent the standard reply, "maybe the grease is dried out, we used to
> run 90 weight in these, suggest you flood it with synthetic oil or Phil
> Tenacious oil, don't worry be happy".
>
>
>
> No, the buyer insists, I want a refund. I offered a $15 rebate, which
> was
> refused. Buyer (ebay feedback of 4) wants a rebate. Since it's a NOS
> item
> and at least some of the perceived value has been lost since it's been on
> a
> bike, I don't think I should offer a refund - my thought is, if you don't
> know what you're buying, don't bid on a NOS item expecting to try it out
> and
> return it if it is not to your liking.
>
>
>
> I'd really like to know the thoughts of the group on this.
>
>
>
> Couple years ago I sold a set of VERY nice Porsche tail lights for an
> early
> car (68) that were in very, very nice shape - these things are plastic,
> very
> fragile and of course no longer made. They went for $250 which was a
> spectacular deal! They were worth twice that. Well, winning bidder was
> in
> Greece of all places, he pushed back on the shipping cost, and then was
> apparently not satisfied and wanted to return them. So my response was, I
> said ship them back at your expense, when I receive them if they are as I
> sent them (unmolested, not installed) then I'll refund your money, less
> listing fees and shipping. They never showed up ! But I got a negative
> feedback. Dang.
>
>
>
> So I want to be ethical, but I think I'm on the right side of this. What
> do you think ?
>
>
>
> Mark Petry
>
> Bainbridge Island, WA