[sand_man]

So after years of buying and selling things online (not always with Ebay), I finally encountered my first taste of bitterness. I'm just trying to get my ducks in line and maybe get a different perspective from the Pelican Community. As such, I won't reveal too much about the seller, as I believe in giving the benefit of the doubt, and I'm still awaiting a response and possible resolution. Also, I made a mistake myself in this transaction and I'll get to that in a moment.

So here's my side:

I won a "rare" Porsche Factory Technical Manual for one of my favorite race cars [cough][cough]956[cough][cough]. Condition was listed as "used", and "sold as seen". In addition, six pictures were posted of random pages from the manual. I paid (PayPal) for it in full, including shipping, immediately following the auction. The seller was slow in communicating and I had to ask for an update, to which he finally responded, indicating that he was on vacation and would research my order when he returned. So I waited. I never did get a follow up email, but the manual did show up the following week. Here's where I'm miffed: the manual is a copy and not even the same copy that was listed in the auction photos. In fact, it's not even a good quality copy...some of the scanned images are more clear in his auction ad than are in the pages I received. It's also not "used"! Beyond a greasy mark on the cover, probably put there on purpose for effect, it's a fresh copy! No where in the ad did the seller indicate it was a "copy" or "not original" and here's where I made my biggest mistake...I NEVER ASKED!!!! SHAME ON ME!!!

So what to do? Keep the manual I have, even though it's a cheap copy? Take one on the chin and chalk it up as one of life's lessons? Or do I ask for a full refund and send it back? It clearly doesn't match the auction pictures for a "sold as seen" listing. I'm pissed because I feel that I paid over a $100.00 for 91 pages of poorly copied paper. I feel that someone is profiting off of this and possibly violating some copyright law and/or agreement with Porsche. This feels different than a group of guys getting together to share missing pages from their manual set, for a production car. I'm sure that's wrong too, but no one is profiting, beyond the knowledge gained. How can this manual be considered "rare", if someone is making copies of it?

No, I don't own a 956, and likely never will. In fact the manual is in German. I just thought I was picking up a cool piece of Porsche memorabilia. A fool and his money...