Well I'm riding on the horns of a dilemma, yesterday I had an Ebay purchase arrive, a really nice CB750 front wheel, all the way from the US.
Now why, pray tell, would I buy a wheel in the US, when 1, I don't need one, and 2, if I did, I could probably source one here? Well, 1, it was in magnificent condition with shiny original spokes and no rust worth mentioning, and 2, it was cheap, @$75 USD. Oh, it also came with a really nice disc still bolted to the hub, and the axle and speedo drive, which sadly, is cracked. (But that was declared in the description, so no problems there)
Still, for $75 it was a bargain. What wasn't quite as good, was that the shipping to Oz was $192.55. Oh well. It is what it is, and I knew that before I hit the "Buy it now" option. What did piss me off though, was that the actual shipping cost was $137.00. Hmmnn, $55.00 difference seems a little excessive? So anyway, the seller said in his description that if I wasn't happy, to contact him and I'd make it right, rather than start a dispute, leave him bad feedback etc. Fair enough, so I contacted him, attached a pic of the shipping label with the price and I'm waiting for his reply.
So whats the dilemma whose horns I'm a riding? Well being the CB750 expert that I so obviously am, I realised, upon looking at the auction pics, thst the wheel was not a 1975 front wheel at all, but rather, one from a K0. And not just any K0, but from a particularly early example, probably a sandcast, looking at the disc rotor and speedo drive trim.
I'm guessing that the wheel, in that condition, might be worth a tad more than 75 beans? Probably a tad more than $267.55, which is what I paid tthe seller, including the $55 overcharge, so should I worry about pursuing the seller for 55 bux when I scored such a valuable piece?
Now let me just state for the record, that I didn't buy the wheel to re-sell, you see I've been looking for a K0 front hub (I'd given up on finding a complete wheel a long time ago) as I still have my K0 engine (1010xxx) forks, triples, rear hub, rim, original paint tank, etc etc, and one day, if I can find a frame, I'd like to build a "patina" K0 as a rider.
So given that I made out like a bandit, do I biatch because the seller ripped me off for shipping, probably intentionally because his signature is right there below the actual shipping price, or ask him for my 55 bucks? I don't really feel that pissed off, but at the same time, I really hate ebay sellers who intentionally rip off buyers? Hmmmnnnn.......