On ebay i'm seeing parts flipping. Easy to tell, the seller has little knowledge of the part and asking for a high price way beyond inflation consideration.

Another type of part is a listing with least specs provided, yet it specifys fits your car, it does not.

The most common part I see is the same chinese part such as master cylinder or tail light socket pig tail that's purchased wholesale by multiple sellers.

Also, for the exception of 2 sellers, most annoying is the wrong shocks thats been the case sold for about 20years on 1963 buick skylark.

I have to mention that buyers on reviews no longer properly review products. Buyers aware that it is a chinese product of inferior quality are quick to five star it because it works. Nothing else matters,"it works!" I was fooled by review because I expected it to work, which it did, but not for long.

Last, I'm tired of paying too much money for chinese parts that I have to fix to get it to work for longer to get my moneys worth.

My biggest issue has been irreparable parts listed as only having cosmetic problems... this has happened to me several times now, generally the photos are taken to conceal the damage or falsely described as "cosmetic defects only". My last purchase was an ashtray with the bottom rusted out of it... a wee bit more than a hundred dollars for an ashtray that won't hold ashes? Makes for a tough restoration problem. Not a lot of money involved here, but I have very little patience for this sort of thing.

It kind of makes it difficult for buyers, but also sellers, as the public is becoming more distrusting of "ebay" over time. "eBay" is probably okay, but the parts flippers feel the need to profit even when they have nothing to offer.

I continue to buy from unknown venders because of pure desperation... frequently Buicks do not enjoy the aftermarket support, especially on prewar stuff & everyone seems to think that their (used to be a) parts car deserves a full restoration due to it needing pretty much everything located and replaced. No parts cars... create a real squeeze on the useful remaining parts. And a real opportunity for the crooks to unfairly misrepresent for profit .

Still, I see some of you guys out there turning out nice restorations, so that gives me hope.

Just my rant. My apologies to anybody who didn't want to hear it.

In regard to ebay they allow some sellers to run shady activity, if you see they don't have as an option to flag an ad for misleading facts. For example, its a POS, and they sell it as "rat rod." FYI: Recently ebay agreed to a fine for criminal activity against a couple that spoke up criticizing their practices.

I admire anyone who tackles significant restoration projects in today's world of online gratification, (which as the thread points out comes with disappointments and risks).
My two cents, become a BCA, GSCA or ROA member, get their excellent periodicals and patronize the parts and services businesses who advertise there.
I have dealt with some of these sellers for nearly 40 years, others less so. I'm not speaking of YearOne or Original Parts Group, I'm referring to the small outfits who are represented by Buick aficionados who have accumulated and curated excellent inventories of original pieces. Some of these have also invested in producing reproduction pieces which, in my experience are generally first quality or better than NOS -polished stainless steel acorn lug nuts for example.)
Regarding ebay, I found a lot of excellent original pieces on ebay, starting with ebay's early days, (1999). In those days there was a steady supply of NOS parts available from guys who had apparently bought obsolete dealership inventory as an investment gambit. It was a field day if you knew what to look for. Now ebay's costs have driven these sellers away, or they sold everything, so there's not much of the 'gold' available.