Ebay parts OEM warning

I use a combination of amazon, Rock, and ebay for replacement parts. I've had alot of success with buying NOS OEM parts on ebay, for fractions less than what dealers or parts suppliers want. 

I replaced a sequoia tailgate latch with a chinese POS on ebay, because at the time OEM were around 200, and chinese POS was 20. I'll take my chances for those numbers. well, to no ones surprise, the chinese POS is actually trash. So back to ebay.

Found a OEM for 60 on the latest search, so ordered it and it arrived last week. Opened it up, a new toyota parts label inside a bubble wrap bag was the first giveaway it was crap. the second dead givaway - 

Manufacture date of 5/23/21. Want to tell me how Toyota is still getting parts for a 15 year old vehicle in 2021? its the same crap as the 20$ part, they just put a new label on it and mark it as OEM. looking thru their other listings, this is all they do. markup knockoffs with a label printer, and call it OEM. I reported the seller to ebay which Im sure will go far, but for a warning to everyone else. be careful with OEM products. you know what the packaging and label should look like, so if it doesnt look like it, its probably not OEM.

On another fun note, the seller offered me a full refund if I removed the negative feedback. I said sure, send me the refund and I'll remove it. Got my refund, but that feedback isnt going anywhere. 

I'm not questioning that that isn't an oem part but why couldn't it have been made more recently?   Perhaps that part is used on other platforms or maybe it's just still manufactured?

jfryjfry said:

I'm not questioning that that isn't an oem part but why couldn't it have been made more recently?   Perhaps that part is used on other platforms or maybe it's just still manufactured?

I was thinking the same thing. Plus . . . 

"So back to ebay". You don't buy from eBay you buy from a seller who operates on eBay's platform. It is a significant difference and buyers should look at the seller's feedback to get a perhaps small but possibly useful clue as to the type of things they sell.

In reply to jfryjfry :

Beat me to it. Mopar still makes brand new parts in the last 12months for neons. 

I agree with the others, some new OE parts are available for a really long time, longer than you'd expect.

BMW actually cut out the middleman and started selling some Chinese aftermarket parts as OE for the E28 a year or two before I sold mine (heater valves come to mind). I wouldn't be surprised if that kind of crap is happening more than most people think.

I don't go cheap anymore. Especially my cars. I get it from the dealer, full price, and do the repair once. No more frustrations, and the money goes to a company that actually cares and is held liable. 

In reply to Junghole :

I lean towards this more and more.

We definitely still make service parts for models that old, which side note is super annoying because that stuff is like three generations of development old and requires keeping a bunch of old tooling around and making new tooling compatible just to make like 50 parts a year. But apparently people do still go to the dealer when their first generation honda pilot needs new struts so we have to keep a few around. Also fun fact, it probably varies a lot between manufacturer and what the part is, but at least for us service parts aren't required to be identical to the OE version and usually very much aren't.

The "Made in Japan" part is the most suspicious thing on the label to me.  Toyota has a global supply chain.  For a truck made in good old Indiana, I doubt they are going to import the tailgate latch from Japan.  If they are still popping out replacement parts, Japan probably isn't a cheaper labor market.

Made in:   U.S.A.

 This is a part I know well, since Ive bought the chinese part the first round. besides the obvious quality deficiency, I have never seen a bubble wrapped bag in any toyota part. everything is the clear flat bag. its not question to me of if its counterfeit. Feedback on this seller is 99.5%. only a few people each month figure out they arent genuine parts. 

L5wolvesf said:

jfryjfry said:

I'm not questioning that that isn't an oem part but why couldn't it have been made more recently?   Perhaps that part is used on other platforms or maybe it's just still manufactured?

I was thinking the same thing. Plus . . . 

"So back to ebay". You don't buy from eBay you buy from a seller who operates on eBay's platform. It is a significant difference and buyers should look at the seller's feedback to get a perhaps small but possibly useful clue as to the type of things they sell.

Exactly!

Replace the word eBay with Amazon since the same thing happens there

This is why I tend to trust RA parts more. They buy directly from the manufacturer (or their distributor) so the chance of a counterfeit part is small to none. If it's listed as a motorcraft part, I'm assuming it's sourced from motorcraft.

dps214 said:

We definitely still make service parts for models that old, which side note is super annoying because that stuff is like three generations of development old and requires keeping a bunch of old tooling around and making new tooling compatible just to make like 50 parts a year. But apparently people do still go to the dealer when their first generation honda pilot needs new struts so we have to keep a few around. Also fun fact, it probably varies a lot between manufacturer and what the part is, but at least for us service parts aren't required to be identical to the OE version and usually very much aren't.

Service parts for any manufacturer rarely are the same as OEM.  They might have, say, different damper or spring rates for different option packages, but it all gets consolidated to one part number.

Even some things that are maddening.  Volvo whiteblocks have letter codes for main and rod bores and for the crank journals, I think A to E, or 1 to 6? and you are supposed to compare the block (or rod) letter to the crank letter for that particular journal, and from there choose a bearing shell.

All you get aftermarket, even from Volvo, is the middle thickness.

Anyway, this is where lunch pail parts for restorations are worth a fortune.  Not NOS parts, but actual assembly-line components, the joke being they found their way out of the factory in workers' lunch pails.

Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to jfryjfry :

Beat me to it. Mopar still makes brand new parts in the last 12months for neons. 

I bought rotor housings for an '84 model RX-7 that were made in 2020.

Mazda still runs the rotary engine factory, making replacement parts.  Fortunately the RX-8 engine is largely similar to the '74-85 tooling so a lot of it got reused, and they occasionally still make a run of complete FD RX-7 engines.

99% of the time a used OEM part from a junkyard or reseller on Ebay would be better than new aftermarket unless its from a Toyota dealer.  

Not saying its not counterfeit, but I have purchased a whole bunch of toyota parts that came in a similar bubble wrap package.

Also the tundra which was designed and built in the US and has the most North America parts of all the other manufacturer's trucks, still has about 15% of its components manufactured in Japan.

On the subject of OE, Ive have heard of stuff all the way down to oil filters being counterfeited. Im have just decided if for some reason I need OEM i get it at the dealer or Used.

I love the way we're mixing Original Equipment and Original Equipment Manufacturer freely in this discussion. Not the same thing :)

lnlogauge said:

On another fun note, the seller offered me a full refund if I removed the negative feedback. I said sure, send me the refund and I'll remove it. Got my refund, but that feedback isnt going anywhere. 

Ya. .. .  Ok I get it but I am also a man of my word with respect to these kinds of things.  Guess this is just not my style.  

In reply to Keith Tanner :

My bad. This is true

In reply to Opti :

The post from Tyler is what an OEM one of these looks like. Mine doesn't look like that. Again, it's not a question if this is counterfeit. Just warning everyone to be careful where you buy from. 

This is a clockspring from a Yaris, directly from the Toyota dealer.

It's in bubble wrap.

It's not made in America.

Before I bitched somebody out, I'd confirm that the part you bought isn't the new generation of replacements from Toyota, who probably don't make a bunch of parts for their old stuff in house. Might be oe.

Kids 2007 Sentra had broken hood rod plastic thing.  

I see one on eBay with the Nissan box and label but when I got it no Nissan box or label.  

Thinking the dude probably 3D printed it.  

lnlogauge said:

On another fun note, the seller offered me a full refund if I removed the negative feedback. I said sure, send me the refund and I'll remove it. Got my refund, but that feedback isnt going anywhere. 

You're a piece of E36 M3 with no integrity. You lied to the seller and took his money. There is no way to make that acceptable.  

This reminds me of the awkward conversations I had with clients when they noticed their $40 Land Rover oil filter was boldly stamped " Made in China". This was a part directly from Land Rover at the dealer parts counter.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

Lied to a seller who makes his money on lying to everyone. I'll sleep okay at night. 

Whether you agree with me or not, calling me a piece of E36 M3 on a forum is super classy though. Lots of integrity there.