Got one heck of a deal on a barebones Dell R720 on eBay... except it came too barebones

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dvicory

New Member
Apr 19, 2021
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I'm looking for advice for anyone who's been in this position before, as buyer or seller.

I won a R720, with shipping, for less than $120. It was supposed to come with the motherboard, PSUs, H710 mini 512MB, Broadcom 4-port gigabit NIC, and, surprisingly a bezel. The photos on the listing all confirmed those items. Intentionally missing were CPUs, RAM, drives, caddies, rails, etc.

I got it today, and unpacked it. I'm still waiting on the CPUs from another seller so I can't test for DOA. It was pretty well packed which was nice... and then I noticed the bezel missing. No biggie, whatever... but then I see the NIC is missing. Uh oh. Popped open the case to check the CPU pins and everything else (they kept the heatsinks on without covers for the socket, looks like a bit of thermal paste cleanup is needed. sigh.). And I got a bit further and noticed the H710 is also missing!

All told, this R720 I got so cheaply is now missing things that will cost me almost as much as the server itself, if you don't count the shipping I paid.

So I took photos and sent a message to the seller explaining the missing pieces, with photos, using "I have a question about using my item or I want to send the seller a message". I didn't want to open a case immediately for not as described. As this just happened, I don't believe it's right to shame them just yet until I see their response (or lack of one). I don't know if it was an honest mistake, or if they didn't like the fact I won the R720 as the only bidder for so cheap (but that seems like a dangerous game - they might end up having to pay for return shipping too!).

What would you do in this situation? I already have a bunch more parts for a R720 coming in, so it's basically either keep this and get this rectified (either by them shipping the missing pieces, offering a partial refund, or just eat the loss), or forcing a return and refund and finding a probably more expensive R720 option.
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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If it listed it came with those, or they were pictured and the description did not mention "does not include... (those items)" then yes I would message seller, ask for missing pieces. If they say they were not listed, point out they were in the pictures and not mentioned as excluded.

They likely will send them to you vs. pay to ship that back, but if needed and they don't then open an ebay case.
 
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dvicory

New Member
Apr 19, 2021
5
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1
If it listed it came with those, or they were pictured and the description did not mention "does not include... (those items)" then yes I would message seller, ask for missing pieces. If they say they were not listed, point out they were in the pictures and not mentioned as excluded.

They likely will send them to you vs. pay to ship that back, but if needed and they don't then open an ebay case.
Yeah, that's what I figured. Thanks! I'll wait for their reply then, it's basically what I said. The exact listing text said:

Dell R720 Barebones 8-Bay 2.5" Server

Configuration:

1x Motherboard dual CPU socket
1x H710 512MB RAID Dell PN: FRH64
1x 4-Port NIC Dell PN: FM487
2x Hot Swappable 750W
2x Heatsinks
1x Bezel

Purchase does NOT include:
-No Hard Drives
-No CPU
-No RAM
-No rails
Plus the pictures matched the description. So I'm not worried in the end if I do the math and opening a case is better than sourcing a new NIC and a H710 (or H310 - doesn't really matter to me).