We all want a bargain and eBay is the most popular pace for them. From 99p you stand a chance to win almost anything, including the latest eBay car keys.
But are they any good? What are the problems you face when buying car keys online?
Every week we have customers visit our shop in Lincoln, bringing us the bargains they’ve found online. Sometimes it turns out well, but often there’s a problem they hadn’t thought of, or been told about.
This week we’ve seen a different problem every day, with many disappointed bargain hunters! So here’s what went wrong for them, we hope it helps you spot the problems before losing money on eBay car keys.
Monday – It’s the wrong key!
Day one in the eBay minefield. It’s the wrong key!
How lucky you are when choosing a key depends on what you’re trying to buy. Ford and Vauxhalls? not too bad. However anything French and you are in trouble.
Take this eBay advert listing below.
The key that programmes correctly to a Peugeot 107 is totally unsuitable for a 207, 307 and 407. Likewise with the other models. So this key is clearly a bad buy. When the wrong key is coded, often it will start the car, but not work the central locking.
This is what happened on day one. Our customer had bought a key for a 407, and it looked the same as his working key. Unfortunately when we cut and coded it, the key started the car but wouldn’t work the central locking. This is common with French eBay car keys. Want to find out more? Check out our free download at the end of the article.
Tuesday – The wrong blade
Today the problem was obvious to us even before we tried to programme the key. Our customer had ordered another French designed key for a Citroen C4 Picasso
This car has a 3 button flip key, so when he bought a key online and it looked the same he was confident.
Unfortunately the key he was sent was for a Citroen C4, (no Picasso needed)
Not only do the cars look different, they use a completely different lock, which means a different type of key blade. The C4 key he bought would not even go into the lock of his C4 Picasso. It just went into the rubbish bin.
Wednesday – Is it new?
This one is very easy. Unless you are buying a key for a Ford, when you buy a car key online it has to be brand new, virgin, unprogrammed new.
This is the most common problem we see with eBay car keys. It doesn’t matter if it’s ‘tested’ ‘checked and working’ etc etc.
It’s not like the sellers are lying to you even, it say very clearly in the listing whether it’s new or used. This used key will not programme up, not in a million years. Our Wednesday customer took a bit of convincing, but we showed him that whatever we did, the car wouldn’t accept his bargain key.
Want to find out more about how to buy keys online? Check out the end of our post today.
Thursday – There’s nothing to programme!
When something is cheap, you have to be a bit cautious. Take a look at this listing.
You would think that a ‘New 3 Button Uncut Remote Key Fob’ would be just that, but no, this is a listing for a case. To be fair to the eBay seller, he does make this clear in the description. However, our customer didn’t read the description.
The customer that came in on Thursday, didn’t buy the above listing, but a similar one from another seller. We use this just as an example.
When he gave us the key it was very light and when we opened it up, it was just an empty case. To be fair, he only lost £5-00, but that’s still hard earned money, wasted on a case that he just didn’t need.
Friday – It’s seen better days
As a general rule with keys, if it looks worn out, it’s best to avoid. Our Friday customer thought he had a bargain.
It was listed as ‘tested and working’, but it was a bit of a sad example of the problems with eBay car keys. Problems included
- The button to release the blade was missing
- The blade was loose and wobbly
- The key blade was worn out
- It didn’t transmit a signal
Our customer had paid £15-00 on eBay for this bargain. It had to go in the bin.
What’s the eBay Answer?
It’s possible to save good money on car keys but you have to know what to buy and most importantly, what to avoid. If you want to know more we’d love you to sign up and we’ll send you a bit more information.
Our five day series will tell you which to avoid, but more importantly, a listing that has a proven, reliable key that will always work when coded correctly. We see a good selection of eBay and Amazon listings and will be pleased to share that with you.
Thanks for reading, we hope it’s helped and we hope you’ll join us and find out more.
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