buying computers thru ebay

Has anyone had in any bad run-ins buying computers that ended up not working thru ebay?
I bought a laptop a couple weeks ago and it was supposed to be a working computer. The guy said he couldn't guarantee the lifetime of the external battery. Well.... it was dead on arrival
But then a couple days later the laptop just went dead.
To make a long story short... I took it to a friend who is a Mac tech. And it is indeed dead. If it was just the external battery, I wouldn't complain but, it's not.
He told me to check into paypal's dispute section (since I bought thru paypal). There is a statement in there that says they will help IF the product you got was different from what was told on the auction.
I feel like it was. I may not win but its worth a try. It can't hurt.
Just thought I'd check to see if anyone else had something similar at all?

i haven't had that predicament, but i have had ebay items arrive and they were not as described. if that is the case, contact the seller first to complain and document the problem and their reply: hopefully if they are a reputable seller they should offer a solution. if not, contact ebay to complain. they can't do much but they can bar the seller from selling again.

good idea with paypal though, they might have a more monetary solution available for faulty merchandise.

I sold a PC through eBay and it arrived DOA. Fortunately the person I sold it to was patient and wanted to see if it could be fixed. After a few hours of scouring the web, I thought the problem might have been with the processor. I sent her a new processor, she installed it, and it worked.

My long-winded point here is that any seller worth his/her salt should help you fix the situation. Read the terms of sale for the auction and make a copy. If your computer failed within the terms of sale, send a gentle note to the seller explaining everything. Give them some options about resolving the problem. If they refuse, and you feel 'wronged' then use any option you can to get your money back and/or leave negative feedback.