Lessons learned in Ebay purchase, rescuing a featherweight
 

Thankfully I was able to purchase 2 featherweights for a decent price off ebay, the one was in pretty good shape, very useable, just needing a cleaning. The other one I paid around $150 for and was told it was in working order. I don't care about the dirty, can fix that, but when the machine arrived it had a broken needle, which always raises my eyebrows. needles break for reasons we all realize that, but we looked into it some and found the bobbin case was broken (this was a $50 parts/ not including labor my husband and son did) and the throat plate had some springs or something broken, included in the price of the bobbin case base.

Well, now that those parts are in we put a needle in and slowly.... .put the needle down and another bump of the bobbin case, me thinks at this point there is something wrong with the needle bar height. That appears to be the best place to start, we found a manual on the web on the timing of the featherweight. And this is where we will begin the timing. Thankfully I have a talented husband and son. The machine is cleaned and greased, now we just need to time it.

Larry the guy I purchased it from on ebay gave me a $30 credit on the machine, which I should have asked for more. $120 for a dirty and broken machine isn't such a good purchase. Now I have seen machines in much worst shape going for $150 and i wonder how long it be before the prices come down again. I'll watch and wait.

Sue, you are so right about the pricing of machines. Many people want to get a great FW for a low price only to find out that they not only need cleaning, but they are missing parts, etc. I expect to pay a decent price for a good machine that is all there. I have bought some cheaper, but spent a lot of time and money getting them into shape for sewing. Plus, a lot of them have no case or attachments and have never been serviced. I have gotten all 5 of my FW's and both 301's in fairly good shape now - and learned a lot!

You could have gotten all of your money back. Ebay and PayPal are wonderful with that. Whenever an item is purchased and you get it, and it is not as described, you are entitled to get all of your money back. I have gotten stung badly a few times, and PayPal has always gotten my payment back and also the cost I paid for shipping, because the seller was not honest about the condition of the item.

Did you put the needle in with the flat to the left? It threads from right to left.

Could it be that when the throat plate was reinstalled that the bobbin carrier's 'finger' is not in the proper slot on the underside of the throat plate? This would cause the needle to hit something.

I would have filed a complaint with ebay and have sent it back for a refund. I did that with a machine I bought via ebay that was NOT as described. Ebay found in my favor and I didn't have to pay shipping either way and got a complete refund.

you should have sent it back and got a refund. It is just as dishonest to file a claim to get your money back and NOT send the item back as it is to sell a broken a machine in the first place. BUT one must also remember, most who sell those machines do know anything about them. So the seller must really know how to ask the right questions, ask for pix, etc.

There are 2 issues here: the condition of the machine and the STATED condition of the machine. If a machine is missing any parts (except for the needle) it is not a working machine.

Sorry about the problems/ Hope you have her in working order soon.