I think I got ripped off

Shipping can lead to confusing situations. I bought a thermal clutch w/ fan on ebay from a guy in Hawaii. Tracking showed it get to Richmond, CA, then returned to him. I assumed the shipper returned it because of bad packaging, but for some reason he blamed me. I had him ship just the fan to save cost, since all I really wanted, and that finally arrived, avoiding an ebay dispute.

Another time I bought a used minivan tranny (before ebay, from Sioux Falls, IA). DHL lost it, so sent me another lost tranny from Fresno. Turned out to be a valuable Tremec 6-speed. Spent months trying to return it, even having them pick it up only to return it for "poor packaging" (as I had received). They then said I could sell it, so I got $750 on ebay. My transmission showed up in my driveway un-announced 3 months later. As a kicker, a few years later I looked up the guy who kept swearing he had sent it and found many complaints of non-delivery and links to newspaper articles where the place was busted for meth. Turns out he hadn't been lying and was at least initially a stand-up guy. So, sometimes patience works.