An E-Bay horror story

I found an add that implied a nearly new Panasonic 14-140 lens for m4/3rds was available. The quote was that the lens had been used 9 days on a video project. The add said the original box, pouch and lens caps were included. The quote "indistinguishable from new" was used.The Red Herring was that the seller had a 3 rating. Here's the result of winning the auction:

There was a post office bubble wrap envelope in my mailbox. Inside it was the lens box. The lens had not been stabilized in the box. So, it was rolling around for two thousand miles in Priority Mail. The lens was located in Philadelphia per Ebay. However, it was mailed from Brooklyn. A pawn shop??

Upon opening the box, I found the box was crushed, the serial number on the lens did not match the number on the box. The pouch and lens shade were missing. The front lens cap was not Lumix OEM. There was sticker glue nesr the base of the lens and in the threads as if the lens had been in a pawn shop.

The seller has not contacted me. I've utilized buyer protection. I'm an experienced E-Bayer. But, I guess not experienced enough.

I can't trust the lens without sending it to Panasonic for a check out and getting the lens shade and front lens cap. That will likely be about $250.00.

As they say, we can't let our guard down when using E-Bay.

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Mike C