eBay, did I buy used oil filters?

Need to change the oil in the Ralliart and the Mazda 5. I have the oil, but need filters. Didn't want to go out, so decided to order on line.

The NAPA website seemed useless (although I did get the part numbers from the NAPA Canada site), and Amazon had an estimated delivery date of late April.

I bought a couple of NAPA Gold filters on eBay, and they came in today. They both look relatively clean inside, but the surface inside of the gaskets feels and looks like dirty oil (see the paper towel), and there's metal shavings on them both.

For comparison, I have a NAPA Platinum filter in the garage, and it has no oil at all on the bare steel. It even got a fine layer of rust after a year in the garage.

One of them also had a faint gasoline odor when I took it out of the box.

Is there a way someone could clean used filters up enough to make them look new? 

I'm tempted to cut one open, but I've never cut open a filter, and I am trying to avoid anything that could result in a laceration.

That's very odd. It's possible they were opened and prepped but never installed. Almost every filter I've order has come with some sort of plastic wrap. I'm guessing these didn't have anything? 
 

are there marks on the body where a tool might have been used to install/remove them?

I have not had any filters with plastic wrap on them.  But I haven't bought any for a while except for the 250.

spandak said:

 It's possible they were opened and prepped but never installed. 

are there marks on the body where a tool might have been used to install/remove them?

Adding to the above . . .

I've read on other forums where guys have picked up a filter, got it home and found a used one. Some suggest a neer-do-well returned the old filter for the money and the understaffed store put it back on the shelf without checking it.

Many many years ago I used to work at a Precision Auto Tune and the owner would have me save the old filters and spray paint them to be reused. There was also a customer with a mint 80's Mustang GT that would bring Mobil 1 and a filter and the owner would just keep the oil and use the one that came in the 55 gallon barrel. 

I think I only lasted there a month and never again took my car to a mechanic and if I do I watch them very closely. 

Not sure what this has to do with the OP but it reminded me of that jerk. He is still in business btw. 

The canisters are pristine, but the film of dirty oil and metal shavings aren't normal. I wiped my finger around the threads, came out with black oil.

And, as I said, one smells of gasoline. 

I'm really wondering how it would be possible to get all of the used oil out of a filter. If I knew how, I could recycle more of it when I change mine. 

Floating Doc said:

The canisters are pristine, but the film of dirty oil and metal shavings aren't normal. I wiped my finger around the threads, came out with black oil.

And, as I said, one smells of gasoline. 

I'm really wondering how it would be possible to get all of the used oil out of a filter. If I knew how, I could recycle more of it when I change mine. 

Probably just leave it sitting upside down for a week.

Returning a used oil filter is pretty scummy.

Don’t know how or what happened... but any sign of metal shavings means I wouldn’t touch it. I’d contact the seller through the sale site and get your money back

In reply to itsarebuild :

I've sent a message with some pictures. We'll see.

If you wet the gasket surface, you may be able to see an indention where it sealed against the block or oil cooler, if it's been used.  

Since it's suspect, I wouldn't use it.  I've never seen a new filter that smells and/or has noticeable amount of oil left over from machining the threads.  

Wouldn't be surprised if the filters were used. Read on another forum that returning cleaned up used parts in the new packaging is beginning to be areal problem. Worker take a quick look and then item gets put back on shelf. Also said it's not just car parts but happens a lot at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's and also Amazon.

Although I wouldn't do this, but an unscrupulous person could drain the oil out of the filter and then spray carb cleaner in it to clean out most of the remnants of dirty oil.

I definitely would not put those on my car. 

Draining and a 1/4 can of Wurth brake clean could easily make pretty much any part look new. 

Filters are too cheap to chance it. 

pirate said:

Wouldn't be surprised if the filters were used. Read on another forum that returning cleaned up used parts in the new packaging is beginning to be areal problem. Worker take a quick look and then item gets put back on shelf. Also said it's not just car parts but happens a lot at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's and also Amazon.

Happened to me on an air conditioning condensor bought thru Amazon.  No idea how the pos used part (in the new part’s box, granted) ever made it back on the shelf, but it did.  Fortunately, I got my money back, but had to return the part to Amazon.  Sure hope they took the scumbag to task, but more likely they just pitched the part and moved on.

Pretty sure all NAPA filters have a plastic shrink wrap over either the whole filter or just the business end.

10/10 would not use. 

If you do use them, clean your old filters and sell them as "refurbished" to get your money back.

AAZCD said:

If you do use them, clean your old filters and sell them as "refurbished" to get your money back.

You could also resell the old oil as “pre-filtered”.

einy said:

pirate said:

Wouldn't be surprised if the filters were used. Read on another forum that returning cleaned up used parts in the new packaging is beginning to be areal problem. Worker take a quick look and then item gets put back on shelf. Also said it's not just car parts but happens a lot at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's and also Amazon.

Happened to me on an air conditioning condensor bought thru Amazon.  No idea how the pos used part (in the new part’s box, granted) ever made it back on the shelf, but it did.  Fortunately, I got my money back, but had to return the part to Amazon.  Sure hope they took the scumbag to task, but more likely they just pitched the part and moved on.

 

Went to a overstock store a month or so ago where they sell just about anything you could think of including cases of food just about to go past the "purchase by date". A lot of the items were new and in the original box. Some you could tell were returned items. A lot of the stuff was in Amazon  packaging either cardboard boxes or sealed plastic bags with the Amazon logo. I suspect a lot of the big box store simply wholesale   out items they don't restock or there is a set dollar figure where it is cheaper to get rid of it rather then reprocess. People in store had shopping carts full of stuff either soon to be found on eBay or garage/yard sales. By the way didn't buy anything and used the wife's hand cleaner before getting into car to leave.

Wrapped in plastic like this?

Slippery said:

Many many years ago I used to work at a Precision Auto Tune and the owner would have me save the old filters and spray paint them to be reused. There was also a customer with a mint 80's Mustang GT that would bring Mobil 1 and a filter and the owner would just keep the oil and use the one that came in the 55 gallon barrel. 

I think I only lasted there a month and never again took my car to a mechanic and if I do I watch them very closely. 

Not sure what this has to do with the OP but it reminded me of that jerk. He is still in business btw. 

You should blow the whistle on that shiny happy person

I have had this happen on amazon. First was a motherboard. Correct box but some weird MB was in it in the bag and zero cables and stuff. Called amazon they issued full credit immediately plus a $5 credit and did not want it back. I had to purchase a significantly more expensive board fom a local Microcenter as this was a workstation build had to be up and running that day.  
 

Second was a window regulator for wife's H2. They sent a used broken one to me. That was in the core t box in the correct bag but it was all greasy and dirty and broken just like the one in my car was.  I pointed out that this was the second time in as many months that they had screwed up. The actually offered same day pickup locally of a replacement or next day am delivery. I took the next day delivery.