Especially true if buying for parts only.How do you figure that? All the seller needs to do is make reasonable efforts on the buyer's behalf to pack the product and place it in the hands of the shipping company. His job is done at that point. If he does an utterly crap job packing the product, fair enough, but if he packed it well, subsequent damage is not his problem.
Once funds have changed hands, ownership shifts to the buyer and he becomes wholly responsible for any loss or damage.
Just because eBay may offer something over and above that, doesn't change the basic facts.
The only caveat would be if the pics presented on ebay were substantially different that what it looked like after possession by the buyer