OK, first off, I am sure this topic is covered daily. I did a search and didn't find anything, so, apologies in advance. I found a 1948 Ford truck on ebay. The seller didn't get his reserve, he offered it to me at 15K about a month ago, and today he emailed me that he would take 14K. He said that he can arrange shipping for $939(Montana to Fla.) and as soon as he receives $14,939, he will ship. He wants to use the ebay payment service for the protection plan.(Sounds good to me) Is this the way to proceed? Should I ask to use an escrow service? What questions should I ask as far as title transfer? I have never bought a vehicle off of ebay, so any tips will be appreciated. I understand the buyer beware/have it inspected part, I am concerned about the proper way to pay for it and get it part. Thanks in advance.
Sounds iffy to me.. A seller rarely would want to be responsible for shipping in case something went wrong, damaged, wrecked, stolen.. It just sends up a flag.... unless it is a well known legal car dealer?
If it is bought through ebay you are protected. If you purchase it outside ebay you won't have any recourse. Like^^^^others say. Have someone inspect it before you pull the trigger. Cheap insurance.
F&J, maybe, but maybe he wants to get it sold. Delivery can be a problem and he has a solution. I would still want someone to check it out. Although I've done it sight unseen. But that was from a decent hamb'er.
Like they said. Have someone look at it. And don't buy outside of Ebay. Seems strange to me that if he didn't meet the reserve,he would have relisted it.
Sounds like the typical scam artist E-bay trick. Did he also demand you use the oh so secure E-bay Pay-pal route for payment. Remember you are the one with the money.99% of scammers use this ploy. Read the E-bay alerts that state that they in no way are involved with shipping. If you can have someone look at the car in person,and look at the paperwork on the car it would help and also let you know that the car actually exists.Don"t get burned.There are some HAMB members in Ft. Myers,maybe one will give you a hand.
Inspections may be tough. It is in Kila Montana. Suffice it to say, BFE. I'll see what I can find. The pictures show a frame-off resto.
I did it. Got 50 C.O.E. from Kansas. Pics were good enough for me, got the price I was comfortable with and arranged shipping. I paid for shipping, and they (carriers) gave him the $$ after I got the title/truck. BE VERY CAUTIOUS - he is now going outside eBay (so you have NO protection) to make this 2nd offer. MANY SCAMMERS do this. They somehow see the car wasn't sold and start conatcing many bidders to give them a 'second chance' when in fact the seller has no idea of this. That's why many ads say, "I will not offer second chances if this doesn't sell." They may "SELL" this car 4 or 5 times if everyone bites, and they are from outside the US, so send 'em your $$ and BAM !! They got ya ! And police can do nothing since they are from ?? Even if it's a legit second offer from the owner, it's still kinda risky.
You said he wants to go through Ebay payment, does that mean it will be relisted? Or are you just meaning Paypal? If I were in your shoes, I would be half tempted to ask him if he would relist it as a buy it now, and give you the link. I have never had to deal with Paypal when something went bad, so I cant really say much about that part of it. I did purchase an old Shovel to restore out of Va. some years back, off of Ebay, shipping through the seller. Paypal for deposit, and the rest through bank transfer. It was a little iffy, and worried me a bit, but went ok. I tried to do as much research about the sellers actual name, and address, as possible too.
He can send you a "second-chance" offer through ebay if you bid on the car at all last time. At least you would pick up eBay's protection. I've bought and sold a fair amount of cars on eBay and all but the last one have gone well. I'm still OK on the last deal, but the car wasn't everything it was supposed to be, he didn't include the parts and the paperwork wasn't exactly perfect. eBay was willing to step in for me at least, so I'm glad I had some support even though I didn't end up using it.
Wanting to spend that much on a 48 Ford have you at least talked to this guy on the phone or just e-mail communication?
If you work this deal OUTSIDE Ebay....there's no way for him to "use Ebay's protection". Read their rules - and PayPal's rules. This doesn't sound very valid. Ask him to send you different pictures of the truck than were posted on Ebay...have him hold up latest issue of the local paper in the photograph.
Whoa, too many red flags with what you posted so far. First it seems to be offered outside of an ebay sale so no one is protected by the ebay payment service or ebay itself. That's just BS. I can't imagine anyone wanting that much money being transferred thru Paypal as the fees on his end will be hefty to claim the cash. If he wants Paypal sent as direct personal payment so you pay the fees, its concidered a money owed type of thing with them and Paypal will NOT be involved at all. It becomes a personal payment between two parties only. Something goes wrong - Kiss that money goodbye, you have zero recourse. He probably doesn't care about how much he loses using Paypal because there is nothing to ship you so everything is profit. Another thing is Montana isn't the biggest trucking hotbed of interstate travel so who are these shipping people willing to deliver a car for that price? Sounds too fishy so far. OK, lets say some lo-buck delivery service will drive out to butwad nowhere and pickup the vehicle. You know anything about them? Bonded, have proof of insurance and references? How are they on delivery times? Any customers you can contact who were happy with them? I've bought & sold dozens of cars on and off of ebay and I wouldn't touch this deal as its been presented. In this economy there are way more scammers out there than normal. Be very very careful. Have someone go look that there is an actual vehicle, legally owned and being sold by the owner. Transfer money bank to bank account if its legit. This sounds more of a scam....
An airline ticket is relatively cheap, compared to the purchase price of this truck. When I bought a truck off eBay, I gave the guy a small deposit through PayPal & bought a ticket. That way I was out a relatively small amount, if it turned out to be a floater. Fortunately it was only averagely screwed-up, and I can live with that. And the road trip back was a blast!
Simple just have him re-list it as a "buy it now" and boom do the deal. As far as why he may not have re-listed is because now if you list more than 5 vehicle listings in 12 months (not calender year) you get nailed $50 right off the bat.
I cannot stress this highly enough: GO AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELF!!!! I saw, I bought, I,m hurting. Three years on and It's getting there but if I had seen it in person I would have walked away. Money is hard to come by these days so spend it wisely.
For that kind of investment it is worth flying up there to look at it yourself, then you can arrange shipping from that end.
Whoa, whoa here. Lots of assumptions being made....and I have not made everything 100% clear. He made the offer through the second chance function, so we are still making a transaction using ebay. I have done some searching on the interweb, the name he gave me(and on his voicemail) matches the name on his county property appraiser website. A google of his address shows his house for sale and on a realtors website and the picture on the RE website shows the garage in the pictures on ebay. It looks pretty legit to me at this point. He also shows the sale of a Toyota FJ (I assume a restored older model, sold for $11k) a year or so ago. His ebay feedback is flawless, although most of his sales were trinkets. His purchases were lots of vehicle restoration parts, badges, starters, etc. There is lots of advice here, but one of questions was about an escrow service. For less that $200 I can send to funds to the escrow co., and they tell him they got the cash, they release them to him when I receive the car. Does anyone have any experiences with this? Flying there sounds simple, but it is in Kila Montana friends. Spokane Wash. is the closest major airport. $600, plus hotels(2 nights) plus a rental car, plus gas, plus food, it will be $1000. Smart? Maybe. But he has a dozen plus pictures of a frame off vehicle....in stages. Could he be a scammer? Yes, but all I can do is minimize the possibilities. I am thinking ebay buyer protection plus an escrow company might be enough to minimize the problems. Suggestions? Keep 'em coming!
He said that he can arrange shipping for $939(Montana to Fla.) and as soon as he receives $14,939, he will ship. He wants to use the ebay payment service for the protection plan.(Sounds good to me) what the fuck does that mean? I sold $100,000.00 worth of rusty crap on ebay over a 5 year period and never heard of any "ebay payment service". cut and paste his emails here and I'll tell you if he is legit or not. I used to hang out on the ebay motors discussion board. every day there was someone who bought a car on ebay without looking at it complaining that it was not as good as they had hoped or the buyer described. I personally would never buy a car without looking at it unless it was going for scrap price
"ebay buyer protection" does not include any problems with a motor vehicle that would not be seen with a personal inspection. go here: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum/Ebay-Motors/20 and ask the guys who frequent the board. ebay has sucked the life out of thier discussion boards, but there may still be a few knowlegeable people there.
I received this email Tuesday from a person who probably has not idea what my Pinocchio Fiat Comp Coupe really is. To be sure, I'll hold onto my car before I fall for one of these guys BS. I requested all his contact info as well as that of his "dad". Guess what...not a word back from this s.o.b. Thanks for the swift response and do as well advise on the least amount you will like to give it away as i am buying this for Dad and due to the nature of my job and location...i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it. As for the payment..i can only pay via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal) here. I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after the payment have been made ...so no shipping included and With the issue of my details,transferring the name of ownership and signing of all paperwork will be done by the courier services company agent so you don't have to worry about that. You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set up one...log on to www.paypal.com. and sign up its very easy... i would have loved to talk to you on phone but i work mainly offshore, our phone is down on the rig right now due to bad weather, that was why i sent you a text, i even wonder how my message deliver to your phone but for now we can only communicate through the same mailing channel.await your reply asap. Thanks Jeff
There is an Ebay vehicle inspection service available. I know, I do them is SE Florida...... "ebay payment service" its called Paypal......red flag Buyer setting up shipping......red flag Use a "buy-it-now auction" so it does not slip though the cracks. If his is unwilling....red flag If you cannot get another eyeball on this vehicle.....pass it up
I would never buy a car sight unseen. Its easy enough to get ripped off when you can see it. Don't know about you, but $15,000 is a lot of money to me.
That's the old classic Rich Venza "I'm buying for my dad and I work offshore...etc etc" I can't beleive people fall for that...haha Do a search for another hamb member who lives around the area, shoot them a pm and ask if they would mind taking a look, you will be surprised by how helpful hambers can be. I am in australia and looking for cars in CA and did this, this place looks after each other (well most of the time!)
I bought my truck after it failed to reach the reserve on Ebay. I got his phone number and I was able to talk to him. Emails can be edited to sound just right. Conversations can be felt at the time that they occur. Without multiple conversations on the phone I never would have sent a bunch of money to the other coast. Several weeks later it showed up at my door. I was and am very pleased but I never would buy anything that expensive without a personal conversation. If you don't think I was a nervous nelly you're nuts but my instincts were true. You can't do that with an Email. 10 years before that I bought a 57 Ranchero project. I was leery about the guy. He was too glib. Yeah it turned out to be a POS but it was so cheap that I did not get hurt.
The more you add to your post the more this sounds like you are being scammed.Like asked earlier,have you actually talked to the guy on the phone or not? If you can"t look at a 48 Ford before buying you need to find something closer to you.If its that great of a truck,fly up and make a road trip out of the deal.
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