You can get an independent apprasial for about $125. My son bought a '01 Mustang from CA and I bought a 66 Chevelle in Oregan that way. However, your eyeballs are the best way. You can always wire money from your bank to thiers or just give $1000 when you see it and the balance when it gets delivered.
Not quite. I had my first dispute last week. I bought shocks, seller took a month to deliver. They went well past the auction stated delivery time window. They send an email apologizing for the slow delivery and agreed they goofed up. I asked for a refund, an RA number, got nothing, no contact. Finally went to Paypal buyer protection. They ruled in favor of the seller because he had a delivery confirmation that I got the shocks. Case closed. For 15 grand I'd fly out, do the deal in person and have it shipped.
I have sold a Chevy pick up from to Calif to guy on the East Coast. Just via email and phone calls. he set up shipping. at one point I still had truck-title-bank draft (cashier's check no good) for purchase price (sent FEDEX). he and wife were nervous as Hell, didn't blame them. once he got truck they were thrilled that it was exactly as I said it was. ya never know.have heard of setting up special accounts at same type branches of specific big name bank to transfer funds. have you verified with the hauling company that the cost of shipping is what he says? YOUR TRUCK For Sale at classictruckcentral.com for $23K-gives sellers name/phone#/email
If you want to check the legitimacy of the "second chance offer," simply forward the email to spoof@ebay.com They will tell you if it's legit or not.
Like most others said, fly out, look at it and if it's everything you expect and want pay for it hand to hand. I'm sorry, i know it's a distance away and to do it will not be cheap, but i'd personally rather be out the extra grand for the flight, rooms etc than be out 14K because i took a chance. And yes, i understand this deal may very well be on the up and up so i could be one that over worries about stuff like this. You did do your homework with checking him out, but regardless, that's a lot of coin to shell out for something you can not inspect in person. I guess i'm not a gambling person...i'd HAVE to see it and pay for it in person. I just sold my 53 to a fellow HAMBer a couple month's back. He flew up with his brother, checked it out and bought the car. He paid me in person that day after he knew what he was getting. There is just no better way to do it IF you want security. My own 2 cents. Best of luck with whatever way you decide to go. Tony
roadtrip! truck looks pretty nice in the ebay listing. go up in person and check it out... then drive it back!
jjrockbush: Safest way to deal w/this has been mentioned. I went through this w/an OT car for my wife. 1st: Talk to this guy, live, more than once... ! Did the ebay thing, talked to the (fast talkin') salesman a couple of times prior to winning the bid. (OT car went through the list 3 times). Got info (car #s, title info, etc) to corroborate cars' legitimacy, then agreed to put $1k down thru Paypal (my needs were different than what they offered in the ad), rest in a bank check made out to them. Cash would've worked, too. (Although for the amount, didn't need the hassle of bank/govt flagging @ $10k+. Now down to ~ $7k, I think). Drove out there w/trailer. Looked at the car & handed it to them in person, drove car onto trailer, hauled home. Minn -> Ohio -> Minn. BTW, things weren't quite as truthful as represented, but it was sin(s) of omission as compared to outright lying. I just dealt w/it, as nothing was bad enough to kill the deal. Next best way is to fly up there & do as above, but drive home. Or fly back, as needed. . Next next best way: hire an appraiser to go over it, + it'll help when needed for insurance. Also get someone/place to give it the twice-over. Usually called a buyers inspection, & a run on a rolling road/dyno. Use the appraiser if possible as your buying agent. Or find someone in the legal profession to do that. & talk to these people while & when you get the info they send back. Variation of above is to have the appraiser/twice-over done, & meet somewhere where you can fly-in & drive home. Another possibility is to see if one of the HAMB-member highly-reco'd delivery-service guys would do everything but appraise the truck for you. I'd expect to pay something extra for this, esp if they go thumbs-down, but at least you'd know they'd have your back - since they have no vested interest, except for the hauling job. Anything else is a crap shoot. & odds are high, you'll be the one getting the crap shot outta you... Had one "deal" almost get me. Used paypal help & esp ebay fraud dept to check out the email(s) I got over an item, which didn't sound quite right. Guy wanted to do deal outside ebay, then agreed he'd relist it, but insisted on using Western Union. The real tipoff was the sentence syntax & structure. They kept me from getting into a bad deal, losing $$$, & feeling bad about it. Resulted in getting at least one scammer shut down, & the guy whose site he used, notified. FWIW. Marcus...
Here's some info on the eBay protection you get if you complete it through ebay. http://pages.ebay.com/ebaymotors/buy/purchase-protection/index.html There are a lot of restrictions...but it sounds like you're covered if the car doesn't show up. I would rather arrange for shipping on my own though (and make sure it's insured). I like the idea of having him take a picture of himself in front of the truck with today's copy of USAToday or something like that. I'm sure he has a cellphone and could easily text a picture to you...not that much of a hassle. At least you'd know you're talking to the guy who really has the truck. Then your main risk is it not being as described and less of a risk of it not showing up and you getting hosed. Good luck.
Did you see what Jalopy Joker just posted? It is the same exact truck being sold on classictruckcentral.com for 23k....why would he go for 14k? Seems like a real drop to me. jjrockbush...you must understand that a "second chance offer" could be a scam. All a crook has to do is copy the ebay listing and send that to you. Unless you are getting the second chance offers through your messages at your "My Ebay" page. You also said you have not heard back from the guy...seeing the truck being sold for nearly 10k more than he is willing to take is making me wonder...might be for real...but be careful!
Yup great advice from everybody. For that kind of money, or really any money nowadays, Go look at it. Cheaper up front to do so and that little guy in your brain won't beat the hell out of ya if you make a bad decision. Mike
Update: OK, you guys win. I sent the email to ebay, and it was a spoof!!! I emailed the guy last night and asked him to call me after I had called and left him a message yesterday. "Whoever", answered my email request with an explaination about how the transaction worked. How ebay would hold my cash until I received the vehicle, blah, blah, blah. Much more obvious than the first email. It was also asking for a copy of my DL to help prepare the title. I returned the email explaining that I had sent funds to his address in Montana, and to please let me know when he received it. For the record. I would have never gone through with this without at least talking to the guy....my excitement had me going, but I was not going to just blindly send the cash. You guys did help me raise my awareness though. So. Anybody got a bone stock 48-50 Ford PU, with a flathead??? Cheap? and close?
Glad you found out in time!! Your OP did answer some questions other HAMBers might ask in the future!! Your replies did hint of your excitement!! Good luck in your search!!
So I wonder how this guy will get stopped, or caught.? Sooner or later he's going to catch someone and fuck them good.. Did scam bay say or even care to do something about it?(i doubt it e-bay has no pride its a blood sucking site) like block him from their site or do an investigation? That "seller" (bastard)needs to get burned..! E-bay needs to do a better job policing their shitty site, or risk extinction
That, and to act as your representitive to insure that the transaction was completed as agreed by both parties. The seller wouldn't get a dime until the truck was loaded and headed down the road. Otherwise, in the end it could end up...no money, no truck.
As I said - BS. Glad you came to the HAMB and asked opinions whether you wanted them or not. Another tipoff was nothing in the feedback other than baby clothes and other items under $20. Good that you didn't get scammed.
If you go to the original listing as linked, it was relisted on May 19th. Then the re-listing ended on the same day because "...the item is no longer available."
Good deal fellow ,would have been a bad burn job but at least now you know just how good scammers are. And this should tell you just how secure E-bay is too. Good luck on finding a truck.H.A.M.B. wins ,scammer loses again.
It is getting funny now. He just sent me an email begging me to stop payment on the check. He wants me to send him a copy of my DL and he'll handle everything. I told him, no problem. Everything is in the packet. Addressed to his Montana address.
...keep them hanging on as long as you can and keep us posted. Maybe they can be caught. I have purchased and sold several cars on eBay over the past 12 years and all have been good positive transactions. Both the 1951 Ford and the 1948 RaceBoat in my avitar photo are eBay purchases.
I'm glad you forwarded the second offer to spoof@ebay.com That's the surest way to tell if it's from seller or a scammer Another thing we recommend to people after dealing with a scammer like this is to completely scan your computer, especially looking for keyloggers. Don't respond to any more of the guy's emails. Just delete them. The scammers are getting better and better at counterfeiting eBay pages, so it's always a good idea to make sure before going through with a purchase like this. You were smart to come here and ask before parting with your hard-earned money. What is likely to have happened is the ebay account and/or email was hijacked. Happens all the time on eBay, and there are many bogus collector cars for sale on there at any time for "too good to be true" prices. Hope you find the perfect F-1 for yourself. Happy hunting! Arkie
Agree with Arkiehortods. Do not correspond with this individual any further. Consider yourself lucky and move on. As stated many times above, looking on ebay is fine but do not finalize the purchase without seeing the car/truck yourself. Good luck!
I would not purchase any car off of E-Bay without making a trip first to see the car in person and if you are feel you need a more experienced person to help you hire someone to go with you or meet you there first. I have a friend who has a collection of old cars and has been a car guy since the early 60's and he got burned on E-Bay by someone to the tune of $34,000 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!! He checked out the seller through E-Bay first to make sure it was not a scam and E-Bay told him the seller had sold cars before and even had a number of positive feedbacks. After wiring the money that was the last he ever saw of his $34,000 dollars and E-Bay is not helping him in anyway with getting his money back. My friend went to the F.B.I. and they are now working on the case along his lawyers. Turns out this same person has done eight times on E-Bay and each time they trace the money trail it leads to someone in Idaho. Please do not sent anyone any money without first looking at the car and even then check everything out. I have seen others who purchased off E-Bay and had there car a short time when the law showed and took the car away from them because it was stolen. The tittle they were given was a fake. One of the guys in our car club was shocked to find his car for sale on E-Bay even thought he did not have it for sale. When we showed him the pictures of his car with his home in the back round he was in shock!!! Turns out he did have his car for sale about two years ago and when I asked him if he ever sent anyone pictures of the car he told he did. This is a very common practice and when we now see people at the car shows taking pictures of the cars we joke that they are going to post them on E-Bay and try to sell the car. Jimbo
Man I'm so glad you found this scumbag out before it was too late! I swore I'd never buy any car off Fleabay, but last year I bought my '46 Austin there. Fortunately it was about 40 miles from me, so I went and looked at it and made a cash offer to end the auction. I recently got a call from a friend up in Seattle who asked me why I had my '71 427 Camaro for sale? I told him I didn't, and since I've owned it since 1973 I never would sell it. He said it's on Craigslist right now up there. Sure enough I went to look and there it was. I contacted the "seller" and got a bunch of pictures sent to me from my own Photobucket account, along with made up info on what the particulars were on the drivetrain. I finally just flagged the posting, and checked back every week, only to find it relisted two more times, and flagged them too. All sorts of scams out there, so gotta be very careful. I'd never buy a car anywhere without a small deposit down, and pay the balance when I pick it up in person. It might cost more, but it's better than losing a lot of money!
it is not as easy as it used to be to send fake second chance offers since now the bidders ID's are not available to anyone but the seller. the scammer in question must have fooled the original seller into giving out his ebay info via a fake email to get your contact info. he probably sent the second chance offers to all the bidders. wonder if anyone else fell for it??
Glad it didn't burn your fingers! 5 pages of good advise and ebay help. I will offer that in the right circumstances, going outside the 'protections' of ebay can be considered. In my case, it was for less than 1200 bucks. I emailed the seller before end of auction and had a decent rapport. The top bidder backed out. The seller offered it to me for my top bid outside ebay. Considering the percentage of the fees to total price, this was understandable. We talked on the phone and I had a forum member go and check the van out, take pictures and email his thoughts on the van and seller. I ended up sending a deposit through paypal and having the seller (his dad, actually) transport the van to my house and hand him the remaining cash for the van and transport. It all could have gone sideways, but I felt comfortable with what I was buying and the seller. I also was not out a lot of money if it went bad, he had enough in the deposit to cover the transport if I bailed, and the van was as shown and described, along with the paperwork. Would I do this for 14K? No way. Each of us have a level that we can afford to loose. Problem is, at the low end you don't have legal recourse because it will cost more to win than you lost. Over 5-7K, you are out of small claims and into expensive courts. I've never paid that much for anything but a house, either. Would I do this if I was unable to have someone look it over for me? No again. Way too many bad cars that look good in pictures. Would I send all the money without anything in return? No way! I'd look into escrow services for anything over a couple grand, and also want some hard copy paperwork and a title for a deposit over that amount. This goes back to the legal side. You want a nice strong case that can easily be followed to the defendant.
Happens a lot on craigslist now. There is a 73 Z-28 and a 70 Cutless that has been posted in every state for $3995 and when you flag the ad its right back 2-hours later. E-bay and Craigslist has no security systems whatsoever.
The Jalopy Journal
