Buying a car off ebay (not stalking related)

ezzy6.5

Well-Known Member
Any thoughts on this one?

I have been searching for a particular model of Audi for the last couple of years, one has finally apeared on a popular auction site. Bonus is that it's only 11 miles from my house.
Now the problem.
I rang the number on the add and it is just a dead tone. I emailed the seller asking them to contact me, it took 4 days for them to reply and then the reply just said that it was still for sale and it was in vgc.
I emailed her again saying that I wanted her to ring me so I could arrange a test drive and she didn't reply
I emailed her again stating that if she didnt ring me by Monday afternoon I wasn't interested. She replied monday.
The reply was brilliant. She explained that the car was her husbands and she had got it along with the house in the divorce and had bought a farm in the north of England at a sea side town with her settlement and even attatched some more photos of the car and a statement saying she would only sell through the site as she wanted Payment protection (even though I told her i have cash!) Unfortunately she still hasn't told me how I can see the car and now I think it's not even local.
Has anyone ever come across anything like this before? I think she may be foreign due to her grammar! is someone trying to wind me up?
I couldn't believe she sent me more bl**dy pictures, it's just rubbing it in.

Ezzy
 
if you smell a rat don't be a fool.your suffering from shineynewtoyitus.its common leave well alone if it dont feel right or prepare to get burned.i have an a3 and if something goes wrong with an audi it hurts. atb mike
 
Be very very careful, it sounds very much like a scam, the same story has been going around something similar was on Auto trader a while back pure con part with your money no car and the seller disappears.
 
I recently bought a car through eBay and was thinking much the same but it turns out that eBay operate a sort of escrow account. You pay eBay, when it's received they notify the seller who then delivers the car or lets you collect it, you then have 5 days to reject it before eBay release the money to the seller. It seems safer than buying a car through the classifieds unless I have missed something. So if this is what is being suggested it is probably OK.
 
Sounds like one of those adverts you Report to eBay!!! SCAM! I had similar experience only he wanted me to pay a deposit by moneygram... It was in Scotland on business, great I live there where I'll drive.... Er sorry it's bottom of England now..... If it sounds too good to be true it usually is...
 
You would know it if you saw it.
it's a 1998 Tornado Red Quattro Turbo RR a car I said that I would own one day I grew up watching the Quattro's perform in the RAC rally. The only way I would buy it is face to face. I have seen others out there but this one looked very tidy for the money.

Ezzy
 
Hi Ezzy. Buying a car through ebay can be a good money saving experience. She won't get payment protection, you grt protection as the buyer and of course you can pay cash.
Although her excuse for selling the car is plausable you must protect yourself and get the car HPI'd before you hand over any money. Try and take someone who is a little knowledgeable about cars and although you may win the auction don't feel pressured into buying the car if it is significantly different from the description.
Saying that I bought a Lexus is200 for my wife, got it HPI'd and she's covered nearly 100k and it's been an absolutely bullet proof car. Ebay does work but keep your eyes open.
 
She just sent me an email telling me the car is in Scotland! (north of England!) Still no phone number so I told her i'm not interested.
When I left school I worked for an Audi Garage for 4 years. My boss had one of these Quattros and I fell in love with it. Some years later I bought a 2.2 turbo and a 20v coupe but always wanted the RR.
Probably not the right time to be shelling out 10k on a plaything.

Cheers lads. I Just needed a promt to tell her to stick it.

Ezzy
 
I would imagine after the auction finishes she will ask for a small deposit, £500 by Paypal. She has moved the non existant cars location so to prevent you being able to complete without the deposit. After getting the deposit, they will probably try and get you to stump up the full asking price. It's a scam.

The messing you around actually makes people more determined to win the motor, all criminals do that, too smooth a deal-too good to be true. Nice touch about the divorce settlement, will make some people think they can get one over on a daft woman.

But you never know, why not just bid and if you win try and force your rules on the scammers, no car no cash.
 
If she is recently divorced you could shack up with her and borrow the Audi
 
Ebay is great when it all goes well, its a different story if there is a problem.

Ebay is probably the biggest market place in the world but does anyone know anyone who works for ebay? Its like a virtual world, it is impossible to contact a real person.

I consider buying on ebay to be very much like gambling, I would never pay more that I was willing to lose unless I could visit the seller and see the item in person.

Glyn
 
I have bought both cars I currently own on ebay.
if you cant speak to them or see the car and it smells funny it probably is.
 
I bought my wife a car off Ebay the deal is this, you win the auction but are not obliged to hand any money over if the car is not exactly as described. In our case all was well and we saved a packet on a car which was quite difficult to find. I would never say never to buying a car off Ebay just be careful and use some common sense.
 
i sold my fireblade on ebay, lad was over the moon, i also won a bike on ebay. Went to see it. and it was not as described. Told the owner what was wrong, they were happy with my decision with what i explained. Only downside is if you have to travel far to see it, can be a wasted journey with todays fuel prices a costly one.
 
I don't use eBay but am I right in thinking she has to pay a percentage of the value of her sale to them? You are offering to turn up in person and hand over the cash so she gets the full value of the car and avoids the commission. And she does not want to do that........?

This particular car does not exist in my opinion.

My cousin lost £12,000 on a car purchase from Norway. I believe they picked that imaginary location to create the impression it was just too far away for a visit to view but close enough to look like shipping would be affordable. It too was a rare vehicle. In those days there was no method in place to keep your money secure before the arrival of the vehicle. It really was buyer beware.

The female used in this scam is another aspect of getting you to believe it is genuine. We simply do not associate women with a con in the same way as a man. And the divorce story is to inject a bit of pity into you as a further diversion. And believe it or not, the suggestion about moving in with her and driving it about anyway is not that far from what they are actually trying to achieve by playing on the male of the species mentality! Moving in is a bit extreme, but the thought going through a lot of guys heads would be, 'so your divorced are you, you must be lonely, anything I can do for you....?' We have a tendency at times to think with the little head and not the big one....

Conartists are successful because of their plausibility, that is why so many people afterwards say, 'but he seemed so nice and honest, I can't believe he was conning me....'
 
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don't be fooled by Paypal either.
They will roll you over and leave you without your cash quicker than you can say "robbery"

I sold a phone to a buyer in Poland (not that unusual)
Paid instantly via paypal.
I checked all details with paypal and shipped to the address.

Turned out the "buyer" had hacked into a paypal account, changed all the address details, confirmed them all and paid out of the original owners bank. £400 later the original owner tried to recover the money.
As he clearly had a case of security negligence against Paypal the coughed up.

Now where to get their money back?
Well it must be my fault obviously! So they applied a £400 debit to my account without discussion.

Previously as a buyer who received goods as not described they had me jump through 6 weeks of hoops faxing in quotes for repair, shipping goods back special delivery at my cost, sending in tracking numbers etc etc

3 weeks after the seller had received the goods and signed for them (viewable online) they asked me to send them the receipt for the actual postage (despite the fact that they dont cover the cost)
when I couldnt find the receipt they dropped the case like a hot coal and left me without goods or money.

Only the threat of bad feedback and me coming round to his house got me my money back!!
 
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