Possible E Bay Car Sale Scam ????

davjan

My DD and SIL are selling their much loved BMW Sports through E bay and a well known vehicle trading magazine. They've had an e mail asking for more details and photos, which, I believe, they've referred to the advert in the magazine, and have now had a further e mail saying that this person definitely wants the car as a surprise birthday for his son, and asking for their paypal account details. This is screaming "SCAM" to me and I'm afraid they are going to end up with no car, and no money. They are saying that if they open up a new paypal account just for this one transaction, withdraw the money as soon as it arrives, before handing over the car, and then close the paypal account, would it be any problem. I just know this is leading to tears and am very worried for them as they desperately need to sell, having just had twins and needing a more family friendly vehicle. Are there any safeguards they can take, apart from the possibility of telling this prospective buyer to pay cash when he collects the car - and we all know he won't do that ??
Thankyou, people, for any help

bazzaboo

Definatley a scam, they will pay by paypal, collect the car then put a dispute into paypal that they never received the car.
Cash is always the safest way in these transactions.
Opening up a new paypal account won't help as I believe paypal will not let you withdraw the money for a certain amount of weeks.
If they don't want to pay cash best bet is to wait for a genuine buyer to turn up.

onlyroz

The only time I tried to sell a car privately, I ended up being inundated with phone calls from scammers, or people trying to sell *me* a car, or people wanting me to advertise my car with them instead.

In the end I sold it direct to a dealer and got a reasonable price for it.

bubbs

Its deff a scam, ALWAYS take cash for collected items, as you have no proof of collection/delivery , in a dispute ebay/paypal need a tracking number

pinkshoes

DO NOT accept paypal when selling the car.

Even if you open a new PP account, take the money out, then close it, you would then no doubt end up with debt collectors at your door chasing the money, as it would still be owed if the buyer claimed item not received.

shelley_crow

i'm pretty sure you can't close your account until a certain amount of days after the transaction, it can take upto a week for pp to transfer funds to bank account, in which time the scammers would have set the wheels in motion. avoid!

durham_girl

Withdrawing the money will NOT protect them. If they do this, the 'buyer' will put a claim in, get their money back and paypal will pursue your DD for the money using debt collectors etc. Motor Vehicles are the only category in which you don't have to accept paypal and there is a reason for that! Cash on collection is the norm when buying a car off ebay, most people who want to pay by paypal are deinitely scammers.