Buying off eBay

CrazyRatLady_2

jase1 wrote: »

What about the poor sod who has to pay up the £50-100, and a week wasted putting it online, you've just wasted on him?

This is the reason I'll never sell a car worth more than a couple of hundred quid on ebay. It's completely unacceptable to waste people's time like this and people who do it are worse than the stuff I pick up on the base of my shoe.

If you can't view before bidding, don't bloody bid. It really is that simple.

You do realise that we're talking about walking away because the car was not in the condition described? In those cases the seller has wasted the buyers time by not being honest.

pitkin2020

Go for it, just make sure if you win to take a copy of the auction listing with you, if its not as described you can pull out of the sale. Personally i see no issue with anyone pulling out if its not as described, that would the sellers own fault for not describing the car properly.

I have bought two cars off ebay (and sold three) and they have always been as described, personally though I try to get the phone number of the seller so I can have a chat with them, confirm some details and try to get a feel for the seller. I would only consider looking at well written, detailed auctions with plenty of pics too, if the seller can't be bothered to put a decent ad together when they have pretty much unlimited space to do so it would make me question as to why.

Not every ebay seller is out there to rip anyone off, certainly not to the extent someone on these forums would like to think anyway.

pitkin2020

jase1 wrote: »

What about the poor sod who has to pay up the £50-100, and a week wasted putting it online, you've just wasted on him?

This is the reason I'll never sell a car worth more than a couple of hundred quid on ebay. It's completely unacceptable to waste people's time like this and people who do it are worse than the stuff I pick up on the base of my shoe.

If you can't view before bidding, don't bloody bid. It really is that simple.

If the car is not as described the buyer does not have to buy and that doesn't just apply to cars on ebay but everything, the seller has also wasted the buyers time.

I do agree though that if the car is exactly as described in the ad then they certainly shouldn't have the option not to continue with the auction, if it was a proper auction house they would be told to pay up. In reality the seller hasn't lost anything other than time (as annoying as that is), they will be allowed to relist for free and and FVF will be refunded.

jase1

CrazyRatLady wrote: »

You do realise that we're talking about walking away because the car was not in the condition described? In those cases the seller has wasted the buyers time by not being honest.

Nope, the poster I quoted did not qualify in that way.

It is *always* possible to nit-pick, no matter how full and complete the description is.

The time to find this out is *before* you waste the seller's time.

I personally know a couple of people who, when looking for a car, bid on two or three on ebay on-spec then pull out if they're not fussed. It's pathetic.

KierNet

jase1 wrote: »

What about the poor sod who has to pay up the £50-100, and a week wasted putting it online, you've just wasted on him?

This is the reason I'll never sell a car worth more than a couple of hundred quid on ebay. It's completely unacceptable to waste people's time like this and people who do it are worse than the stuff I pick up on the base of my shoe.

If you can't view before bidding, don't bloody bid. It really is that simple.

Fees are £10 for listing a car on eBay. £20 if it sells under £1,999.99. So £30 total, not £50-£100.

Please show me where I said I'm going to walk away if I don't like it. I've said if there is something they've not mentioned in the ad.

From the advert I'm more than happy to pay the money if I win. The seller has been very helpful, and not doubting that he is trying to pull a fast one (600+ feedback, 100%).

If I could view it before I would, not that I need to justify myself to you.

jase1

KierNet wrote: »

Fees are £10 for listing a car on eBay. £20 if it sells under £1,999.99. So £30 total, not £50-£100.

Please show me where I said I'm going to walk away if I don't like it. I've said if there is something they've not mentioned in the ad.

From the advert I'm more than happy to pay the money if I win. The seller has been very helpful, and not doubting that he is trying to pull a fast one (600+ feedback, 100%).

If I could view it before I would, not that I need to justify myself to you.

I was quoting AlexisV who made a blanket "you don't have to buy it" comment, that makes my blood boil.

If there is something materially incorrect in the advertisement then that is reason to negotiate out of the purchase. If you're just not fussed and you pull out, well that's between you and your conscience.

If one of those workmates made an offer for a car I was selling, with the knowledge of what they've done to ebay sellers I'd tell them to sod off quite honestly, I don't need that nonsense.

pitkin2020

jase1 wrote: »

Nope, the poster I quoted did not qualify in that way.

It is *always* possible to nit-pick, no matter how full and complete the description is.

The time to find this out is *before* you waste the seller's time.

I personally know a couple of people who, when looking for a car, bid on two or three on ebay on-spec then pull out if they're not fussed. It's pathetic.

Ebay allow people to do it without penalty unless you have some sort of verified membership where they will still be forced to pay it will happen, and it does happen on everything from pencil sharpeners to yachts, cars aren't excluded from idiot bidders.

Sellers can be just as bad as some buyers by twisting the truth, especially with regards to cars, but then the dodgy used car dealers have been doing the same for decades.

custardy

jase1 wrote: »

What about the poor sod who has to pay up the £50-100, and a week wasted putting it online, you've just wasted on him?

This is the reason I'll never sell a car worth more than a couple of hundred quid on ebay. It's completely unacceptable to waste people's time like this and people who do it are worse than the stuff I pick up on the base of my shoe.

If you can't view before bidding, don't bloody bid. It really is that simple.

well thats the point of clear and honest listings

mikey72

jase1 wrote: »

What about the poor sod who has to pay up the £50-100, and a week wasted putting it online, you've just wasted on him?

This is the reason I'll never sell a car worth more than a couple of hundred quid on ebay. It's completely unacceptable to waste people's time like this and people who do it are worse than the stuff I pick up on the base of my shoe.

If you can't view before bidding, don't bloody bid. It really is that simple.

If it's as the description, I'll pay the price I have bid.
If it's not, the seller has wasted my time, and they really are the stuff on the bottom of my shoe.
No one has yet, but I pick the sellers carefully, and don't bid on idiots trying to shift wrecks.
If you really don't want bidders that havien't viewed, cancel their bid, then block them.
As you say it really is that simple.

TrickyWicky

Yep, we've had several 4 via ebay. Only one turned out to be a bit of a p!ss£r when the OH discovered tons of welding had been done underneath on this 'immaculate' car. Despite this she still brought the money pit home and we've had it a good 2 - 3 years now. Still got two of the others we found on ebay too.

In all, yes if you know what you're looking for and you know the questions to ask and the answers to expect you can find good cars even if they are a distance away. Out of the 4 cars we've had via ebay, 3 of them were over 100 miles away. 2 of them were a good half the length of england away requiring a virgin hi-speed train to get to one and for the other we did an all night drive to get it arriving home at 5:15am.

Just do your research on the car, it's weakpoints, general service items etc and you should be ok. Remember that if the seller lies you can make their life very difficult via ebay/paypal. As long as you've asked the questions and got clear replies then you'll be ok.

Also I've noticed it depends on the type of car you're looking at too. If you're looking for a small car then the odds are the previous owner didn't have much money and it might not of been high up on the priority list for maintenance. If it was an expensive car then the odds are its been looked after better.