Unhappy Car Sale - Interesting Update

Richard53

pulliptears wrote: »

Sorry to say but that was entirely your fault. Stating no overseas shipping means nothing unless you actually go into your auction settings and set to post UK only, this prevents anyone from outside the UK bidding in the first place. Stating something in the auction won't stop an overseas bidder.

Yes, I realise that now. I hadn't been on eBay long at the time and I was a bit naive.

pulliptears wrote: »

Ebay is perfectly safe for sellers if you take your time to read all the t&c's and set your auctions up correctly.

It used to be pretty neutral between buyers and sellers, but today it is biased much more in favour of buyers. The change to stop sellers giving honest feedback on a bad buyer is only one of the reasons. But I would agree that if you take care and know your stuff you can protect yourself against most problems.

pulliptears wrote: »

As for blocking buyers with 0 feedback etc, well, you cant. You can block those with minus feedback and those with non payer strikes though.

Yup, that's what I was thinking of.

Another one is to state "all bids from bidders with less than 10 feedback will be cancelled unless you contact me first" and then actually go through with it. That lets you filter out some of the chancers. If someone with low feedback reads that and places a bid anyway, that's my signal that dealing with them could be troublesome.

arcon5

Richard53 wrote: »

My experience is that they would not. I sold an SLR camera with lenses and some other kit, quite a heavy package, and stated in the listing "UK bidders only" as I knew the carriage would be quite a bit. A last-minute bidder whacked in a winning bid with seconds to go, and them messaged me to ask "how much is postage to California?" When I worked it out and told him (it was over £50 on a £250 sale), he went silent and after a week of no contact I filed a NPB against him. He left me a very nasty neg saying I was a "greedy seller". I asked eBay to remove it, but they said they would not do so without his agreement. Of course, he never replied to any of my messages, and eBay turned a deaf ear to me. That single neg stayed on my feedback profile until eBay started the rolling 12-months thing and it eventually disappeared.

I have heard a few similar stories in the past which pretty much mirror this. But when I sold an item to a NPB a few months ago, the buyer left neg for some reason and eBay agreed to remove it when asked via live chat.

But reading their policy on removing feedback, they do consider a buyer not responding to an unpaid item reminder:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

pulliptears

Richard53 wrote: »

Yes, I realise that now. I hadn't been on eBay long at the time and I was a bit naive.



It used to be pretty neutral between buyers and sellers, but today it is biased much more in favour of buyers. The change to stop sellers giving honest feedback on a bad buyer is only one of the reasons. But I would agree that if you take care and know your stuff you can protect yourself against most problems.



Yup, that's what I was thinking of.

Another one is to state "all bids from bidders with less than 10 feedback will be cancelled unless you contact me first" and then actually go through with it. That lets you filter out some of the chancers. If someone with low feedback reads that and places a bid anyway, that's my signal that dealing with them could be troublesome.

You can report auctions that state that under 'unfair terms' I believe, but yes, you can spot dodgy sellers from a mile off from their wording usually.

Any seller needs to check their settings closely..

My eBay > Account > Site Preferences > Buyer requirements

Mine are currently set to block:

Don't have a PayPal account
Have received 2 unpaid item(s) recorded on their account within 12 month(s)
Have a primary delivery address in a location I don't post to
Have 4 policy breaches reported within 1 month(s)
Have a Feedback score of -1 or lower

This covers me quite well and I can see from the activity log that I've successfully blocked a few buyers for having unpaid strikes. Thats in part thanks to other sellers reporting them rather than leaving false positives.

I think you just need to be savvy and on your game to use eBay, keep up to date with policies and the latest scams etc

Richard53

arcon5 wrote: »

But reading their policy on removing feedback, they do consider a buyer not responding to an unpaid item reminder:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

Thanks for the link. That bit definitely wasn't there when it happened to me - ISTR it said something like "contact your buyer and we will remove the feedback if you both agree". Of course, he wouldn't respond to any messages so I couldn't do this. It happened probably 2001-2002, so a lot has changed since then.

pulliptears

Richard53 wrote: »

Thanks for the link. That bit definitely wasn't there when it happened to me - ISTR it said something like "contact your buyer and we will remove the feedback if you both agree". Of course, he wouldn't respond to any messages so I couldn't do this. It happened probably 2001-2002, so a lot has changed since then.

They were a lot more stubborn about feedback removal back then, these days they will remove a neg from a non payer with a bit of a push.

Richard53

pulliptears wrote: »

My eBay > Account > Site Preferences > Buyer requirements

Mine are currently set to block:

Don't have a PayPal account
Have received 2 unpaid item(s) recorded on their account within 12 month(s)
Have a primary delivery address in a location I don't post to
Have 4 policy breaches reported within 1 month(s)
Have a Feedback score of -1 or lower

...

I think you just need to be savvy and on your game to use eBay, keep up to date with policies and the latest scams etc

That's pretty much what my settings are, now.

I'd agree you need to be on top of your game. The sharks aren't usually the problem, as a bit of common sense weeds them out (impossible offers, illiterate listings etc). As the OP has found out, it's usually the clueless who cause the most issues. I sold a bike for £4k once, and it was a totally hassle-free transaction. I've also sold items for a tenner that caused me no end of heartache.

Richard53

pulliptears wrote: »

They were a lot more stubborn about feedback removal back then, these days they will remove a neg from a non payer with a bit of a push.

Good to hear that.

sunflower_2

looks like he is bidding on a few other cars...

tesuhoha

sunflower wrote: »

looks like he is bidding on a few other cars...

Could I ask you how you found that? I would be interested to look at that in detail. Many thanks.

bigjl

Car Auctions sell cars without MOT's and with bald tyres all the time.

They can't prevent somebody driving it with no Insurance or MOT.

The salvage auctions in Sandwich, now CoPart used to sell cars with serious accident damage and they could be seen driving down the M20 an hour or so later with lights and all sorts missing.

There is no way I can see the Police prosecuting somebody for selling a car with no MOT and then driving it home.

In fact I have never heard of any seller being prosecuted in this way, heard of some buyers getting nicked for no MOT but as it is only a fine most people are no bothered.

This thread has got a hint of paranoia about it and the OP is being panicked by forum law experts.

In all honesty the Police are unlikely to chase it down the road Interceptor style for no MOT, no Insurance yes, but not MOT, it isn't even an endorsable offence.

Nice to see the forum has not changed.

Five pages of arguing about selling a car without an MOT!

Can anybody show evidence that proves persons selling a car as spares or repairs via eBay or Autotrader without an MOT are being arrested and prosecuted for allowing it?

This part of the road traffic act is meant to penalise persons that allow people to use their car when it is not road legal condition.

Once you have sold it you are no longer the owner.

So how can you be prosecuted for allowing the person buying it from driving it when you are no longer the owner.

The buyer becomes the owner when you complete the sale, hence why you need to have a time on both copies of the signed receipt.

As it also protects you from speeding and parking offences.