Ebay scam - selling car

crumpetburger

Hi all, just wanted to say that I've been trying to sell my car on eBay. I got a message from a person interested in the car but could i send them personal emails rather than through eBay messages. i said no and i got a message saying they wanted to buy my car (without viewing) and pay via paypal, a courier would collect the car after payment. I spoke to eBay and they said you have to re-list to add paypal. So i added a new listing. My husband had a look through the internet about selling a car through paypal.

Then oddly enough i got a message on my new listing saying the exact same as my previous listing. I messaged the person back and said sorry i am not selling through paypal. My husband found out that cars sold through paypal are not under the normal paypal guarantee.

Money is being received with a little extra to pay the courier, then a few days later a dispute is being raised saying no car received. Paypal only accept postal proof of delivery. Even photos or letters are not significant. This is then leading to the money being retrieved by paypal. The car has been stripped and is gone,

Here is the message i received in the hope that someone searching the internet in the same situation as me can keep their possessions. I have blocked the person from my eBay.

Hi, Am highly interested in buying this off you,do you still have it for sale and what price are you willing to take? can you pls respond to me via my email pantos32@vp.pl due to my work natural i work difficult hours at times i don’t check my eBay often. Thanks

marcarm

A very old and common scam I'm afraid.

Thankfully you were able to google it and find out before you lost your car and your money.

soolin

Possibly the most common of scams and luckily one that most people are aware of.

OP have a read of the sticky postage thread , if you are new to selling on line it will give you some pointers.

Prothet_of_Doom

Is your car rare? is the specification very desirable ? I ask because why would you buy a secondhand car unseen, from the other side of the country ?
If I were you, I'd have emailed back Cash only or BACS transfer after viewing your passport and proof of address, when you view the car.

That said a mate once bought a spares or repairs MR2 Mk1 for £150 unseen from then other end of the country and paid £150 himself in advance for the transport. I think he did it all by paypal. I guess the seller was prepared to take the risk for £150.

Prothet_of_Doom

I've just advertised 4 alloy wheel on ebay and I've specifically said in the advert. Collection only, cash on collection.
Someone has bid from 300 miles away.

oscarward

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

I've just advertised 4 alloy wheel on ebay and I've specifically said in the advert. Collection only, cash on collection.
Someone has bid from 300 miles away.

To be fair I put a dismantled spiral staircase on, stipulating cash on collection only, no paypal.


Someone bid from 100 miles away and duly came with the cash and collected in a van.


I've bought 4 alloys with winter tyres and driven 50 miles to collect.


Depends if the item is of value to the buyer and can't be obtained nearer or cheaper.

forgotmyname

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

I've just advertised 4 alloy wheel on ebay and I've specifically said in the advert. Collection only, cash on collection.
Someone has bid from 300 miles away.

I have had the same also, Guy from the North side of Scotland bid on a £35 collection only item and i thought no way will they turn up.
But they arranged a day and arrived exactly as they said.

Seems they had bought a few items and were doing the rounds to collect them all that day.

You never can tell how its going to go.

CS2016

Hi

Just to update on the threads below. Am also selling a car on ebay and received the same message
"Hello there, Came across your listing and I am interested in buying, I wonder if it's still up for sales, if yes what price are we looking at? And can you please reply me through my email Pantos32@vp.pl as I don't normally come on Ebay as such., I can quickly get a reply and be able to respond on time through mails..Thank you!"

Follow up email asked if I could be paid via PAYPAL and a courier could collect the vehicle. Thanks to this forum thread my suspicions were confirmed that this is indeed a scam (email address was initial concern) so thanks to all who took time to reply here - hopefully we can stop people being taken in by this kind of thing.

George_Michael

crumpetburger wrote: »

Money is being received with a little extra to pay the courier, then a few days later a dispute is being raised saying no car received. Paypal only accept postal proof of delivery. Even photos or letters are not significant. This is then leading to the money being retrieved by paypal. The car has been stripped and is gone,

A buyer getting a Paypal reversal following the purchase and collection of a car shouldn't be possible as vehicles are one of the categories of goods specifically excluded from Paypal buyer protection.
They may be able to attempt a chargeback via a credit or debit card payment but this is harder than a simple Paypal dispute and provided that the seller could provide proof that the vehicle was collected by an agent of the buyer, this chargeback could well be refused.

seashore22

Or the seller receives a fake email pretending to be from paypal. I would have thought this was the more likely scenario for this scam.

motorguy

seashore22 wrote: »

Or the seller receives a fake email pretending to be from paypal. I would have thought this was the more likely scenario for this scam.

+1

No way the scammer is EVER going to part real money in the hope that they are able to reclaim it later