How to pay someone securely for a motorcycle

hogweed

Don’t know if I’m in the right place here… but I’m contemplating buying a vintage motorbike advertised on Car & Classic. Trouble is, the bike’s in England, and I’m in N Ireland, so I’d have to have it delivered rather than collecting and paying for it in person.

I’ve been buying things on eBay for many years, using PayPal – but their buyer protection doesn't cover motor vehicles.

C&C isn't a place noted for its scammers, but I’m still not going to just send a few grand to somebody I’m not going to meet.

Any suggestions please? I just want to be able to recover my money in the unlikely event the bike doesn't turn up… it’s a private sale, not trade.

Thanks

soolin

That’s a tricky one as the seller is likely to want cash or the equivalent and not mess around with online payments. Add to that the problems of collecting the bike and I think either you or the seller is going to be put in a position of trust. Any safe method for you like a credit card is going to cause issues in that firstly a private seller is unlikely to have the ability to accept a card for goods, and would leave him vulnerable to chargebacks, but you would also be at risk as whoever collected it for you might not notice damage or problems which leaves you with a bile you would need to return, assuming your credit card would help. 

I doubt very much that the seller will want to take any risk so that leaves you sending a bank transfer or suchlike, trusting the seller and also trusting any courier company you used.

With risks and courier charges it would probably be cheaper for you to fly in , collect the bike and take a ferry back. 

Perhaps someone else though might have some idea.

GadgetGuru

With Soolin on this one.
As a seller I would want 100% cleared funds that cannot be subject to chargeback etc before I even release the item. 
As a buyer I would want to ensure I receive the item with the added safetynet of being able to reverse the transaction and receive my funds back. 

So in essence, both work against each other, so either there needs to be trust from one side, or a face-to-face transaction takes place. 
Depending upon the travel cost, it may be better to air on the side of caution and go to actually see the bike etc beforehand. Yes it's an added cost, but I would prefer the peace of mind.

I have sold some hand built, competition level RC buggies in the past, which can get quite expensive - I have reduced the price a touch to help the buyer with fuel cost etc, just as a gesture of goodwill, and just because I would prefer the buyer to see and check the item beforehand. Simply because I know the item is spot on mint and have nothing to hide.

On the other hand, I have had buyers who are perfectly happy to transfer me £1400+ for a RC buggy just by seeing the images I place on the ad when for sale! In such cases, I have insisted on a phone conversation at the very least, for the buyer to ask me any questions, and just to reassure the buyer I am an honest seller - a video call at times so I can show the item again in more detail......yes it's time consuming, but again, I'd rather that then have the buyer change their mind or purposefully 'look for issues' later due to change of mind etc! 

Just a few ideas you can ponder over

Buster_Danog

One of the apps that is used on Preloved is an Irish developed payment app called "Trustap". I have never used it but it seems to deal with transactions for motor vehicles https://www.trustap.com/blog/news/car-sales-recovering-how-trustap-continues-to-help/

hermante

I think it's unwise to buy a vehicle without inspecting it in person. Particularly if it's a "vintage" vehicle. If it is damaged by the courier or the seller didn't notice a problem, who is going to take responsibility / wouldn't you rather it not get damaged in the first place?

soolin

I was trying to find the thread we had recently about the antique desk that ended up costing buyer money, but it doesn’t show up in a search. That was a remote sale with buyer sending their own courier. 

Belenus

Soolin, here is that thread.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6386241/best-way-to-deal-with-this-in-paypal-resolution-centre-please/p1