Selling on Piston Heads website - dodgy looking reply?

Fubar1953

Sorry this isn't really a cost saving problem but just looking for a bit of advice if possible. I have a personal registration number up for sale on the Piston Heads website and have had an enquiry about it but the message I received seems a tad fishy to me. It is in slightly broken English (sorry that's not meant to sound racist) and the potential buyer wants to pay only by cheque and I'm a bit worried it may be a scam of some sort - or am i just being paranoid?. I have attached the message text below if anyone would like to comment. Should I ignore it or not? 

"Hello,
Thanks for the quick response about the item am buying from you, any way the price is OK by me but i will like you to know that payment will be made by Cheque. If this mode of payment is OK by you. Kindly send your information which you would like to receive the payment from the post man, so that i can instruct my secretary to issue it immediately

Name to be on Cheque.....
Address where Cheque will be received by you: .......
Phone Number's such as Mobile, Land line and Office number:
Asking Price.........

Never mind about the pickup, it will be after you must have cleared the payment from your Bank Account. Await your Quick Response so that i can arrange for the payment immediately.

Thanks, and get back

RobM99

Ah, the old "Courier will give you money" scam. Why cheque? Hmmm...    Bank transfer a better option. 

Just my thoughts.

cymruchris

Scam for sure.

daveyjp

Its a scam, move on.

Herzlos

The fact they are asking about the "item" and the "asking price" as well as talking about it being picked up after clearing all make it sound like a scam.

It's likely the "My secretary accidentally issued a check for too much, can you cash it and refund the difference?"  and then reclaiming the check entirely or it having come from a stolen account.

Anyone buying a plate from you will at least mention the plate and handover and ask how you'd want to be paid. Bank transfer, PayPal or cash are the most obvious options. Virtually no-one uses check these days, especially someone with a secretary.

Fubar1953

Herzlos said:

The fact they are asking about the "item" and the "asking price" as well as talking about it being picked up after clearing all make it sound like a scam.

It's likely the "My secretary accidentally issued a check for too much, can you cash it and refund the difference?"  and then reclaiming the check entirely or it having come from a stolen account.

Anyone buying a plate from you will at least mention the plate and handover and ask how you'd want to be paid. Bank transfer, PayPal or cash are the most obvious options. Virtually no-one uses check these days, especially someone with a secretary.

Yes his first contact was on Tuesday - I only placed the ad on Monday which seems suspicious how quickly he responded. His first email simply said "send pictures and last price" which I thought was extremely odd. Think I need to give this a bodyswerve.

Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to post.  

Mutton_Geoff

It's absolutely a scam. Why not offer your plate to one of the big firms? Prices are still negotiable with them and I got more for one than I ever thought I would selling privately. And zero hassle with fast payment.

Fubar1953

Mutton_Geoff said:

It's absolutely a scam. Why not offer your plate to one of the big firms? Prices are still negotiable with them and I got more for one than I ever thought I would selling privately. And zero hassle with fast payment.

To be honest all the online sites I've tried won't actually buy the number off me but will advertise it on their website for a monthly fee and then take commission if it sells. I had it on the Absolute Reg site for nearly a year at £10 a month but took it off after no interest. I currently have it on the National Numbers site who list it for free but still no takers. I also have it on Gumtree and EBay. I should point out that Absolute Reg valued the plate at almost double the price I am asking on my private ads but they were taking over £300 in commission plus the monthly fee I was paying for their ad.
If you can recommend a site that would pay me directly for the number it would be appreciated.

Mutton_Geoff

I sold mine via www.regtransfers.co.uk but not directly, they listed it for me and a couple of weeks later I had a good offer. I asked for more and had a response the same day for the higher amount and sold it. I have no idea how much extra they sold it for but neither did I care, I had no need for the number anymore and sold it for double what I'd paid the DVLA a few years earlier. 

Fubar1953

Mutton_Geoff said:

I sold mine via www.regtransfers.co.uk but not directly, they listed it for me and a couple of weeks later I had a good offer. I asked for more and had a response the same day for the higher amount and sold it. I have no idea how much extra they sold it for but neither did I care, I had no need for the number anymore and sold it for double what I'd paid the DVLA a few years earlier. 

I just logged into regtransfers,co,uk and it looks like I've had a valuation from them previously but they only valued the number at £400 which is about £100 less than I paid for it in 2015!  This is where I find these registration sites so inconsistent in their valuations - when I had the number listed on Absolute Reg their valuation was £1100, with a net figure to me of £800. I'm trying to sell it privately for £600. 

Herzlos

That may be your problem then, maybe it is only worth £400 and is overpriced at £600. Without knowing anything about the plate it's hard to tell. Does it spell out a common word or is it random looking initials?

Generally, if you can't sell something privately it's either the listing or the price (or both). Given you're selling a bit of paper with some letters on it it's unlikely to be the listing, so the price must be too high.