Sold Car on ebay... Buyer Lives in Another Country

No he was definately a wind up merchant ! reconned he was hiring a transporter lorry and driver to come from Belgium to pick up an old £500 car !!!! I ended up politely cancelling the transaction after he got a bit aggressive then he left me my first ever negative feedback !!! eBay removed it. He had no ratings as a seller or buyer and was probably wanting something to do with his Sunday afternoon. Silly person (or words to that affect !)

nipperjwb First reading the post I'm shouting nooooo don't do it - it's a well known ebay scam. So glad you cancelled.

I’ve relisted at a buy it now price with offers stipulating that the buyer needs to be in the uk ! Trouble is I’ve had to pay to put it on again so it’s cost me extra even before it’s sold Last time I sell a car on ebay and it’s not even mine it’s for my brother !!

davidstockport

Worst. Advice. Ever.

Do you know how ebay works?

If you don't have a tracking number for proof of delivery you don't have a leg to stand on after the buyer has collected the car then messaged ebay to say he hasn't received it.

Only ever accept cash for collected items, whatever it is. Never Paypal.

deeky6 Yes I do know how ebay works I also know how contract law works (regarding auction), if you read my post again you MIGHT see that is why I further suggested insisting on CASH (and give receipt) when car is handed over. The deposit (via paypal) is just to ensure the highest bidder is not a time wasting troll.

What can ebay do if the buyer does say he hasn't received it if you've got his money and he's got your car?

A buyer trying to defraud a person by falsely claiming the goods were not handed over (IF full payment HAD been made by PayPal) - would be laying themselves open to being prosecuted for fraud - which in such a case could involve an unlimited fine and up to two years imprisonment.

If you consider that my advice was the worst advice ever - I shudder to think what you considered the best was.

I notice DEEKY6 - joined on the day he/she posted, presumably just to attack my posting (that was his/her only action on Latest Deals at time of writing) - I leave it to others to form their own opinions.

My opinion (for what it's worth) is that he/she has made him/herself look so foolish before that he/she needed to add to other name/s he or she has used.

It was a cash on collection thing and I would have written a sold as seen note so we could both have a copy with both signatures on.

like you say genuine buyers wouldn’t have a problem with that only the ones that wanted to waste time on a boring Sunday afternoon !! Thanks for advice tho much appreciated

nipperjwb It stands to reason a thing such as a car is not going to be sent by courier (so no tracking details). Perhaps to add to earlier advice - if you sell, you give a receipt for cash... the buyer gives, after showing some form of identity, a receipt for the goods.

It's easy enough to prepare the receipt the buyer needs to sign before they arrive to pick up the goods.

Most people are honest: in hundreds of transactions with Ebay and PayPal (involving several thousand pounds) - I've only ever encountered one person trying to scam me - HE LOST!

davidstockport My account wasn't created to attack your post at all. I didn't want or intend to cause any trouble, you have completely misinterpreted my intentions. It was created to make my point and to try to prevent the OP from losing his car to some scammer, and I was unable to do so without creating one.

You first suggested 'it might be an idea to only accept payment via PayPal - that way if someone wins and doesn't "cough up" you get a good indication they're wasting your time', it was only later that you suggested maybe 'just accept a deposit via PayPal the rest payable IN CASH (with receipt given)'. Either way, any money the buyer pays you via Paypal would be refunded to him the second he opens an 'Item on received' claim, or he claims that he didn't make the purchase in the first place and that his account must have 'been hacked', or filed a CC chargeback, claiming unauthorised use of his credit card if linked to his PP account. In either set of circumstances, the hand written receipt received from him would mean absolutely nothing, the ONLY thing eBay will accept as proof of delivery is a tracking number which shows the item as delivered. After all, what's to stop you writing the receipt yourself and scrawling any signature on it, claiming it's from the buyer? That's pretty basic stuff.

You say 'A buyer trying to defraud a person by falsely claiming the goods were not handed over (IF full payment HAD been made by PayPal) - would be laying themselves open to being prosecuted for fraud - which in such a case could involve an unlimited fine and up to two years imprisonment.'

Oh, I must be mistaken and all the cases of this scam being pulled off must be in my imagination.

Or is it?

I don't intend to debate this any further. Everything I have said is common knowledge to regular eBayers and is easily confirmed, with a little Googling, for those who are not very experienced.

It's a shame that you took my post as a personal attack and then went on to insult me - 'My opinion (for what it's worth) is that he/she has made him/herself look so foolish before that he/she needed to add to other name/s he or she has used' - when my only intention was to offer sensible advice to the OP in the hope that it would prevent him from falling for, arguably, the most well known scam on eBay.

YOU DO NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL FOR COLLECTED EBAY SALES (EITHER IN FULL OR FOR PART OF) UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

deeky6 Thank you. I didn’t fall for the scam.... I cancelled the transaction and immediatly reported The ‘buyer’ to eBay. I will never sell a car through eBay again once this one has gone.... it’s a minefield !! Thank you for your advice.

deeky6 You perhaps should have read to the end before "Worst, Advice, Ever" (a direct attack) For your information: until 1975 (pre internet) I had worked in fraud detection and prosecution (very successfully) and can assure you that if any seller WANTED to prosecute someone by falsely claiming he had not received goods With sufficient proof - he'd have an open and shut case. It's now covered in Section 2 of the 2006 fraud act.

QUOTE: Fraud by false representation (Section 2)

The defendant: made a false representation dishonestly knowing that the representation was or might be untrue or misleading with intent to make a gain for himself or another, to cause loss to another or to expose another to risk of loss.

The offence is entirely focused on the conduct of the defendant. end quote,

Just because victims don't wish to prosecute - doesn't mean they can't (it's the same with victims of copyright theft).

Must say I am astonished that never before in over 70 years had I seen ANYONE capitalising every word in a phrase - with full stops between each word as in "Worst. Advice. Ever". Then I come to this forum and notice more than one person does it. It was things like that that aroused, usually justifiable, suspicions pre 1975.