Is this a scam?

[skotl]

On the cars scam, I'm on an L200 forum where people constantly put up links to ebay ads asking whether the truck is worth the money.
Every so often, someone will post a link asking "What's the catch? Is this too good to be true?";

• A 2012 Barbarian with 200BHP and full leather. Normal price would be ~£15k
• Buy-it-now of £6,500
• A sob story about having to go offshore, wife leaving, and needing cash quickly
• No mobile number (he's going offshore, remember...)
• Contact by email only

Here's the clever bit about the scam - they're not looking for the £6,500...
You email them and get the whole sob story, along with "Look, I'm heading offshore on Friday night and if it's not gone by then the my ex is going to end up with it. I've got a guy coming on Friday morning, but he seems a bit dodgy - if you wire/paypal me a £500 deposit then it's yours."

People get the green mist and are overcome with the thought of a bargain. The £500 deposit is a masterstroke because you implicitly trust him - if he was trying to rip you off, he'd be asking for all of it, right? And, hey, £500, what's that? I've got £6,500 burning a hole in my pocket.

The scammer gets maybe 10, 20 or even 30 deposits during the week that the advert's up - that's anything from £5k to £15k for one advert! And this is one ad for an L200 - there are typically a dozen on for other L200s, plus Fiat 500s, Citroen whatevers, etc.

As a slight aside, there is no point in entering into a dialogue with them thinking "I'll teach them! I'll string them along!" - this is a factory industry; imagine how many emails they are getting, how many ads they are running, just in the UK. And in the US. And Australia, Netherlands, Canada, anywhere that speaks English?

And it's not just Ebay - they target Autotrader, too.

 

[Jim Davey]

Ar5eholes, I'm still getting txts asking if the car is for sale at 11.20!

 

[brightspark]

Ar5eholes, I'm still getting txts asking if the car is for sale at 11.20!

could be worse, telephone calls . ppi and the accident u had

 

[anto44]

I've seen literally that exact same message several times before, i would've thought they'd at least have changed the wording over the years. This is a regular thing when selling anything in Ireland aswell. You'l notice they never actually mention its a car they'l usually say the "item" or just refer to "it". Thats because they use an automatic messaging system to send that exact same message to loads of adds over a certain price no matter what the add is for.

 

[Jim Davey]

I've not heard of this scam but it's funny how the reply set off my bull**** alarm!

 

[the snooper]

I've not heard of this scam but it's funny how the reply set off my bull**** alarm!

if it sounds to good to be true it probably is

 

[Jim Davey]

I think it's the instant agreement to pay the full price that did it. Genuine buyers always want to see if they can knock a little off the price.

 

[julianf]

As a seller, you should never (unless you personally know the person, obviously) accept paypal for anything of value that is due to be picked up in person.

Paypal's shoddy "seller protection" does not cover anything passed over in person, so is a simple matter of the buyer denying that they ever received the goods, and the payment will be reversed.


If the buyer complains about only being able to used a credit card, suggest that they can draw the cash on the card, and suffer the 1.5%. If they're not happy to do this, a lost sale is ALWAYS better than a lost item.


The whole ebay "pick up in person" and being forced to accept paypal is a contradiction, but, again, a lost sale is better than a lost item.

 

[Fazerruss]

I wonder if PayPal would accept a collection note for proof signed by the buyer from the seller as used by most whole sale businesses when collecting goods.

 

[Jim Davey]

I've had two no-shows this morning, took the time off work to meet them and neither bothered to let me know they weren't coming, what lovely people Gumtree attracts.

 

[MattF]

The type is not specific to Gumtree.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I wonder if PayPal would accept a collection note for proof signed by the buyer from the seller as used by most whole sale businesses when collecting goods.

You could get them to sign a note, take a photo of them, record their car reg and even take a DNA mouth swab and ebay would not side with you, their insistence that you accept paypal even on collection only goods (Cars excluded) is a scammers delight.

I never accept anything except cash if the buyer is collecting and I put that in my listings, if ebay want to remove my listing and ban me then so be it, so far they have done neither.

 

[Jim Davey]

Car is now sold to a friendly Hungarian, do English people not buy cars anymore?

 

[skotl]

I've had two no-shows this morning, took the time off work to meet them and neither bothered to let me know they weren't coming, what lovely people Gumtree attracts.

That was precisely my point in the gumtree thread - that site definitely attracts a larger proportion of inconsiderate people than ebay

 

[Rocketman]

Car is now sold to a friendly Hungarian, do English people not buy cars anymore?

It's always been a problem with people no showing or wasting your time. Hence why so many people can't be bothered and just chop them in.

 

[Jim Davey]

I priced it stupidly cheap as I wanted a quick hassle free sale, instead all I did was attract an army of cretins offering me half what I'd advertised it for.
I hate selling cars.

 

[julianf]

Last time i sold any car parts on ebay, the winning bidder was threatening me with negative feedback within a day of the auction close, simply as, for some reason, he had not got my "do you want it posted, or are you going to collect" email.

Any other item, and people behave like, well, people. As soon as its cars, or car parts, you just seem to dredge up the vermin in their multitudes : (

[of course, not everyone buying cars or car parts is that way, just the market place is badly enough contaminated by them so as they become unavoidable]

 

[eSCHEn]

I hate selling cars.

+1

 

[the snooper]

I priced it stupidly cheap as I wanted a quick hassle free sale, instead all I did was attract an army of cretins offering me half what I'd advertised it for.
I hate selling cars.

ive never had the hassle of it, ive simply scrapped them and gave one away, no cranks ringing up, non of the hassle

 

[Jim Davey]

Not much money to be made from that approach though.
If I've ever sold anything souped up like my track day car or my supercharged 306 I've done ok, but I attract mongs whenever I try and sell an ordinary run of the mill car for sensible cash.