what are the dangers of buying a car on ebay

[columnshift]

So i'm looking for a working car. Girlfriend perused facebook marketplace and we found something that sounds great, price WAY too low. We think it's a scam. We write them, they verify stuff, and say their husband died and it brings bad memories and they just want it gone ASAP but they want to use ebay services and if i'm interested "they will notify ebay we are selected as a possible buyer and i will contact you to explain the entire procedure."

Wondering if it involves wiring money to nigeria and other things next. >_>

I've never bought a car thru ebay and normally never would, how does any of it work? I'm pretty sure ebay is not 'notified of possible buyers' either, there's nobody to notify. They dont care. You list it and people bid on it. So it's putting up my warning flags like is there a scam going around or just harvesting personal details for mailing lists or other crap... and who would it be reported to if so.

 

[cptbarkey]

It was easy. The car I bought was from a reputable dealer that I researched thoroughly before going through with the transaction. I have sold a few vehicles through ebay as well, but it wasn't very profitable because Ebay fees are nosebleed high.

You didnt post the link to the vehicle being for sale, so cant help you any further.

In general, what you are describing sounds like a classic scam. Good luck.

 

[Barkleymut]

just insist on a face to face transaction. If they want you to pay thru Ebay, maybe there is a reason... but i cannot think of it off the top of my head.

 

[columnshift]

It was easy. The car I bought was from a reputable dealer that I researched thoroughly before going through with the transaction. I have sold a few vehicles through ebay as well, but it wasn't very profitable because Ebay fees are nosebleed high.

You didnt post the link to the vehicle being for sale, so cant help you any further.

In general, what you are describing sounds like a classic scam. Good luck.

Well I didnt want someone else to grab it out from under me if true. :^) I mean have people sold cars for well below market just because of family trauma - yes, and i've been one of them. "Just want it out of here". But also 'it might be true' stories are the norm for scam artists.

I guess I was just wondering.. a scam for what? Ebay claims to have all sorts of protections, so I was wondering if there was some kind of scam going thru ebay that involves them getting money, screwing you. If I can't test drive the car in person and take it to a mechanic to check out I wont do it under any conditions.

just insist on a face to face transaction. If they want you to pay thru Ebay, maybe there is a reason... but i cannot think of it off the top of my head.

Well thats what got me, they said it was for the protection of both of us. I cant imagine what protection a seller needs, once they have my cash, it's one and done... I can understand a buyer demanding some protections. But I dont know how ebay auto works.

 

[hrv]

NOPE.... I guess I am old...Why would you even want to do this....I like face to face car to car and test drive it...

 

[proveitwithdata]

can you request the buyer for a remote ppi?

You can hire companies that will send out an ppi person to the vehicle to get inspected

 

[dishdude]

It's a scam.

 

[ls973800]

they will notify ebay we are selected as a possible buyer and i will contact you to explain the entire procedure."

Not how eBay operates. You bid on the car, you aren't "selected" as a buyer. eBay cares nothing about who is buying or selling as long as they get their fees after the sale is made.

SCAM!

 

[jeepman3071]

NOPE.... I guess I am old...Why would you even want to do this....I like face to face car to car and test drive it...

I bought my Wrangler off ebay pre-covid, but I did so because it was a clean California car that I was able to pay less for including shipping than a rusty one purchased here in the Northeast. There are smart ways to do it, I had a trusted family member who lives out there go look at it for me and inspect it before bidding.

In the case of the OP, it sounds 100% like a scam. Most deals that seem too good to be true, are in fact a scam.

 

[97prizm]

So i'm looking for a working car. Girlfriend perused facebook marketplace and we found something that sounds great, price WAY too low. We think it's a scam. We write them, they verify stuff, and say their husband died and it brings bad memories and they just want it gone ASAP but they want to use ebay services and if i'm interested "they will notify ebay we are selected as a possible buyer and i will contact you to explain the entire procedure."

Wondering if it involves wiring money to nigeria and other things next. >_>

I've never bought a car thru ebay and normally never would, how does any of it work? I'm pretty sure ebay is not 'notified of possible buyers' either, there's nobody to notify. They dont care. You list it and people bid on it. So it's putting up my warning flags like is there a scam going around or just harvesting personal details for mailing lists or other crap... and who would it be reported to if so.

Sounds like a scam as they should be very straightforward on payment etc. Sometimes things aren't priced correctly and you have to jump on it.

 

[mk378]

It's an old scam. The car does not exist. Someone in that position who just wanted to be rid of a dead relative's car regardless of money would either take it to a dealer and take whatever they offer, or give the car to charity.

 

[cptbarkey]

Well I didnt want someone else to grab it out from under me if true. :^)

Ok, buy it, let us know what happens.

 

[duck__dodgers]

---, once they have my cash, it's one and done---

why not use an escrow service or at least a certified check?

I wouldn't risk buying an Xbox on Facebook marketplace unless it's from someone literally in my neighborhood.

 

[dogememe]

Sounds like a scam. If you’re buying through eBay, great. If your marketplace ad is just a link to an eBay listing, that could be fine too. But anything in between or involving both is a scam, especially when some sob story is involved.

 

[zzyzzx]

Link to actual auction please!
Post the pictures and VIN here. Do an internet search on the VIN and a search to see if the picture is also been posted elsewhere.

The VIN search often provides pictures of the car in a previous wreck and / or auction sale.

 

[wag123]

So i'm looking for a working car. Girlfriend perused facebook marketplace and we found something that sounds great, price WAY too low. We think it's a scam. We write them, they verify stuff, and say their husband died and it brings bad memories and they just want it gone ASAP but they want to use ebay services and if i'm interested "they will notify ebay we are selected as a possible buyer and i will contact you to explain the entire procedure."

Wondering if it involves wiring money to nigeria and other things next. >_>

I've never bought a car thru ebay and normally never would, how does any of it work? I'm pretty sure ebay is not 'notified of possible buyers' either, there's nobody to notify. They dont care. You list it and people bid on it. So it's putting up my warning flags like is there a scam going around or just harvesting personal details for mailing lists or other crap... and who would it be reported to if so.

Absolutely a scam! RUN!

 

[columnshift]

Sounds like a scam. If you’re buying through eBay, great. If your marketplace ad is just a link to an eBay listing, that could be fine too. But anything in between or involving both is a scam, especially when some sob story is involved.

Well I guess thats what I was wondering... is there a scam that can go THROUGH ebay, I mean real actual authentic ebay, involving a local seller and buyer, that somehow still screws you?

My strategy was going to be pretty simple - if theyre local i'm driving it straight to a mechanic shop I trust. Then i'll check the VIN with insurance to see if anything is listed as flood damage, salvage title etc. If I got that far SUPPOSEDLY then they want the financial transaction to occur through ebay. IF it's a local car afterall i'm trying to figure out what things would happen that wouldn't involve an immediate police report since i'm not talking about trusting their links they send in email to something saying ebay.ng (nigeria) or some other nonsense here... i'm trying to educate myself on the nature of modern internet-assisted scams, as much as buy any particular car. The most obvious scams I was aware of are the car is not as described, or fails a mechanical check, or was secretly in a nonreported accident and maybe you see mismatched paint or something from someone's self repair at home.

I'm sure there's a scam in there but i'm trying to figure out how ebay creates the scam IF I can see the car in person? Are there protections that ebay does NOT have since i've never been up to the idea of "buying a car online" but then most of us didn't trust the internet to buy a pizza in the late 90's so maybe i'm the one out of touch.


Hell i've been curious about buying cars online for awhile simply because you can get rustfree cars in the southwest I can never find in minnesota and if it has a problem driving back potentially self tow it home. (which coulda happened before my pickup dumped its trans unexpectedly) How does ebay ADD to or enable the scam is all i'm wondering, or will 100% of "ebay" scams involve phishing fake links or URL's that look like ebay but aren't?

 

[wwillson]

You asked, "What are the dangers of buying this car on EBay?"

The risks are similar to playing with fire.

 

[wag123]

From eBay itself...
Beware scammers who advertise on other sites and tell you that the transaction will be handled through eBay.
That is not how eBay works. eBay does not rely on users finding ads on Facebook or other sites and sending contact information to a seller. Likely the seller will send a phony "invoice" that appears to be from eBay but is not, asking you to pay with gift cards or some other untraceable method to have the vehicle shipped to you for a free evaluation period.
eBay has no warehouse and does not ship vehicles. eBay does not handle such transactions or provide "vehicle protection orders". Scammers often promise those things, though. Any phone number you may receive on such an "invoice" does not connect to eBay, but to the scammer.
Anyone that asks you to purchase gift cards or to send card codes to them to complete a transaction is trying to take advantage of you. Anyone asking for a gift card is looking for a gift at your expense. Once anyone else knows the code, your money will be gone and you will have no recourse.
The only way to purchase a vehicle on eBay is to sign in to eBay.com, find the vehicle on eBay and complete the checkout process on eBay. You may have to pay a deposit. Then you typically meet the seller to inspect the vehicle and pay the seller.
If you encountered an ad on another site, contact that site to have the ad removed. eBay is not involved with any ads listed on sites other than eBay itself.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

I bought two Chevelles on Ebay years ago. One was around 1998 and it was a total scam. It was an amazing restored 1969 Chevelle SS 396 that I was lusting for the very moment I saw it. Every detail was exactly what I wanted from the engine cui to transmission, factory a/c to the color, model, year..... everything. PLUS the hook was the "buy it now" price was 1/2 what I knew the car was supposed to be worth. LIGHT BULB should have gone off but was too anxious and blind to what people are capable of. So.... I hit that "buy it now" button so fast my head was spinning. Thankfully I did what I had done in the past. I called my local town Sheriff who I have known for many years to ask him to trace the vin for me as he had done several times for me. Before he got back to me I was already getting threatening emails from the seller telling me if I wanted this car I had better send him 1/3 payment thru Wells Fargo (which I later found out) is one of the worst companies to attempt to track money or get a refund from. I was suspicious once this seller started to needle me. He was supposed to represent a poor young girl in her early 20s whose dad had worked his tail off after work hours for years to restore this car in his garage and soon as he completed the car, even before a little test drive the poor man passed away in his sleep of a heart attack. The grief stricken young lady was in dire need of the money to pay for the burial as her parents were divorced and the mother was out of the picture. Yeah a real tear jerker of a story. Still I felt something was WRONG. SO I smartly contacted EBAY security team to ask them to please check this seller out as I was worried of possible scam in the works. Well in no time , even before my LEO friend could get back to me with results of the vin check, this guy , the seller was discovered to be an EBAY security risk and a scammer who had been exposed and threatened with legal action in the past from EBAY. So that slap on the wrist as they did at the time, allowed him to boldly just sneak back in with another ID and try to pull another wallet cleaning scam. I was lucky and caught on to him thru my gut feeling due to his bargain basement price for a museum piece with too good to be true price and his threats PLUS the nail in his coffin was the false vin number my police chief's info search turned up. EBAY was supposed to put the screws to the guy and attempt to have him prosecuted for a host of chargers but I have no idea what the outcome was. Now to my surprise and joy the 2nd Chevelle I "had to have" showed up on EBAY in 2006 almost ten years later. Followed the same pattern with my Sheriff buddy checking the vin and previous owners. All was clean and we negotiated a deal over the phone. I flew about 600mi to his home town. The seller came to the hotel near the airport where I had stayed the night and took me to the car at his home a short drive away. My knees buckled when I saw this car that was the very twin to the first new car I had purchased 31 years prior. This EBAY deal went off without a hitch and we were both very happy with the transaction. A person must do their due diligence before any money changes hands to protect one self. There are way too many scam artist / criminals out there who have no problem or conscience when it comes to separating you from your money for nothing or junk in return.