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Smart Shopper Buying and Selling Vehicles Online (eBay, etc.)
225 messages, Last post on Sep 24, 2009 at 8:13 AM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: larsb (Sep 26, 2006 2:06 pm) 
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Replying to: larsb (Sep 26, 2006 2:06 pm) I doubt it even happened on ebay.  tidester, host |
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I posted #39 in here with the 9 cars I previously bought on eBay... I bought a tenth one and ALMOST bought an eleventh. #10 1970 Ford F-100 pickup, rough as a cob, $406.00 #11 1996 Olds Ciera sedan, cop impound, $172.50 The truck ran fine for four months, required a steering bushing, a couple wheel cylinders for the rear brakes, a good brake bleeding, and two used tires. It was stolen from me in October 2004. Which really was sad because it wasn't worth stealing IMO. But what was sadder is the seller never gave me a title, disappeared from eBay, and there wasn't anything I could do with it other than drive it until the tags went out in December. But someone took it away before I got those last 2 months out of it and then I was going to try and bond a title. The Ciera was said to run and drive and I was standing in line at the Greyhound bus counter to go pick it up when the seller called and said he couldn't get it to start. He had walked back to it and was going to drive it up front and put the paper tag on it but it was locked up from sitting for 6 months I guess. He told me not to worry about it and I saved myself a big headache. The Caprice wagon I had got towed away by the city. Seems they decided one night to make the street a no parking zone and I couldn't afford to tow it around the corner to the apartment's parking lot. So it went away. The Ciera I gave to a mechanic in exchange for the brake work on the truck. And now I'm looking to buy two cars from a guy in Missouri. A 1988 Town Car for $275 and a 1977 Cutlass for $299. They both are said to run and drive. I missed out on bidding but I called him and he says he'll re-list them soon. I can't wait. My very first car was a 1975 Cutlass so I'm keeping it, and my wife likes the shade of blue on the Lincoln. |
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E-Bay car buyers robbed at gunpoint (doofus alert) What happened, according to court documents: Dewan Anthony Horne had invented a scam that was both cunning and criminal. He would advertise vintage "muscle cars" for sale on eBay and offer a good price. Once Horne struck up a conversation with a prospective buyer, he'd suggest coming to Indianapolis and paying for the car in cash or the equivalent. The hitch: the cars for sale didn't exist. When the would-be purchaser showed up at a garage on the east side of Indianapolis, Horne and at least one gun-toting accomplice would attempt to rob the eBay buyer of the cash and anything else of value. Horne didn't seem very good at his line of work. Beyond the detail of being nabbed by the police, court documents indicate that he managed to complete only one robbery. |
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There's a guy on the Corollaland forum that has bought six cars off ebay. He has a trailer and goes to get 'em, no matter what state. I asked him about it, and he says for him personally, being mechanically inclined, it doesn't matter what all may be wrong with it. He doesn't buy to re-sell, he buys to drive. Said he'd be willing to answer any questions if I wanted to look into buying from an online auto auction. I personally think that rather than listen to people who just want to talk someone out of using eBay (and ultimately avoiding the issue of why buyers don't want to play the traditional games), listen to the people who have had good and bad luck and figure out what the lucky ones did right and the unlucky ones did wrong, and see if it's worth your while to pursue it. Interesting that eBay real estate wasn't as successful as ebay motors, though.
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Replying to: irismg (Sep 13, 2007 9:33 pm) Let's see.. what do I currently own that I bought on eBay.... 93 740i (My 6-speed project car) 88 M5 95 525i Wagon (Another project car) 86 535i Umm.. ditto. 80 Euro-Spec 635csi umm.. also a project.. There's 6.. and I forget a few others I am sure. Is it safe to buy a car on eBay? Sure it is but you have to be pragmatic. I used to sell a lot of my wholesale trades on eBay instead of sending them to the auction but the aggravation made it just no longer worth it. Here's one of the ways I used to word my ads... "The car that you are bidding on is a car that we took in on trade towards a new or pre-owned car on our lot. These cars that we auction HAVE NOT been inspected by our serice department and may very well have mechanical or cosmetic needs. We consider these to be WHOLESALE units and as such they are sold without ANY warranty whatsoever. These are cars that do not qualify for retail on our lot because they are either too old, have too many miles, or are in inadequate condition for us to offer as retail units. Generally any car with more than 50,000 miles or older than 4 model years is wholesaled by us regardless of condition. This means that they may have oil leaks, need brakes, tires, shocks, or other mechanical work, or you might get lucky and just need to change the oil and go. We CANNOT and DO NOT guarantee ANY car sold on eBay to be roadworthy for a cross-country drive or capable of passing any state safety or emissions inspection. All that we guarantee is what we observe from a cursory look at the car and what we have seen with our own eyes. You are welcome to inspect any car up for auction BEFORE you bid and BEFORE the auction ends. We are open 7 days a week for your convenience. Please ask any and all questions BEFORE you bid and BEFORE the end of the auction. High bidders are REQUIRED to contact us and place a $500 or 10% deposit (Whichever is greater) to secure the vehicle. Failure to make a timely deposit per our terms of sale may mean that the car will be sold to a third party. Your bid is considered as acceptance of our terms of sale." It's not verbatim, but that's the jist of it. So after reading that any sane person would realize that these cars are absolutely sold as seen, as-is, as traded, whatever... right? Wrong. We sell something like a 1989 BMW 525i with close to 200k miles on it for something silly like $1700. It's got relatively faded paint, hot air and some cosmetic issues. It runs and drives and looks OK, but it's an old car. We also state that we have NO service records at all on the car. Some guy buys this car, flys in, hops in it and proceeds to drive it back to some place like Minneapolis or Chicago or wherever from South Florida. He asks the salesman "Is this car ready to drive back home?" Salesman responds "Well, like we said in the auction, we have no idea... the car's old, has a lot fo miles and we didn't check it over in our shop... could it make it back to your home? I have no idea sir" Guess what happens? it breaks down on the guy's way home. He flips out and goes nuts on us, leaves us negative feedback, calls constantly demanding to be reimbursed for a blown water pump or whatever $300-400 repair it was. Ditto with another car. Lady buys it, takes it to her mechanic, it needs brakes and has a power steering leak. Yep, no shocker there, old car that we never serviced. Again, we reiterate our selling policy, remind her that this car would retail on a dealer's lot for $6900 or so and that she bought it for $4500. No dice, we're bad guys, she goes to the BBB, Attorney General, leaves us negative FB, you name it. BBB and AG's office ask her "Was the car represented as being retail ready and/or sold with a warranty?" "Umm.. no I bought it as-is" "Well then that's what AS-IS means" Meanwhile, I could have sent either car to the auction with the title, got similar money for it as-is and never seen it again. That's what I went back to doing.. If I am going to sell cars for wholesale, I'll do it painlessly. In other words, don't expect to steal a car for cheap on eBay and have it not need any money spending on it.. if it turns out to be flawless, then you got lucky.. very lucky. That's the biggest problem that I see on eBay, people don't use common sense and forget that you get what you pay for. Now, that being said.. if the seller has generally excellent feedback from the sale of cars, allows a pre-buy inspection and is a verified seller of cars.. then It's worth taking a shot. Let's face it, if you're buying a late-model car that's under warranty, as long as it's clean and has not been in an accident (Remember that pre-buy inspection...) then it's a great way to save money or find that rare car... I've seen some late-model stuff bring dead wholesale on there... if you can get a 2 year old car with 30k on it there for cheap and it hasn't been wrecked, go for it.. worst you cna get hit for is a brake job and a set of tires. It's also GREAT for finding freaky and obscure stuff, I mean, right now there's FOUR Morris Minor Travellers on there... that's a scarce car that you hardly ever see at British car shows and there's FOUR on eBay! Want a Stutz Blackhawk? There's a 72 on there. Want a Singer Gazelle? There's one on there. Want an Alfa-Romeo 164? There's usually half a dozen on there. It's the best way to find really obscure stuff... guy I know bought a Jaguar S-Type with a manual transmission on there.. he looked here in the NY City area for 6 months for one, went on eBay and there were 3 listed!
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Replying to: im_brentwood (Sep 13, 2007 10:47 pm) That's a great disclaimer, too. You would think that would cover everything, that people would know that a car older than ten years old is bound to have something wrong with it or GO wrong with it, that's why the original owner got rid of it! I think it's fair to expect a newer car to be without major problems, for the most part, and to expect the seller to be up-front about why they're selling it, especially a private seller. Even there, it pays to research and not just buy a car that "looks good" - you need to stay away from the trouble-prone vehicles no matter how good it looks unless, like a lot of Volkswagen owners, you are prepared to accept all the electrical problems that are bound to come with it!
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Replying to: irismg (Sep 14, 2007 7:19 am) Now, granted, nothing is perfect... but it amazes me the idiot magnet that eBay has become. And in saying that, I mean that eBay appeals to the seemingly vast majority of people out there with Potato Buds for brains.. your garden variety imbecile. Someone puts a $120k muscle car up there for a $9500 BuyItNow with a insane story... someone always falls for it and gets hooked. Folks, nobody sells a cherry Shelby GT350 for $9500.. well, maybe they did 25 years ago...but these days it's more like $119,500. And they are SUPER easy to move too.. muscle cars are hotter than a Sauna in hell right now. "Hey, I sent the guy $3,000 deposit and he was supposed to fedex me the Shelby Cobra from Europe where he's stationed!" Yeah, right. Same people who buy a 150k mile 12-15 year old BMW/Benz/etc on the cheap and expect it to be problem free. I have a rocket scientist customer who did this with a 97 740iL.... One of my customers is a dealer and is selling a PERFECT one for about $11,500. Nitwit buys one on eBay for $7,500, it needs $4,000 worth of work and he's pissed off. he reads this board too because I told him too, but it's OK, I told him he was a fool and he knows it now. I told him they cost $11-12k to own one way or another... needs the usual, intake seals and oil separator, ball joints and bushings all over the place, brakes, a window regulator or two, new catalytic convertors, ad nauseum. Typical for one with 110k on it. Eh, I own one and own a BMW Indy shop as well, what the heck do I know?
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Replying to: im_brentwood (Sep 14, 2007 8:27 am)  I'm sorry your eBay selling experience has been, shall we say, less than pleasant. I've been both a buyer and a seller, and part of me wishes eBay would go back to that more pleasant "garage sale" atmosphere it had before it started allowing businesses to horn in. But, as you say, the careful and sensible person can probably still find a bargain, as long as they know beforehand that it's almost impossible to guarantee that cars, being machines, will never wear out some part of it!
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