A bit fishy?
 

Does anyone else find this scenario a bit fishy?

I put my car up for sale on exchange and mart yesterday. A few hours later, I got a message asking me what kind of condition it was in and how much did it cost (both of which were in the ad but never mind).

So I politely answer the ad and have just had a response to say, "OK I will pay full asking price, can I transfer money to you via paypal and then arrange to collect".

They have not even seen the car. :confused: It is competitively priced for a quick sale but still ... do people really do this?

Re: A bit fishy?
 

Someone did it to a friend here. They were in Cairns, saw the car on carsales.com for sale in South Brisbane, rang up, said they've have it, transferred the money, flew down from Cairns and drove it back up.

I wouldn't but hey, if they're happy and you have the money it doesn't matter :D Make sure you do have the money in your bank account though. Paypal isn't infallible.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

I had the same thing offered to me when I put my car up for sale. Remember that if the buyer files a dispute with paypal you will lose the money and the car. This could happen up to 30 days after the payment. If the paypal account has been hacked you stand no chance of any redress. Don't do it.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

I thought it sounded a bit odd too, a quick google gave me this:

Scams involving paypal and car buying

It does sound a lot like your situation - asking about condition and cost when its clearly in the ad and then offering full price without even seeing/test driving the vehicle.

Do a google, BS - there's lots of variations on how the scam works out, of course I could just be being super suspicious :D

Re: A bit fishy?
 

Pretty sure I read something somewhere about a scam and it was buying cars and paying via paypal. I wouldn't do it just incase.

Trust your first instincts ;)

Re: A bit fishy?
 

Thanks everyone. I am indeed going to trust my instincts and leave this well alone. :thumbup:

It was the paypal thing that was troubling me really, could not put my finger on why though because I don't use paypal and don't know much about it. I am certainly not going to start using it now.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

I only do cash on collection. No cash, no keys.

Plus you don't have Paypal fees.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

I've sold a few cars here, well 3! Everytime we advertised we'd get these jokers sending the same type of message. One even came from a Uk landline number!! We ignored them and didn't even reply, didn't want them to get my personal number.

Just remember if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. :)

Re: A bit fishy?
 

It's a scam, your car will be picked up then a paypal dispute will be filed...leaving you with no money and no car. :thumbdown:

Re: A bit fishy?
 

I have just lost £600 quid through paypal, NOW KNOWN AS ..........PAY FOE

basically because of a loop hole, I sold a laptop, paypal deemed the transaction as suspicious so held my money pending an investigation on both parties. Because the "buyer" didn`t respond, and I didn`t use royal mail ( why would I when he was standing 3 feet away from me) The money eventually went back onto his card. So he has the money, and the lap top. Astonishingly, he has commited no offence, as it is a civil matter. It happens all the time apparently, pay foe are the shoddiest organisation going. Proceed with caution my dear.

Furthermore the assailant turned up in a flash merc, and was of asian origin. HHmm, how stupid am I? I thought Pay Foe was safe as a victorian town house, more like a hastily errected shed in Kobe.


Oh my did I say that out loud?....

Re: A bit fishy?
 

I think your problem was getting payment via PayPal and then letting the guy collect it. If the buyer can collect it he can bloody well pay cash. Otherwise you post it to the address on his paypal account and get a receipt. This is a well known scam.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

Hmm... Interesting. Good to know this is going on.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

Look at the feedback of anybody who bids. If you don't like the look of it, just bounce their bid and block them.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

We ended up selling one of our cars to a car buying outfit, but not "We buy any car" (heard concerning things about them), I used a site called dealerbid and got a few offers, one of which was acceptable, the guy turned up a few days later at an agreed time, checked the car and gave us a bank cheque. It seems used cars are in demand in the UK, we sold the other car to a main dealer, couldn't beleive what they where preparred to pay, dropped it off there the day before we left the UK.

These wheren't cheap cars, a recent BMW & nearly new Land Rover, I was amazed how easy they where to sell and what we got for them, more than I was expecting from ebay and more than the 'book' price.

Re: A bit fishy?
 

Oh yes, more than learned my lesson.

But over it, £600 is nothing in terms of what I have got, A beautiful Sheila and a pending baby girl :) I feel like the richest man on earth. Karma will catch up with him.