theboy

The other day i contacted a motor trader thru Ebay regarding a car they had for sale. I basically asked would they be interested in a Skoda Fabia as a part exchange and a idea of cost to swap. This was because it will save me a long drive if we are no where close to making a deal. This is the email i have recieved today, would a motor trader really contact you like this? The price has dropped and he wants to ship the car to me???

Hi,



The total price is Ł16000 including the shipping to your address. Price reduced for quick sale, and i have decided to sell it for a lower price because i need the money.



Currently i am located in Northern part of United Kingdom, in a beautiful sea-side city called Thurso, because i just finished the divorce with my wife and i have moved here to my parents home. The payment will be made through eBay and only after you will receive the item, i will receive the payment.



It will take around 3-5 working days until you will receive the item and you will have a 3 days inspection period (so you have 3 days to change your mind and refuse or keep it). Also, I need to know if you have cash in hand because I have a lot buyers interested in the purchase and I don't have time to waste. No offense but if you really want to buy it I will stop communicating with the other interested buyers.



If you are interested in buying it please provide me your full name and address so i can initiate the deal through eBay. You must know that eBay will contact you without any obligation to buy it or fees.



I will wait your answer (if you are interested to buy) very soon.



Regards

Below is a link to the advert

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2009-Ford-...item2a315e884d

forgedmarco

iTrader: (10)

Seen that loads of times SCAM

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

The pigeon inglish gives it away :-)

S555 MKR

iTrader: (8)

As a motor trader myself I can say this will be a scam. Please take the time report the advert ID to ebay to prevent some poor sole possibly getting stung and help the genuine sellers keep the site as safe as possible.

albob

It is an interesting one -- if you look at the Ebay ad, the same people are selling a lot of cars on Autotrader !!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/dealer/3...tock/used/cars

S555 MKR

iTrader: (8)

Ah! sorry I didn't actually notice your link to the advert at the bottom of the OP post. I would guess what's happened here is the Trader's account has been hacked. Reason being its an awful lot of expense and effort to set up a 'dealer edit' package with auto trader and also a 'motor dealer' package with ebay to try a scam (altho not impossible). 27 cars on trader will be costing circa £1700 / month. Also the majority of the cars are pictured in the same place (something most good traders will do) which all indicates he has the cars and is possibly genuine.

I would suggest you contact him by phone and feel him out that way. If he maintains the same story I would walk away, however I get the feeling on the phone you might find that the trader either has no idea about the reply you have received, or will explain his account has been hacked etc.

My account has been hacked before, someone added a few cars very very cheap.....quite cleverly they did it around 6pm on Saturday, knowing that will give them probably the longest period before it was detected. Lucky for me I had staff in on Sunday who noticed the 'bogus cars' and we quickly changed our security and informed auto trader.

The basic rule of thumb here is never hand full payment over without seeing the car in person and checking all its paperwork!

blackpoolrock

Quite cost effective if they get a numpty falling for it

theboy

Damn and there was me going to send him 16k via paypal for a car i hadnt seen in the flesh