eBay

atikovi · ‎02-22-2017

Ususally you see CL scams by sellers with cars selling at a fraction of their value. Today I got this message by a buyer about a car I have listed on CL.

Thanks for your email, i would have loved to come handle the transaction in person but my job wont permit me.I can pay you the asking price plus shipping fee with a certified check. The shipping fee will be used to pay my movers who will come for pick up after the check clears. Call me or text xxx-xxx-xxxx

This scam is old as the hills, but I can play along. I reply with this.

No worries mate, my price includes free shipping in the lower 48 states. My job in the military gives one car relocation service per year and I can use it for this car. For both our protections I will post the car on Ebay and send you instructions on how you can pay them directly. Once that is done, the car will be delivered to you within 7 business days, after which, you have 5 days to test drive it to see if you like it. If for whatever reason you don’t want it, just contact Ebay and they will retrieve the car and refund you in full with no further obligation.

Wonder if he even replies.

zzydny · ‎02-22-2017

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atikovi · ‎02-22-2017

@zzydny wrote:
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Ya don't say.

bob-o-71 · ‎02-22-2017

Ati, you do realize that once in a while a buyer does that,right?....You are probably right, but I sold many classic cars that way at the dealership before I retired. Customer would send a check, shipping included, and after it had long cleared we released the car to his shipper......of course we had also talked by phone to both him and his shipper several times over a 2 week period. Good luck!

corndog2 · ‎02-23-2017

The one difference, Bob is that all of our transactions with vehicles that were bought sight unseen, and shipped somewhere, the buyer did not pay us the shipping fee. They dealt with their shipper directly and made arrangements and paid them separately from our Ebay sales transaction. I believe Ati's customer is a red flag for sure.

legitimate_bidder · ‎02-23-2017

It's too bad that legitimate buyers and sellers weren't as courteous and polite in their communications as the scammers, eh?

That right there is pretty much proof positive that one is dealing with a scammer now-a-days....'cause regular people are never that formal and polite anymore. These guys writing the scripts for the scammers in Kenya must be using like the 1956 edition of English Business Letters For Every Occasion....

fisc-bruc · ‎02-23-2017

Hi, Atikovi. C.L. is always a **bleep** shoot for me when i sell a car on there.I have gotten many messages like you have gotten.1st tip off i know its a scamer.I tell them i have no tex and call me and right after the ad goes up .I will get a tex.I went back and forth with one guy for about a half hour texing each other.I finally called his bluff and told him the car was sold.He got mad and said W.T.F??? Just got to take it with a grain of salt.Take care buddy.Bruce.

bob-o-71 · ‎02-23-2017

Yeah, that makes sense...best bet is to always call and talk, whether private sale or dealership sales....emails and texts are too shaky a way to do business...

jr-41ford · ‎02-25-2017

I am going to list a car today and I put in my ad, not to text. They will still try to text, but these day, I have gone back to just using the land-line phone and it doesn't text.

Some will eventually call and mentioned that they texted me and wanted the address to look or if I will adjust my price. I just tell them they didn't read my ad thoroughly, because it said no texting or if they know how to get my land-line phone to receive a text message, to tell me how.

No more texting, just phone or face to face conversations.

atikovi · ‎02-25-2017

@jr-41ford wrote:

No more texting, just phone or face to face conversations.

Funny how everybody assumes you can text to every phone number. Guess it's mostly those under 30. I prefer email communication but usually give out my home number to someone that responds to my CL ad so I don't have to answer my cell while on the road or in the supermarket. Why can't they just write down everything they want to know and email it to me? Lot easier to create a message on a computer than a phone.

legitimate_bidder · ‎02-25-2017

Same here, JR. Don't text. Never will. I think it's the silliest thing in the world.

And I always put in my ads: "Be sure and leave your phone number if you get my answering machine" [People these days don't seem to understand how an answering machine on a landline works....), and yet some people will just call and say "I'm calling about the henweigh, call me back" and not leave their number!

We are entering a new Dark Age. One with fancy electronics and bells and whistles, where people walk around with phones in their hands 24 hours a day and yet communication is being reduced to a series of grunts and snorts.

jr-41ford · ‎02-25-2017

I've watched three people in the same room text each other instead of talking to each other. Of course, seen the same thing with the g-daughter and her friends last weekend when she had her birthday/slumber party over here.

legitimate_bidder · ‎02-25-2017

Tickle granddaughter...you don't hear anything...you just see her trying tio text you "LOL".

jr-41ford · ‎02-26-2017

@legitimate_bidder wrote:
Tickle granddaughter...you don't hear anything...you just see her trying tio text you "LOL".

You mean like her in the other room and texting me to come look at pictures with her and gramma?

sockmonkeydave · ‎02-26-2017

@jr-41ford

@jr-41ford wrote:
@legitimate_bidder wrote:
Tickle granddaughter...you don't hear anything...you just see her trying tio text you "LOL".
You mean like her in the other room and texting me to come look at pictures with her and gramma?

lol too funny... we are in the same house... just yell, I can hear you...

My phone plugs into the wall, and it just rings, it's not a real smart phone.

But then I just need it to ring, that's all...