Should I Be Concern?

[vlfifthdawnlv]

Hi Ebay community,

Today is my first time buying a car on Ebay Motors, it will be a local transaction. I won the auction today and placed a 500.00 deposit. I haven't paid the buyer or anything yet, we agreed to pay through certified check. Spoke with the seller and he told me that he had a last minute business trip and won't be back until a week later.

Does this sound fishy? I mean I'm the buyer, I haven't paid yet, I have nothing to lose right beside the 500.00 deposit. Even then, Paypal will protect my deposit if anything happens right? 

[lex-talon]

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@vlfifthdawnlv wrote:

Hi Ebay community,

Today is my first time buying a car on Ebay Motors, it will be a local transaction. I won the auction today and placed a 500.00 deposit. I haven't paid the buyer or anything yet, we agreed to pay through certified check. Spoke with the seller and he told me that he had a last minute business trip and won't be back until a week later.

Does this sound fishy? I mean I'm the buyer, I haven't paid yet, I have nothing to lose right beside the 500.00 deposit. Even then, Paypal will protect my deposit if anything happens right? 

I would have paid the deposit with cash and not Paypal. Did you inspect the car and take it out for a test drive?

Assuming the seller comes back from his business trip, I would keep in contact with them. Good luck to you.

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[vlfifthdawnlv]

I have not looked at car yet beside the pictures. I just won the auction yesterday. I didn't plan on handing the check over until I verify the car is as described.

I only did deposit via Paypal because Ebay listed the deposit must be made 48 hours after auction closes, the deposit must be paid via Paypal.

I just noticed the listing mentions full payment must be made within 7 days of closing. I'm concern since he's gone for a week, can he mark me for non-payment and then keep my deposit for that?

[atikovi]

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@vlfifthdawnlv wrote:

 Spoke with the seller and he told me that he had a last minute business trip and won't be back until a week later.

Does this sound fishy? I mean I'm the buyer, I haven't paid yet, I have nothing to lose right beside the 500.00 deposit. Even then, Paypal will protect my deposit if anything happens right? 

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Stuff happens so not really fishy, but if the car was local, why didn't you look at it first? There is no Paypal protection for vehicle payments.

[vlfifthdawnlv]

I just saw and won the auction yesterday. I didn't have time to look at it yet. This entire thing was only in the last 24 hours. I saw it yesterday on Ebay and it was ending in 3 hours so I bidded on it.

The seller told me he had a business call last second and he wasn't sure to take the auction off or not so he left it on. Maybe I'll ask him to refund the deposit to be fair and see what he does.

[atikovi]

Well, you bid and won so you're pretty much obligated. Unless you need the car right now, I would wait the week until he gets back. Might post a link to the auction or the item number so we get an idea of what it is.

[vlfifthdawnlv]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-Acura-TL-Type-S-Sedan-4-Door-/162786874605?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPa...

The payment says full payment must be made 7 days after the purchase so I'm just concerned that's a slight chance he'll walk away with my deposit and argue that I never paid for car if I want to dispute the deposit.

He sounded like a geniune guy though on the phone.

[atikovi]

Don't see any red flags. As long as he communicated through Ebay about the delay, I wouldn't worry about it. You can show the message to Ebay that he needed a week to make the transaction if a problem comes up.

[mr.elmwood]

You could have the VIN checked for liens, etc, but, I too do not see anything wrong. Price seems about right. Pictures are clearly not professional.

Guy could have easily been called out of town. I may or may not be going out of town tomorrow, will not know until the last second. Plans change.

[misfitfun]

actually ebay motors listings are non binding and either side can walk at any time

[mr.elmwood]

And the deposit is forfeited.

[atikovi]

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@misfitfun wrote:

actually ebay motors listings are non binding and either side can walk at any time

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What Mr.E said.

[lacemaker3]

@vlfifthdawnlv

PayPal doesn't cover deposits on vehicle purchases, but you are covered for the deposit by eBay Vehicle Purchase Protection if you don't receive it.

From that listing: (click on the picture to make it bigger)

The listing doesn't state anywhere that the deposit is non-refundable -- eBay and VPP assumes that it is a refundable deposit, unless it states otherwise.

If the sale doesn't go through, and the seller doesn't refund the deposit, then you can claim through the VPP. Reportedly, it's a bit of a pain, and you have to do some leg-work yourself, but they do refund the deposit in this situation.

FYI, as long as the seller doesn't keep the deposit, they can get their selling fee (successful listing fee) credited back to them if the transaction gets cancelled. So neither party would be out of pocket.

[atikovi]

OP never reported back on how the deal went down. Non-refundable is pretty much implied on deposits unless there is gross misrepresentation by the seller. What’s the point of a deposit if it’s refundable? The deposit holds the car off the market until the buyer can arrange final payment and pick up. In consideration for the deposit, the seller takes the car off the market and losses other potential sales. Put the shoe on the other foot. How would a buyer feel if a few days after giving a deposit, the seller returns it and sells the car to another buyer who offers him more money? The buyer would have his deposit back but could be out a lot more than that such as a non-refundable plane ticket and the time to arrange the pick up plans.

[lacemaker3]

I didn't notice how old the thread was ... sorry about that.

As I said, eBay and VPP have demonstrated that they consider a deposit to be non-refundable unless it is specifically called out to be refundable.

This has been confirmed by sellers who reported that they were required by VPP to refund the deposit after a buyer declined to take possession of a vehicle because they felt it had not been described correctly. And, since neither eBay nor the VPP can inspect the car, or make any judgement on who was at fault, all they can do is make a judgement based on messages exchanged on eBay, and in a case if one is filed on eBay.

I don't have any input into how the policy is set, or how it is interpreted and enforced. I'm just reporting on what we know about how this policy is enforced.