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Any here sold a car on ebay?

Started by David #19063, March 01, 2006, 06:28:56 PM

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Brian Daum, 18809

It was very interesting reading your experiences with selling, and I would also like to stress the importance of pictures.

 I have purchased several top dollar cars these last years and have done so only because the pictures were superb. Since the pictures were so discribing as of what condition the car was in, I have been willing to pay much more than any second bidder ever came close to, and I still have been comfortable with the purchase. All of these cars turned out to be actually better than described!

If the pictures are bad I will stay away of any auction no matter how many positive feedbacks or how good a description the seller has.

I would go as far as hiring professional help to take the pictures, especially if I was going to sell a top dollar car in the kind of condition that is difficult to describe to a potential buyer.

Of course some sellers have reasons for taking bad pictures......

Brian
Norway

Fred Garfield 22310

Brian, youve touched on one of my top ebay frustrations -- bad pictures -- taken in the dark or underexposed, taken in bright sunshine or overexposed, taken on the wrong shutter speed and blurry, scanned in from a paper photo, etc. Havent these people ever heard of reviewing before posting?

Too few photos is another problem. To view some of these auctions, you would think the sellers are unaware that a car has 4 sides, a roof, an undercarriage, a trunk and an engine compartment. At minimum, here should be 20 photos showing all of these.

Yet another gripe is the absence of close-ups as well as angled shots to show the straightness of panels. I realize these sellers are not professional photographers, but a lot of this stuff is just common sense.

Then theres the biggest problem -- the occasional sellers who know exactly how to use a camera, pose and light their subjects and edit with Photo Shop. They can make a car look far better than it actually is.  

David #19063

Thanks guys,

Lots of good info.

David

Joe Meneghin 22407

I run an online business and accept paypal as well as all other credit cards.  I cant stress this enough:  do not accept paypal for a transaction like this.  Regardless of whatever terms you include in your auction, the paypal payment can be pulled backed at any time by the buyer.  I accept paypal only because quite a number of buyers want to use it, however, I can tell you that any payment sent by paypal can be "hijacked" and withdrawn for any reason.  

For a sizable transaction, the only payment that is totally irrevocable is wire transfer.  Even money orders or certified checks can be reported stolen.

Avoid the overpayment/ fake certified check scam from Nigeria and you should be ok.  


David #19063

Hello Joe,

Thank you for your input.

I think Ill avoid Paypal for now and accept wire transfer only.

David

Bruce Reynolds # 18992

David,

How much wire do you want for it?

I have heaps of it at home, all gauges, lenghts and sizes.

I can either send it boxed in bits, or join it all together, but that will take a lot of joiners or solder.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

Joe Meneghin 22407

good choice, youll also be avoiding a hefty 2+percent acceptance fee thru paypal, which on a classic car could add up to a sizable amount of money.

David #19063

Yes, I think on $25,000, their fee (2.2percent) was going to be around $550.  

Thats a whole lot of cash to give away!

A wire transfer should only cost around $35 for the fees for both banks.

John Tozer #7946

Gentlemen,

I have no doubt what you say about Paypal as a seller has some basis but I can tell you that, as a routine buyer, with the demise of Bidpay (does anybody know what happened to them?) and the high cost of Western Union Money Orders, as an international buyer, no Paypal, no deal!

John Tozer

Jim Snell #21544

Hello again,
Please forgive this blunt post. I am trying to be diplimatic, and non-offensive. I am not a car dealer now. I did own and operate a used car sales facility for many years. Leaving that business in 1994. I wanted to comment on the position most forum users take as consumers, and that there are two sides in any transaction.

About overseas wire transfers and Paypal on expensive items:
 My company imports to the USA and distributes merchandise from Spain. We have been making wire transfers to a bank in Girona Spain for more than 15 years, and have never had a problem. We convert Dollars into Euros through and international foreign exchange bank in New York, and make the wire in Euros. I see no reason to fear internation wire transfers.

 On expensive ebay items, I do not accept Paypal. If I were to receive a message from a potential bidder that said, "no paypal, no deal," then what the real message translates to is simply trust. People have integrity or they dont.. I have it or I dont. The buyer has it or he or she doesnt... There are many posts on this forum referring to the unscrupulous car dealers, and ebay users that plague this hobby. Not very many about the unscrupulous buyers. As a long time car dealer, I can say that the buying public in general are good people, but there are individuals who think the rules do not apply to themselves. They agree to a purchase, then suddenly come down with a serious case of buyers remorse, or have personality traits that do not permit them from making a transaction without generating some type of conflict. We called them the "one percenters." These are the customers that cannot be happy no matter what the seller does! When looking at ebay feedback, a person often sees antique car dealers/sellers who may have hundreds of positive feedbacks. Hundreds of people who say this seller is great.. Then there are the few buyers who place negatives and say the seller is a thief, or liar... The seller ends up with a 99percent positive feedback rating because of this... This is the 1percent factor! How can 99percent of the buyers say this seller is great, and 1percent say the seller is a thief? Dishonest sellers are everywhere in every corner of the world. So are the dishonest buyers.

From an honest sellers perspective, I would not be agreeable to any payment method from an overseas buyer that could be revoked. A deal is a deal. If an overseas buyer wants a car from the USA, then a forum like this one will reliably direct this potential buyer to a reputable appraisal service. The car should be inspected, before purchase. Once an agreement is made between seller and purchaser, then this is final. It is an antique used car, it has no warranty.

I do not accept credit cards, or personal checks for ebay transactions. My ebay sales always clearly state this. Over the years, I have had some ebayers who contacted me and insisted that they use a credit card, or a check. I suggested they go to the bank and get a cash advance on the card, or cash the check, and pay me by the specified method. When they refused, this is obvious that there is a plan by the buyer to revoke the payment, stop pay on the check, or refuse the charge if necessary. The terms of the sale are plainly explained. The sale item is being sold as-is. There is no warranty. I will never understand why some people agree to buy an item and then think they can alter the plainly stated terms of the sale, and insert their own warranty terms via a revocable payment method! This defies simple logic! If a potential bidder contacted me and insisted to use Paypal on a big ticket item, and told me "Paypal or no deal"... I would politely reply with a simple message: "Sorry I couldnt do business with you. I hope you find what you are looking for. Best of luck in your ebay adventures." If they had already placed the bid, I would immediately cancel it, then immediately add this user to my blocked bidders list. I had to do this one time! Just one time in all these years. There is that 1percent again... If this person cannot trust me, then why should I trust them? They think they are somehow on a higher plain of trustworthiness than I?

As a seven year user of ebay and a collector of 456 positive feedbacks with a 100percent positive rating, there must be something I am doing correctly. I am a buyer as often as I am a seller. I use both sides of the system and get along just fine. By placing a bid, I know that I have agreed to pay by the specified method, within the specified time frame. I simply do not bid on items from sellers with poor feedback. Weeding the problems before they arise is one of my best tools. I think that I am qualified by experience to have this point of view.
Best regards, Jim Snell