BEWARE - the auction site scammers

[SubSlr88]

A few days back I was scanning thru the new offerings for smarts on eBay. Several listings caught my eye - there were four of them, all offering a red/silver/red cabrio. And all by the same seller, who claimed to be a dealer. His photos were extensive, even showing a lot full of smarts. The cars were all identical - same accessories and add ons - even down to the VIN~! Oh, and the Buy-It-Now price was only $19K. I priced out the same vehicle on smartusa.com and came up to $18.6K. That really set off my "B-S" alarm. No one selling on eBay will have a BIN price of only $400 more than list, dealer or not.
Well, I checked back the next day - one listing had disappeared totally. The other 3 had various bids. The following day all of the listings had disappeared. I guess eBay finally caught up with this seller and pulled all of his listings down. I can't imagine what would have happened had someone used the BIN and sent money to this scammer.

Over the last couple of months on a local Craig's List there was a guy listing his Passion coupe that hadn't even arrived yet - price varied about $5k over three or four postings he had. Turns out he wanted you to pay him about $5k up front then you'd go with him when the car arrived and take delivery - in several months. "B-S" alarms going off everywhere now.

Those of you who are really, really desperate for a smart - just take a deep breath and keep checking in with your nearest dealer and hope for an orphan. It worked for me and I'm sure I saved thousands. And good luck, too~!

[Arch]

A few weeks back I came across an eBay auction for what was claimed to be an optioned (comfort and gauge packages) passion coupe. Yet clearly pictured was a pure (comfort package unavailable on pure) without gauges. The picture looked to be from a car lot and the pure had a "O8" sticker in its window. The seller was listed as a private seller.

Further, the auction's poorly worded description, typos and all, made it impossible to tell just exactly what was being offered - a car or a chance to buy one.

I first contacted the seller and received nothing in return. I then notified eBay via two methods: their customer service chat feature and the contact us forms page.

Their reply to the form basically stated that they can't be counted on to verify the legitimacy of any given vehicle.

Meanwhile, their chat support person agreed that the auction looked bogus and said that it'd be reported to their fraud squad asap. Here are his exact words, "I have checked on this and You're right, this listing looks suspicious, I'll send this item number to our Trust and Safety Department for them to check this one further. I assure you that this will be taken care of. If you prefer you can check if this listing is still on the site after about 12 hours."

They did absolutely nothing and the auction went on the next few days unabated, ultimately finishing at $19k.

eBay's grown too big for its britches.

Arch

[jediknight36]

Unfortunately, ebay talks out of both sides of its mouth. Many of my auctions were taken down and my account suspended because they though the items were fake. They were not, and even told me they were not going to make sure they were authentic but none the less, I was suspended for a week. If the seller doesn't provide another means of communication on the auction after you have tried asking them a question, then I wouldn't bid. Usually, if its a company it may have a separate email listed on the listing. Try that one, and keep copies until way after the item is delivered. No communication, no sale. Even better, try local or try city craigslist. That way you can see and touch the car before you hand over cash, or just wait for the dealer.

[Dougg]

I live in central Washington. A little over two weeks ago I decided to try buying a Passion coupe on eBay. There had been one offered earlier in Seattle, most convenient, but it sold. And one in Portland that I missed bidding on. So there was another in Thousand Oaks CA, northwest of LA, with a reasonable auction page and the options we wanted. I contacted the seller for some additional info, got back some good replies, and ultimately I became the buyer. It had 190mi on the ODO, virtually new.

I researched airline flights into Burbank and found a particularly good deal on Alaskan for July 30 and booked it. So on the 30th my wife drove me to SeaTac and I flew into Burbank arriving early afternoon. The seller picked me up at the curb in the smart and drove us out to Thousand Oaks. I had already read the manual I found online. He showed me some other details about driving it, we handled the paperwork, and I headed for home...

1100 miles away. I stayed with my inlaws up near Fresno and the next day drove the rest of the way, 14 hours. This transaction worked out very well. The seller is a nice guy who works at a financial services company, very straightforward. I'm sure he got a worthwhile profit on the car, and I skipped the long wait at the Seattle smartcenter.

So it can work, if you find a good auction, establish communications with the seller, bid wisely, and act in good faith. This was my first experience with eBay Motors, but some years ago my brother-in-law from eastern Idaho had done something quite similar; bought a used sportscar on Ebay, flew to LA to pick it up, and drove it home.

Just be careful...