Hi all
To cut a long story short, Cambelt snapped on my 607 hdi, put it on e-bay for spares or repair and a Lithuanian, yes, Lithuanian guy bid £1040 for it. Very little communication from him and no sign of payment, so far, as i expected! I get an e-mail after 5 days saying he is looking to collect from Birmingham, i live on Merseyside and have no intention of going anywhere with the car,no reply from him.
Today (7 days after the auction ended) i get a few phone calls. First call, a guy says he is a friend of the buyer and wants to collect the car, when i ask about payment he asks for my bank details. I asked him to use paypal and he says ok i will be in touch. Second call, guy says he is the buyer and will be collecting the car in a few days, all the calls came from UK mobile numbers. I explain the car will be not be going anywhere without payment either on collection or prior to collection. Now the unexpected happens! Paypal have sent me a message saying he has paid but they are holding the funds in case of chargeback. They say on the website this may be because i have not sold anything on e-bay before or until positive feedback is recieved, proof of delivery etc.
So, do i let him take the car and hope there is no dispute or just forget the whole episode? Am i being overcautious? Who in their right mind would pay this much and transport it to the back of beyond? Incidentally i had 3 e-mails from a guy in Cyprus offering to collect the car if i would end the auction early. Any advise, relative to the above questions would be much appreciated, advise on anything else, feel free!!
Thanks in advance
Joe

can you be sure the email is actually from paypal, and not a fake sent by the 'scammers'? i say scammers, because who really buys a car (in any state) without looking first?

tread with caution i say.

Simple..make it clear that you won't release the car until the funds have cleared.

If Paypal are holding the funds, they haven't cleared. Ergo no car.

Put the onus back onto the buyer to release the funds.

What he said, no money, no car.

This whole thing seems very weird and slightly unsavoury to me and in your position I'd probably walk and just email him saying the deal's off. It just sounds like some sort of con to me, with some classic scam alerts like asking for your bank details, multiple people phoning, asking you to go on stupid journeys (Where they can mug you).

It's up to you but I'd walk.

Log into your paypal account o see if funds are there to ensure not fake email..

Paypal will hold large funds for new sellers. They did it to me first time.

Just refund it and tell them to bring cash. Otherwise paypal charge you their percentage for the transaction too.

No cash, no car and beware of Lithuanians they are masters of knocking money off things they buy, I work with one.

Infact what's the buyers name? I might know him lol

Just sounds a typical scam, you normally get these when putting your car for sale on the web

Someone offers you some stupid amount way over what its worth then comes out with mad payment and pick up schemes

Ignore them totally and any correspondence

Never give them any details, bank, phone or your address

Just ring Paypal and tell them you are not happy with the transaction to date. Ask them to verify that they are happy where the money has come from and whose account. Get them to contact the buyer (or the person who owns the account) more importantly and make sure all parties are happy.

Never rely on them to do the correct thing they won’t.

You will end up having the money whipped out your account when it gets reversed.

If they are collecting get them to bring cash.

Reverse the transaction.

James

cash on collection. don't be a fool it will bite you in the ass. they want it they can jump through the hoops.

paypal funds can be taken back up to 2 or 3 months after the transaction, dont ask me how I know!

just tell the guy to wee off, report it as non sale with Ebay.

currently selling an Audi A3 on Pistonheads and Auto Trader.As seems to be the trend loads of enquiries from Latvia and the like.All the usual and aforementioned excuses for payment through Paypal.

Remember these people have no interest in buying your car.The sole purpose of communication is to get access to your paypal account and ultimateley your bank


A few days ago a marine biologist off on a dive wanted to arrange collection of my car by another company.I told him to f*eck off and dive to the ocean floor and take a deep breath.

His reply was can you please advise your paypal address.

Clearly their understanding of the spoken word is limited

I've sold a couple of cars on e-bay.


The following has worked for me:

paypal deposit (£100 is enough) within 48hours
cash on collection for residual
no bidders from outside UK

If in any doubt then cancel it and start again, any real buyer will make the effort.


I'd say call it all off.

Matt

the lithuanians and polish come over here and buys massive amounts of parts for cars and damaged vehicles (one of my customer is a huge salvage dealer). the exchange rate makes it much cheaper for them to get car parts over here.

just refund the paypal money and ask for cash on collection.

I dont see the issue then.

Firstly, agree with everything has been said before.

Secondly, i once (almost) fell into the trap of having multiple people contacting me on behalf of the buyer. Why doesn't the buyer call me? Not like he didn't speak english when i supposedly spoke to them.

Thirdly, if you do get to the position of having to count out a large amount of cash i.e. cash on collection, do it on your own terms. Retreat to a warm comfy environment where you can focus on counting money. Do it in front of the buyer as well. In the same incident as already mentioned, i had a group of lads that wouldn't stop firing questions at me whilst they all took fistfuls of cash out their pockets. It got the point where one guy would hand you what he said was £2k, turns out it was £1800 etc and just kept going circles.

I put a halt to it all, handed all the cash back, found a comfy place to count it and started again. The wads of cash were laced with tenners when they assured me they were all twenties.
Turns out they had more than enough cash to pay for it....and they were genuine notes, but just looking to try pull a fast one.

If selling on eBay, I usually put on there UK only customers. This got me out a hole when the misuss asked me to sell an old horse saddle. A bloke in Germany bought it. A bit concerned i was about to be stitched up on the postage as i hadn't accounted for international buyers buying it....i emailed, explained the situation, realised his mistake i.e. UK only, and offered to stump up the shortfall in postage costs. Turned out to be a top bloke.

Beware!! Be sensible, and don't be hurried.

DO NOT ever take payement for anything of value you cannot send/post with online tracking and signature proof of delivery.

You are wide open to having all the funds removed and given back to the buyer, all they have to do is contact paypal and claim they have not recived the item, paypal will ask you for online tracking/proof of delivery, it is the only thing they will accept, you can have photos of the guy walking off with it it wont be good enough.

Totally agree with everything said above.

Just want to add a simple fact - A guy in Lithuania wants to buy a non-runner from you in merseyside? Come on! What are you supposed to do? - post it? Just so unbelievable.

You never know...
Cash on collection. Job done.

I really hate paypal. Even small stuff gets me worried. Heard of buyers returning an empty envelope to get "proof of return" as paypal accept the tracking. Ho hum.

Thank you all very much for the replies chaps.
I have phoned paypal and reversed the payment, sent the buyer a message and phoned him saying he needs to pay cash on collection, at a pre arranged time on a set date ( before 12th March). He needs to bring proof of identity and a suitable trailer/ transporter. My next door neighbour is a copper so i might ask him to witness the cash etc. You never know the guy might turn up and pay, if not i have learnt a valuable lesson.
Thanks again
Joe Hughes

Well, would you believe it?
Lithuanian guy turns up with a huge trailer this morning, bang on time. He hands over the cash (all checked ok), signs paperwork, loads car, apologises for any misunderstandings and off into the distance he goes. I still cannot believe someone happily gave me over a thousand pounds for a car with a knackered engine. I am off to e-bay to buy shiny things. Thanks once again to those who replied so quickly and helpfully, it is very much appreciated.
Joe

Gobsmacked! Just goes to show how it takes all sorts to make up this crazy world we live in

Have fun spending your dosh!

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Originally posted by yozza
My next door neighbour is a copper so i might ask him to witness the cash etc.

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