buying on ebay

So I recently won an auction on ebay for a car and the guy canceled the auction to "avoid the fees." Is this normal? I just don't want to get scammed since I am no longer under the protection of ebay. He wants me to use a cashiers check to pay for the car. Is This safe? Or is there a better option? Thanks in advance

I hate the fees too, but they are there because eBay has to pay for the buyer/seller protections. So now you have nothing to protect from you a scam, especially with a cashier's check.

If he didn't want to pay for eBay fees, he shouldn't have listed it on eBay in the first place.

I hope you can at least go inspect the car before handing over said Cashier's check.

Right this is pretty much what I was thinking. He cancelled it without telling me anything so now I'm scrambling trying to figure out my best course of action.

I wouldn't do it. Report him if he's a scammer. Sellers like this is why I don't use eBay anymore

Walk away, report him to Ebay, try again.

Don't send a check. Contact ebay.

Stupid question, how do you win the auction when the seller cancels it? The fees aren't that high for selling a car anyway, it's not like the seller gets charged a percentage of the final value like you do in other parts of ebay.

Feels iffy.

BoxheadTim wrote: Stupid question, how do you win the auction when the seller cancels it? The fees aren't that high for selling a car anyway, it's not like the seller gets charged a percentage of the final value like you do in other parts of ebay. Feels iffy.

I won the auction, sent the deposit, and then a day later he canceled the sale claiming non payment. But I agree, it seems iffy and I am going to walk away.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccccccckkkkkk NO! Stay away from this assclown.

aghhhhhh I was so close to finally getting an e36 m3

If it's semi local and you can do the deal in person I'd go for it.

By cancelling the transaction on ebay he gets his fees back, some people are cheap. He definitely should have consulted you first but I wouldn't write it off just yet.

unfortunately hes a couple states away

where is your deposit now?

Uh... SCAM!!!

the deposit was through paypal so i think i should be covered there. The weird thing is I found it on craigslist so it seemed legit. http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/4619652945.html And I won at a couple grand less than hes asking price so I was pretty excited.

And start contacting eBay/PayPal and forward them all the messages he sent you. And, from what I've heard, do not communicate with him via regular email. ONLY go through eBay contact. It documents the whole thing and then they'll get you your money back.

Yea we had been texting and he straight up told me he just wanted to avoid the fees. I just got my deposit back so I'm basically back where I was. No real loss other than time. Probably the last time I'll do the ebay thing for a vehicle though.

Does the non-payment affect your ebay rating as the buyer? Even if he did refund your deposit, that's a e36m3 way to do business. Pun intended. Glad you didn't get scammed.

I hope it doesn't. I still have 100% as of now. But yea, seems pretty weak. Seems like all I see are E36 M3 convertibles for sale so I had to resort to ebay for a reasonable mileage and price example.

I would get in touch with ebay - they can see that you sent the deposit and hopefully you'll have the emails he sent you about the canceled sale in the ebay system so they can also look at them.

If you have been flagged as a non-paying bidder this can affect your ability to bid on other things. I usually block bidders with a certain number of non-payment strikes in the last month, so you really want to see about getting that removed.

Well unfortunately by the time I realized he had canceled the sale we were already contacting each other through texts. I'll see what I can do though

This is what I think happened; sell got less for the car (on E-bay)and wants you to travel half way across the nation and then say "woops" I really wanted $8K and put you on the spot. Pay more for the car or go home with no car.

Not sure on this one as the seller has nice pis posted of the car. Hard call.

Paul

Do we have a man on the ground in St.L who can help facilitate or at least see/touch the car?

If he's that much of a doosh when he's selling the car, can you really be sure of the car's condition?

I wouldn't walk away, I'd run.

Sorry about having the rug pulled out from under ya. That's a pretty E36 M3ty thing for him to do.

At this point, you've no loss. So the seller is a flake, move on.

But, if you still really like the car and are willing to take the risk that he will jack the price when you show up, take the road trip. At the least, you'll be laying actual eyeballs on the car. Gives you the power to walk as well.

Wouldn't quit ebay car buying completely because of this transaction, but I'd certainly recommend keeping your eyes very wide open when buying things like cars on ebay. Pictures do indeed lie, as do sellers.