I am trying to sell my car, I posted on craigslist and ebay

I got a mail yeterday, he asked what's the lowest price I accept, so I replied my best price. he mailed back this morning, what he said was

"ok no problem i will be paying you with my PayPal account because it's attached to my bank account and its safe and very secure way to make payment. If my mode of payment is accepted just send me your paypal email address,(Paypal ID) so i can pay in right away. Make sure you get back to me so that i can make the payment. I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick up after payments has been made, so no shipping included. And if you dont have a paypal account, you can easily go to www.paypal.com and sign up. its very easy. I await your reply asap"

I want to sell my car face to face, but I have to get rid of it asap.
Is it new fraud? Or should I trust him?

 

OH MY GOD ABSOLUTELY FRAUDULENT

do not write back a single email. trust me. CL is swarming with these. I've successfully sold 2 cars on CL, and both times i got a ton of these emails. CASH only, or they can meet you at the bank (if you still owe) and pay it there/open their own loan. DO NOT DEAL WITH ANYONE LIKE THIS, EVER. any email that deals with paypal, checks, never meeting in person, wire transfers, or having someone "pick it up" is BULLSHIT. not to say someone can never buy long distance, but you should at least be able to talk on the phone.

edit: oh my god, this **** is so frustrating to me, ha ha. in case i didn't make it clear enough................
.........................
DO NOT WRITE TO THESE KIND OF PEOPLE/EMAILS, EVER!!

 

LOL!!! I love those e-mails. Just go with it and string him along

 

Thanks for advice

I am confused whether it is scam because I sold my previous car to who lived 900 miles away from me. I was in MD and he lived in FL. He transferred money to my bank account and picked up the car by delivery company. And I sent key and title by mail. I thought I would be fraud but actually it wasn't.

 

What else do you know about the guy?

I just purchased a Honda S2000 over their forum like this one, and there are a few things to keep in mind...

First, do you know why the person wants the car? Are they using it as a car for their kids, fun car, autocross/track car? etc... You want to try to get the story a few times to see if its always the same. People have trouble coming up with the exact same lie twice...

2nd, have you verified the person is who they say they are... is their paypal account verified? (you can check that through paypal.)
Do you have their correct full name, address, working phone number, email?
...Paypal tends to favor the buyer unless the seller can prove delivery... and with no shipping or tracking number, they wouldn't be able to do much if you signed the title over to someone and they took your car then put a "stop payment" on their paypal transaction.

3rd, how much do they know about the RX8? A scammer is scamming the person and not super concerned with the car because they're going to flip it or part it out, whatever... Did this person ask the questions that any normal person would ask when looking at a used car? (year, milage, use, features, service history, rust, carfax? etc)

Most of all, trust your gut... craigslist is just an electronic bulletin board. It doesn't cost anything to list or email. If you feel the person has invested the time into checking you and your car out, then they have something invested. If not, well, they're just running some nonsense.

Hope this helps!


If the person is real and interested, they'll work with you to establish trust... if its BS, they won't wait around.

 

face to face makes life easier....

 

I sold my Protege5 through Cars.com. Took me 4 months, and in that time I received 6 actual inquries, 1 purchased it. In between all of those, I got a total of ~120 scam attempts.

The final buyer walked up to my house and handed me cash....which I checked for counterfeit before handing over the keys and title.


No method of money is safe.

 

if you've done this before, successfully (and luckily), why are you asking?? in my experience, that email is bogus. sure, many people buy long distance, but personally imo it's not worth the risk. CL is crawling with frauds. typically they are "out of the country but want you to ship it to some 3rd location" and there are many mispellings in the email.


^ good points from vynd. what else do you know? if the 2nd email from the guy is "send it here, i'll paypal you". i think it's bogus. i had over 20 emails with a LOCAL guy buying our mazda 3...so imo it's just not worth it unless you have a lengthier conversation w/ this person. frauds won't stick around for a long time usually b/c it affects their bottom line so to speak, so if you probe some, he'll either answer and still show interest, or bail...

 

+1... you can arrange all you want on the net, text, email....Personally, I flew out with a plan to buy the car, but told the guy if I got there and didn't feel it or found something that I didn't like I'd be heading back to the airport.

A 1-way plane ticket is a hell of a lot less than buying a lemon.

If you don't mind sharing, what price did you agree upon? If you know you're getting alot of money for your car, that tells you something also...

I've bought stuff on craigslist, ebay, and forums, and sold through the same channels. It comes down to trust and your gut instinct. If something doesn't make sense, just make the person jump through some hoops and see if they're willing to put the time in.

1 person selling, 1 person buying... they should both make it work if they're legitimate.

 

My son bought his car on ebay. As far as payment, accept cash or preferably a certified/cashers/bank check.

 

Thanks guys

He just emailed me
he lives in UNITED KINGDOM LOL!1!!!!!

 

Scam...

Ask him the Euro to USD exchange rate... then demand your dollar price in Euros.

 

I put some stuff up for sale on facebook and got a reply EXACTLY like that one, same deal with a "courier" to come "pick up" my stuff. Except on the email i got instead of paypal they wanted to use western union lol. Big time fakeroo.

 

I insisted exact amount only.

So when one of the scams I was playing around with responses on, said he was going to pay $12,000, "and if I could send back the change... (was selling the P5 for $5,000), I kept telling him to go ahead and send me the $12,000, and I would send the keys and title once the funds cleared, along with a receipt showing that he paid $12,000 for the car.

 

All of these scams fall into one of 3 categories:
- 1 they scam you out of your money with nothing to show for it
- 2 They scam you out of something of yours that is worth money without paying you for it
- 3 they scam someone else out of their money, and are using you to launder it.

In your case, they probably would complete the transaction fine, you might get the money, but the money was probably from a stolen or manufactured credit card with a really high limit, and SOMEONE is going to get stuck with the bill. And there is only a chance that you won't.

 

"When the only son of the disposed king of Uganda emails you directly offering 100,000 USD for your assistance, you have to help him!!"

 

The United Kingdom is in Europe generally known as the homebase of a large number of frauduleus Nigerians groups/gangs and induviduals (specially from Nigeria).
They are very talented in getting your object, keeping their money and stay out of the hands of the police.
They mostly act via internet; sometimes by mail; they even invite bussinessman to come to Nigeria for very lucrative deals and keep them there as a hostage to be released by ransom.
This is a big problem already for a couple of years.

Best regards, Ruud

 

Scam!

Here is how I bought my car online...

Contacted seller via email/phone for about 2 weeks asking questions getting more pics.
Had seller take it to the dealership for full inspection and compression test.
Negotiated a price via email (NOT "WHATS THE LEAST YOU WILL ACCEPT FOR IT")
Agreed on payment arrangements and timing.
Bank to bank wire transfer $500 to hold the car (Show of good faith)
Bought a plane ticket
Met with seller
Drove the car like I stole it for 30 minutes to an hour
Signed 4 pages of documentation explaining the deal, price, conditions, title transfer arrangement.
Took a picture of the seller signing the documents
Called my bank, had the money wired to his bank
Had my bank fax a copy of the transfer
Had his bank fax a receipt of payment
Made copies of everything
Shook hands
Drove home

When someone is dropping a chunk of change that is the minimum amount of precautions that should be taken... so if someone is willing to buy a car sight unseen without dealer inspection/compression test/ more pics/more info/ etc or says the words "whats the least you would take" its probably a scam...

 

I found my Shinka on Ebay. Did not bid cause of ebay rules
I drove 120 miles to sellers place, saw car, came back home, had my bank wire monies to his account and then drove back 120 miles to pick car up.
Was from a small used car dealer.

 

scam indeed =)

good job on our part for getting a second opinion!