The danger of meeting up to close an eBay auction.

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"A gang which set up a fake eBay car auction robbed the would-be buyer at gunpoint when he met to close the deal, The Daily Mirror reports."

Oh dear, and it had to be a Benz too.

Any comments, Dori, on the relative safety of such deals in the UK? Perhaps it is better to get a car shipped directly from the seller.

Regards, ws

Reply to
ws
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I dunno about the UK or buying cars from shady characters, but I have sold two cars via the Dutch eBay subsidiairy 'Marktplaats'.

The buyer may choose to transfer up front or pay in cash on the spot and we take them to the post office. The Dutch post office handles the car registration stuff but is also the storefront for the 'Postbank'. So we let the guy deposit his money in our account and then we transfer the car registration to him. It seems quite secure that way.

Ximinez

Reply to
The Spanish Inquisition

Obviously a rare (though cleverly thought-through) event. The nearest I have come to eBay is my wife trying to sell a few knick-knacks on it.

As regards cars, so far I have acquired them from official Merc dealers, whether new or used (the cars, that is - I am not commenting on the dealers...)

Seems it turns out to be a safety-first policy...:-)

Not the sure the 'cash-only' deal would not have raised suspicions. However, if I think back to my sales of vehicles (cars and a motorbike), they have all been for cash. My last such transaction was in the early eighties and it was done in my office - I had my own at the time, when the company still had enough space. Lovely notes spread out on my desk... It was a W123 200 LHD I had brought from Germany and driven for 20 000 miles in the UK. Expressed in pounds sterling I got what I had paid for it over 18 months earlier..

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

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