We are looking for a fun daily driver for my wife.

We found a car on Craigslist for a price that seems too good to be true. I sent an email indicating I was interested and got this reply:


"The vehicle is well maintained, never been damaged and it has 72,355 miles, a clear title and is loaded with options. You will inspect it before the payment will be made, I moved to Williston, ND with my job and I have the vehicle here with me. The shipping and insurance are included in the price because I won a promotion at uShip(1 free shipping). You will also receive all the papers(title, bill of sale etc) in order to finalize the purchase with the vehicle. Email me back if you are interested and have further questions.."


I replied asking for more pictures. I got lots of nice pictures and this reply:

"I attached more pics to my email.
I would like to handle the sale using eBay for our own protection as they act as a neutral third party. eBay will keep the money until you inspect/drive the vehicle.

This is how the eBay works:

1. I will contact eBay and give all the info about this deal.
2. They will email us the forms by email - about the buyer's protection policy, delivery, and payment.
3. You will send the payment to eBay and they will notify me to ship the vehicle to your location.The shipping will take 5 days.
4. After you will inspect/drive the vehicle and decide to keep it, eBay will forward me the funds and the deal is done.

You have 5 days to test it from the day you receive it. If by any chance you won't be satisfied with it you will be fully refunded and I will have the shipping company come to pick it up and I have to pay the shipping back. If you wish to purchase it please provide me your full name, address so I can initiate the deal through eBay.
Good faith has always been my top priority and my most valued business approach.

Looking forward to hear from you!"


Should I go through with the purchase? The car is listed for about 60% of market value in Seattle?

Thanks

Eddie

current scam of the day.

replace the word eBay, with auto trader and its the same story I got while looking for a $1000 Jeep CJ.

Big scam sounds like. No one is that helpful and they can sell that deal locally in a day.

Total scam, but if you want to mess with them, I've got cousins in Williston who are completely barbaric. I could hook you up with their email addresses and see if we can't get a PPI in the works just to see what happens

Rohar,

Great idea! I will email the seller asking if I can have a friend personally inspect the Vehicle.

Are you going to be home late next week? I will be passing through Spokane. Maybe I can buy you a beer?

Cheers,

Eddie

Heh, this could be epic. If he's actually there I'm guessing it'll be histerical to see 5 roughnecks and my sweet and beutiful cousin show up. She's a local and doesn't put up with transplant shenanigans.

Yeah, I'll be around. I forgot to PM you my phone. Gimme a holler and I'll figure out how to leave the property

Cool...

they are probably not in Seattle either. Just a scam.

You can always offer to pay with a check at double the amount. Your personal shipper will show up with a cashiers check which will be for $5,000 extra, but you trust him to send that extra money back. yada yada yada

Always watch the spelling and grammer in which this stand right out......

RUN !!!

Total scam! The one time I contacted one of these sellers, I told them I had a good friend who lived near them and I would like my 'friend' to inspect the car and the pink slip.

Then they said they were very busy and to send a $1000 'deposit' before they would schedule anything.

I said I could send my 'friend' with cash 'in full' and he was ready to accomodate any schedule they had. Just have the car ready for pickup with the title.

then they came back and said that would not be necessary to just send a $1000 deposit (to the 'escrow' they chose) first if I was 'serious'.

I said I could not be more serious, I could fly there myself with all cash and would stay an entire month or two or three or ? (at my friends place which was a couple miles from them ) if necessary to accomodate their 'busy' schedule.

Then he said only serious buyers would send the deposit 'first' to his escrow. Only then would he talk 'business'.

I told him I found a better deal locally, then he said he would beat that price by $2000 but to send $1000 to escrow first ....

Ask them for a phone number and google that number up.

In any case, I can work as the middleman. You pay me for the car and I'll arrange the delivery details with them. After you get the car I keep the money (I mean send it to them )

Exactly what happened to me. I was going to buy a Supra that was too-good-to-be-true (TGTBT?? ) and they wanted the deposit in the (russian) escrow account. When I offered to fly to them with cash, they balked and played the run around. I reported them to cars . com and the ad was gone hours later.

Stu

They will say the car is in a container so you wont be able to PPI it. I've ran that game before just to see what they would say. I would say I want to look at it, they respond oh well its here, I would say, well thats great I have someone there thats willing to look at it ANY time! they say Oh well its already in a container ready to ship. And I would respond where is it shipping out of? They respond with place, I respond thats wonderful thats where that person works and they get in to check containers all the time can I get your address so he can meet up with you? Never get a response back.

Ebay doesn't offer the service the "seller" describes. SCAM.

The Cap'n

That's not Ebay, that's "Nbay" of Nigerian fame...

Gotta luv their Anglisk!

Why doesn't this surprise me?

I'm from that part of the world. What are ya gonna do? The fact that they're cousins and not wives is a departure from generations past. Alll in all I'm feeling pretty good about me for that.

I still kinda like sheep though, not sure what that means.

If he's actually in Williston, he's pretty much fuckered if the car isn't what is advertised. This is still old west territory and there's a good old boy on the case.

50% of the volume of the new Snowden Bridge might be human bodies. Not that I would know anything of those types of things.,

Two emails were sent to the seller requesting a PPI.

Surprisingly, no response has yet been received?!?

?????

Sounds like the same shit, by a different name, that got us attacked last time when we outed the escrow as bogus.