I was looking at a car on ebay that was retracted early. "This listing (xxxxx) has been removed or is no longer available. Please make sure you entered the right item number. While it was still active, I contacted the seller and asked him information on his car. Here is the correspondence;

Tod914 "looks like a very nice car. I'm trying to determine if it's been repainted or not. There appears to be what looks like slight overspray. could you please verify if it original paint or not? Very interested in the car, my email is xxxx. please contact me and i will via cell if you can xxxxxxx. I have some questions on the car. thankyou for your time."

Responce "Hello again Tod,

I am away with my job here in Arizona but before leaving I had prearranged shipping with eBay and DAS so my presence isn't necessary. The car is in a warehouse of DAS, ready for delivery. In exchange I will offer a 5 days period of testing the car from the moment you receive it from the shipping company. If you want to make this deal I will need the following details from you:

full name and address
shipping address

After I will have all this details I will forward them to eBay and I will proceed the order. eBay will contact you with all the details that you need to complete this deal and also to see that i am covered by them. Waiting your email with the requested details. "

He proceeds to give a description, vin number, "The total price that I'm asking for the car including shipping and insurance fees will be $2,800. "

I replied that I would like to view the car prior to purchase.

Responce "Hello again Tod,

I am away with my job here in Arizona but before leaving I had prearranged shipping with eBay and DAS so my presence isn't necessary. The car is in a warehouse of DAS, ready for delivery. In exchange I will offer a 5 days period of testing the car from the moment you receive it from the shipping company. If you want to make this deal I will need the following details from you:

full name and address
shipping address

After I will have all this details I will forward them to eBay and I will proceed the order. eBay will contact you with all the details that you need to complete this deal and also to see that i am covered by them. Waiting your email with the requested details. "

I then asked about payment and title information

Reply

"Hi Tod,

Once with the car you will receive the title, a bill of sale in your name and signed by me, all the service reports, the owners manual and also all the receipts available.

Let me explain you how the eBay process works.
The process works something like this:
1. You send the requested deposit amount to an eBay motors representative.
2. eBay will confirm me that you have made the payment.
3. I will ship the car so you can Inspect, test and make a decision if you will keep it or not.
4. If you will not get exactly the same car that you have viewed in the ad, and also a clean title you will receive all your money back from eBay motors.
5. If everything is ok eBay motors will get the approval from you to release me the founds.
If you agree with this process please let me know your full name and your full address and I will forward the details to eBay motors. "


So the million dollar question, doe you all think this is a safe? He wouldnt call and wasnt open to have the car pre-inspected.


Thanks, any advice greatly appreciated

No talk, then walk. No inspection, look for another selection.
CCL

If the listing has been removed, that means that the car will not be sold though Ebay, and any protection they would have afforded you is out the window.

I'd move along.

Zach

That's a very common current scam.

Even the $2800 price is for some reason common in the scam.

Scam....



Play with him/them...........tell them you have a brother in AZ who works for the FBI and he can go look at the car........no matter where they say the car is

Bet they come back with you can't get into see it or never hear from them again.

Isn't this the point where you tell him a traveler's check is on the way, but you accidently made if for $12,800 and will gladly give him $1000 for his trouble if he'd kindly send you a cash refund of $9,000. Or if sending it is inconvenient you have a friend that is a high level government official from South Africa who will be traveling through Arizona in his motorcade and could stop by to pick it up.

I contacted ebay's online help. Here is the coorespondence. I'm awaiting to see what their Trust and Safety Team says. But, thanks for the advice. I'll let this one go and play it safe.

12:56:40 PM Mable A.
Upon reviewing the item, I noticed that the item has been removed by our Trust and Safety Team.
12:56:54 PM tod914
so most likely a scam?
12:58:05 PM Mable A.
The Trust and Safety Team handles these issues and track items on eBay. They remove the item if they are suspicious about the item or if they receive any report.
12:58:57 PM Mable A.
It's not possible for me to tell you if this was a scam. However, if you need more information on this, you may contact our Trust and Safety Team.

I was expecting the car to be owned by the former prince of Nigeria who's goverment was recently overthrown after seeing your responces.
Thanks for the input guys. I'll post the ebay correspondence when I get it, along with his user ID incase someone else comes across any future postings by him.

I was watching the same auction... good looking car, and had it all planned out to fly into BOS and pick it up. Emailed the dude several times, saying I would pick up and he replied with the same crap, I've already arranged shipping.. Total Scam... Bummer 'cause it looks like a nice car.

Ebay motors doesn't have representatives to handle transactions for you. They're not a car dealership, they're a website.

Ditto! Ebay does not get involved in transactions.

Good catch! I like eBay a lot, have used it for years. I have yet to be scammed. I seriously think that if people would be observant and cautious, that they could avoid most scams!

Although I do miss the eBay of 5-6 years ago, where most sellers were private and selling their "junk", seems like a huge auto parts store now!!

P.S. To demonstrate it is a scam, wherever they say the car is located, tell them "Amazing, my parents live less than 3 miles from there, and I'll be visiting them for 2 weeks! That makes it easy, I'll just come by and pick up the car, and pay cash to whoever is holding the car."

You'll get the most bizarre excuses for what that won't work!

isnt he that nigerian prince i recently cashed his m.o. and sent him the balance for a windfall that i am helping him with???

he sent me the following email:



This is a scam. phisering??? (sorry for the spelling). He sends you a web page that looks exactly like the one on ebay. Once you enter all your personal info, he will spend all your money and possibly take your identity. Everyone here must know about phisering. This is a total scam.

+1 on scam. I actually forward responses like that to ebay as scam alerts. I have flagged 3 compromised accounts in the last 5 years.

it's actually called "phishing" and is more common than one might think.
observance and a full-time paranoia is really the only defense.

im a security major and have spent many hours devising successful phishing attacks (i dont execute them, i prevent them)

i remember one we did with AIM logins and hotmail accounts. its so easy you'd sh*t yourself

be wary and report ANY suspicious activities, never know, you may end up saving a friend or loved one a lot of grief as well

i looked the vin # up and its not registered here. gaurenteed a scam though. even e-bay says to NEVER respond to ANY e-mail with password or other info. unless you log on to the e-bay site it self first.

mike