Expert: Marvinator - 8/6/2006

Question
Hi.  I am wanting to buy a car from overseas. The guy said it had a clear title, and that it was registerd in the U.S. He had it shipped to Irland, and for some reason or another, he can't keep the car, so he is selling it cheap. He said he will handle the shipping, insurance, and every fee will be deducted from the price of the car. He also said that he only wants to go thru ebay for the buyers protection, and we will use a financial mediator for this transaction. I have been in contact with him thur email. The car has been taken off ebay. I emailed him that if the sale was to go thru ebay, it has to be relisted. I only want to go thru ebay so I can get the protection.  Now, my question. How do i go about getting the protection I need in case this is a scam? The car is selling for $6000, and it is worth probably 5 times as much. I does sound too good to be true, but if I had the protection, it would help me sleep at night.  Thanks for your time!

Answer
I'll start with the admonition that "Anything which sounds too good to be true, probably IS too good to be true." In oter words, it's not true.

There have been a lot of scams perpetrated on unsuspecting Bidders on Ebay, and none makes less sense than the "Cheap Car" Scam.  

Usually, the buyer finds a car (motorcycle, even heavy equipment) selling for so cheap as to be nearly LUDICROUS! So they contact the seller who has his story (can't afford to keep it, going to Iraq, blah blah blah) and offers to even pay the Shipping of the item to the Buyer's door.  Wow. What a deal.  Unfortunately, once the money is sent, the seller is never heard from again.  Ask yourself this.  You're in Europe, you own a car like this, would YOU sell it so cheap just because you can't [insert sob story here]? No, of course not!  Subtract out the cost of shipping a car overseas adn y ou're looking at next to nothing actual profit!  This HAS to be a scam!

You see, even with the so-called "Protection" of Ebay, there are still scammers dealing out there.  This is because Ebay itself has NO POWER over the sellers outside the US. (Even in the US, Ebay's power is limited to being able to get the Law to investigate - a hard deal even with irrefutable proof!) If you were able to get the seller to list on EBay and the seller DOES sell to you using EBay's system, they will be long gone before the Ebay time frame for problems (10 days) kicks in!  

Now, you've gone one better and asked for protection.  IF  you still want to go through with this deal (and I for one would tell you NOT to go through with it) then you'd be better off to use a REPUTABLE ESCROW company.  The escrow company hangs onto the money while the item is shipped and doesn't give the seller the money until it arrives at your door.  The one admonition which goes with this deal is that you should NEVER use the Escrow company recommended by the Seller.  Scam Sellers have been known to set up fake websites for "Escrow" to lull you into a secure setting.  Once you send the money to the Fake Web Escrow company, the seller disappears - along with the website.   ONLY use an escrow service which is well known.  (Square Trade, a part of Ebay also has an escrow service, if you still want to continue with this deal.)

My recommendation: Back away from the deal.  

Good Luck!