[Mach1460]

I'm the owner of two classic mustangs and am contemplating selling one on Ebay. Any pointers or do's and don't s from someone that has sold a vehicle this way?

[MARTINSR]

First off, don't believe a friggin thing about sending you money to ship or some BS like that. Don't believe anything about sending you more than you are asking for and sending them back the difference! These may sound pretty basic stupid crap but people fall for it every day.

It is CASH ON DELIVERY, PERIOD! DO NOT accept any kind of cashers check or ANYTHING, CASH ON DELIVERY!

Don't give them ANY info about your banking, NOTHING. I know this seems simple but it happens every day.

There are a LOT of scams every friggin day when it comes to Ebay and Craigslist. Be on your toes and if it sounds too good to be true, IT IS.

I have sold a few cars and motorcycles on ebay and haven't had a problem because I followed those simple rules. And you WILL be hit by these people with these requests believe me.

When selling a big ticket item you want to start the bidding low at a grand or so, with the reserve set at the minimum you would take for it. But you need to start out low so in case it doesn't get to the reserve you can think about it, "hmmm, I was offered $$$$ maybe I will let it go for that" and contact that bidder and make a deal. But if you set the starting price too high and no one bids on it you have no idea what you could have gotten for it.

Brian

[boothboy]

Local pick up only. Non -refundable deposited balance due in 7 business days.
Include your phone #. You'll be asked your reserve price don't give that info but ask for what they want to pay and their phone #. If your vehicle doesn't sell you have a back up list for further negotiations.
What Brian said.

[Mach1460]

Great info so far, thanks guys. I've sold a few small things but never anything like this.

[jdsaengine]

I have not sold a car on ebay, but just recently purchased a 32 highboy on ebay. Some tips. First off, what attracted me to the add was about 20 high quality pics. The real grabber was a 1min video walk around the car while it was idling. Yes, post your phone number. I did not make an online bid, I just called and asked some particular questions. The owner said the car was "sorta" sold, but pending receiving a deposit, which the other buyer was hesitant to do to hold the car in his name. He said since he had no deposit, if I wanted to make $1000 deposit, it was mine. After 1hr of thinking about it, I sent him $1000 via PayPal. It was considered non-refundable unless after seeing the car in person I felt it was misrepresented in some way.

Seller's preferred payment was a wire transfer to his bank. I did not want to do that without driving the car, wire transfer can take from 2-3hr to 24hr to go thru and I did not want to stay in a motel (car was 500 mi away) overnight waiting for the transfer to go thru. I talked him into accepting a "Bank" certified check NOT drawn on my account, that way I could not stop the check after picking up the car. The check still had to clear 5 days before he could have access to it at his bank, but his bank called my bank to verify check was good and that I had no mean to stop it. I have sold cars this way couple of times and works pretty clean.

Bottom line, get a deposit, and only accept payment (cash is best, but ck for counterfeit at your bank before releasing the car) which cannot be cancelled after they drive away.

Ebay, for me on my purchase, just seemed like another on-line way to get the car out there to the public, but the deal seemed less an auction and more a negotiation over the phone.

[Jimbo17]

When I am at a car show or cruise night show and we see someone taking pictures of a car the joke is you just might find your car listed on E-Bay for sale.

This is just what happened to one of my friends.

Is car appeared for sale of E-Bay but the problem was he did not have it listed for sale. When we showed him the photo's sure enough it was his car the the photo's were taken right in front of his home.

Turns out the car was for sale about six months ago and some inquired about the history of the car and also wanted photo's emailed to him.

This guy took all the information and then listed the car for sale for $25,000 dollars. He did have a photo of the title and that was all he needed to convince people that he really owned the car.

Long story short be careful. Jimbo

[Mach1460]

thanks for all the added info!
I went ahead and did it and got my first bid 6 minutes after I listed it! I did the video and took 24 pics and pointed out the bad so there are no suprises for the buyer. I just had a guy text me asking what my reserve/final price was ( you were right boothboy) I told him he would have to bid, and I asked him what he would offer and ill keep his number like you said. Im excited and nervous both...

[LATECH]

Request a deposit immediatley when the auction ends.Be sure the amount is enough to cover your final sale price fees, listing fees, reserve price fees...etc. Just in case dude backs out.
I sold (or thought I did) a ford falcon on ebay. Requested only 100 dollar deposit and Cash when pickd up. Dude sent 100 bucks, came to get it, said he didnt want the car and to keep the deposit. I got news... I intended to keep the deposit .I got wacked for all the fees as it sold as far as E Bay was concerned. They did nothing about the guy backing out of the deal.They just Poo Poo-ed it all.
The other scams mentioned here are all very valid and are recent scams that have been exploited.
Keep all correspondence through E Bay so you have a record of what is being said between buyer and yourself.
Arrange to make transaction at the title office, so you can have awitness to the sale and take care of the title work at the same time.
If you want to let the buyer see the car first thats up to you, but as long as you correctly described the car they shouldnt have any thing to bark about.