eBay & gumtee car scammers

[SteveyD]

Just a bit of a rant really, I don't know why I bother working for a living.  I think I might just join the rest if the world and start scamming people for a living.  Iv been looking for a 2nd car now for 6 weeks solid and can't believe how many bogus sales iv stumbled upon.  They range from V-registered / written off cars, stolen adverts, the obvious well under priced cars i.e 12 plate range rover for £8500, cars located in Europe, cars with finance owed it goes on and on.  It seems eBay, gumtee and auto trader wait for joe public to report such adverts otherwise they stay live.

Then there are the people who simply can't be arsed to tell you any details about the car.

If anything it restores my faith in main dealers...

Rant over!

[skard]

I know what you mean.

Been looking at cars for a while and so many I enquired about weren't actually for sale. Some of them have re-appeared weeks later, same advert??
When you did get info it couldn't have been more vague if they tried.
I thought it was a ploy by some non franchise garages to draw people in (car sold but keep the ad up to advertise their business).

When I handed over my paperwork yesterday to the buyer of mine, I even took the liberty of printing off a full HPI check for them as I had a spare credit.

[SteveyD]

I'm the same, I always go the extra mile when selling something.  Nice to be nice etc.

[R32UK]

this wasnt for a car but a mixer from gum tree. £350 it was which isnt a huge amount of money and a bit of a specialist item, so not many people would know about them.

anyway the ploy is simple : you contact seller. its a woman that is working all hours under the sun and located in a remote part of the country..... but its ok!! she works for a haulage company and can ship you the very heavy item for free. if you are happy with it, you pay her. if not the delivery guy will take the item back!! whats not to like??

well the following bit... you get an email from a haulage company asking when and where you want the item delivering to. once you confirm this info the ask you to purchase a Ukash voucher to verify you have the money for the item. once you have the voucher you simple send them a picture of it, and they send you the item 

... only the picture you send them will allow them to see the number on the front of the voucher and cash in the £350 

note that this is also done for cheaper and more expensive items where they only want to see a deposit amount for the value of £100 or so. BEWARE - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED 

[Baz300]

If it looks too good to be true then it's probably a scam.

I have bought quite a few good cars from gumtree even my golf was from gumtree.

[GTsport]

Know the feeling.

I've been looking for a car for about 3 months now and it's driving me mad!!!

So many poor adverts. The way I look at it, if they can't even be bothered to take pictures of the car, clean, in daylight and of all sides, font & back then write detailed or even relevant info about the car, it's not worth viewing. They'll have the same half arsed attitude when it comes to maintenance!

It's the same when it comes to selling things too. You make the effort to be detailed and be genuine & people just mess you about!

[SteveyD]

Crazy voucher scam right there! Makes you wonder how they get away with it but obviously they do.

Oh another thing that boils my p155 is listing every single detail about the car... Except the mileage, seriously as if we won't find out, just time wasting.

Also things like "has small year in leather, £30 to fix" "alloys scuffed been quoted £60" etc seriously fek off! Had another time waster today where do these people come from?

Granted I'm not looking to spend a great deal of money but I still expect a good car

[Nasir]

I know this feeling very well. The genuine sellers are so hard to come across.

This really pissed me off;

Ad said: "only small problem is exhaust light and airbag light are on. VW have told me this is only a fuse which needs replacing".

Would anybody believe that? The nerve of it.

[Tamiyoman]

Crazy voucher scam right there! Makes you wonder how they get away with it but obviously they do.

Oh another thing that boils my p155 is listing every single detail about the car... Except the mileage, seriously as if we won't find out, just time wasting.

Also things like "has small year in leather, £30 to fix" "alloys scuffed been quoted £60" etc seriously fek off! Had another time waster today where do these people come from?

Granted I'm not looking to spend a great deal of money but I still expect a good car

If the mileage is not shown in the advert, its because it usually very high and I wont even bother calling about the car!