EBAY.............

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martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

I have bought and sold round about 850 ish items on eBay over the years (feedback is at 791) and only been ripped off twice - both cases from abroad ( a camera and a DVD disc) - The F/B system is a fairish way of "evaluating" a sellers honesty, but like anything when it comes to cars, people are economical with the truth!
I mean if were all honest, why do we sell a car 9 times out of 10? - Its because its reached some point where its costing us, or going to cost us money to fix / maintain.
My "new" second user Xantia from a dealer has already had the spheres and LHM replaced, next up is to get the Air con fixed (not under warranty!!!) - Im still happy with the car because it does what i want it to do, the wife even says why bother fixing the air con as its the only car we have ever owned with it and we have both coped for 15 years without air con.... Me, if its there I want it working! - So I accept its par for the course of ongoing maintainance.[:(]
Anyway I digress - as I so often do, I am a member of Digressers Anonymous y'know - we all meet up once a week and get to gether in a circle say "hello my names Marty and im a digresser" then we go to the pub and get bladdered......[xx(]
eBay - Dont in all honesty think i would ever ever ever pay more than £400 for a car off eBay as there are sooo many lemons out there.... Got some Bargain brand spanker alloys for my Xantia off eBay - £200 for a set of new Citroen Exclusive alloys, Happy - well yes i am![:D]
What am I going to do with my ZX when the time comes? You bet... its going on eBay![}:)][}:)][}:)]
Homer
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Volvo V60 D4 180

Previous:
BX16RS (two of),
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Xantia 2.0 Exclusive CT turbo Break,
Peugeot 807 2.0 HDi 110,
Renault Grand Scenic, 2.0 diesel (150bhp)
C5 X7 2.0 HDi 160 which put me off French cars possibly forever
x 16

Post by Homer »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by portugeezer</i>

Feedback should be honest <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
That's the trouble - in too many cases it isn't honest. People give positive feedback through fear of recrimination.
If you <b>know</b> the system then you are at an advantage. Many times I have seen people who use ebay regularly say anyone with less than a 99% positive feedback should be avoided. Indeed anyone with any negative feedback should be supect.
If you don't know the system then you assume the odd bit of negative feedback is to be expected. This is why so many first time ebayers have a bad experience and don't go back. And I am one of them.
I certainly wouldn't buy a car from ebay. I wouldn't buy one from a private seller anyway. Regular car auctions are a much safer bet. At least with a proper car auction you are covered if the car turns out to be stolen/ringed/owing HP, and in the long term the saving outweighs the cost of putting the odd fault right.
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TomH
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Post by TomH »

I do enjoy browsing ebay, far more often than I should!! but I'm not sure I would actually buy a car from there. I think you have to make the effort to try and view it first and then bid, which can be difficult as they often aren't nearby (and annoyingly there seems no way to search by location)
You can see that most of the cheap motors on there are dogs that can't be sold elsewhere and the owner would rather try and get a few quid for it rather than paying to scrap!
DLM
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Post by DLM »

Given the current price of scrap metal ultimately headed for China someone has to be pretty stupid to try and get more than £10-£20 for a real basketcase car now - at least in the UK. But, Hell, we're talking ebay and used cars here!
I've not bought/sold on ebay for some time, but have yet to meet any horrors in 40+ sales/purchases, though I've seen plenty along the way.
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Homer</i>

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by portugeezer</i>

Feedback should be honest <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
That's the trouble - in too many cases it isn't honest. People give positive feedback through fear of recrimination.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Avoid it by giving feedback in welsh! Thats what i do, give realy lousy scathing feedback in Welsh.... Nowt like a good swear in Welsh.
gasgas
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Post by gasgas »

I want to warn people off what I did. For months I was looking for a Mercedes Diesel Estate with air con and leather. They are very rare,I didnt see one in four months of looking. The nearest would be a diesel estate with cloth seats, they go for about £1800 for a pre-1990 one on ebay with typically 230,000 miles. Then I saw one. 1988, 95,000 miles, leather, climate control, alloy wheels, Momo steering wheel. It had 6 days to go and was at £300 and the seller put his phone number. I phoned to ask about meeting me half way if I was successful: yes for cost of fuel; rust?: bits here and there nothing to bother about. Does it go? It has stood in a field for 9 months but it starts and stops OK. How much do you want for it? £1000. If I send you £1000 is it mine? yes. So I sent him £1000 and arranged to collect it after the cheque was cleared. To do this I had to fly from Isle of Man to Birmingham and pre-book a ferry back.
The car? Not 1988, it was 1987. So what, only a year out. 95,000 miles on the speedo yes, but old MOT in the glove box said 178,000 miles. Oh dear. Leather seats were only half leather, half cloth, and the drivers seat was worn right through to the sponge in one place. The climate control was a standard Mercedes heater. The dashboard was all hanging out. 'The parking brake cable snapped so we had to release it from inside the dash'. The alloy wheels are 17" and far too big for the car, rubbing on the wheel arches. They would have to go.Momo steering wheel? Well if a Momo steering wheel is a leather covered steering wheel with the leather cut off it then yes it was a Momo steering wheel, whatever that is.
What do I do? If I start arguing and want my money back there are two of them and they are bigger than me. It will cost me £200 to get me and wife from Brimingham on foot back to the IOM, and there is no way I am going to win any court procedings against the seller to get my money back. I had no choice but to drive it away. So I had to drive it with no parking brake and of course no tax or MOT. Half way to the ferry the exhaust fell in half. New exhaust cost me £400, for the parts. Having said that you can always be sure that genuine parts always fit easily. Then there are all the disks and pads to change, I have changed the seriously rusted through brake pipes (good job I didn't have to do an emergency stop on the way home), and so on and so on.
Next time, my advice is it doesn't matter how much it costs, take cash and look at the car and then you can walk away if it isn't as described. A negative feedback rating from ebay will not change your life and it isn't that important anyway. This car has a lovely engine and drives well, so in the end I will have a nice car for under £2000, but I think I would have got a nicer one by paying £2000 in the first place.
On the other hand if you have a dodgy wagon to shift, make sure you put it on ebay!
gasgas
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Post by gasgas »

Marty said:
Avoid it by giving feedback in welsh! Thats what i do, give realy lousy scathing feedback in Welsh.... Nowt like a good swear in Welsh.
OK Marty, let's have a good dose of what to say in Welsh to a crook seller on ebay. Then we can copy and paste it into memory on our pc and use it when necessary.[:)]
bxbodger
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Post by bxbodger »

Gasgas's tale is certainly depressing!!!
Thats one of the reasons why I would never travel more than 3 or 4 miles to look at a car, no matter how wonderful it sounds- they are rarely as described!!
I am often enrolled to go look at a motor with a friend, acquaintance, etc and am astounded by what I see- I once went to see a Mk4 escort which was actually a Mk3, I have seen cars with no V5, cars that won't even start!
Thats how I ended up with a BX- it wasn't what I was looking for but it was only a mile away and actually <b>was</b> as described.
The converse happens when you are selling- I try to be as honest as possible, but some punters in their excitement to get a bargain overlook why the car is cheap- they don't hear the words "the clutch has gone and the alternators on its way out"
The last car I got rid of was a 205XS-it failed MOT on all sorts of things, the main thing being emissions and there was no way it would ever pass without a rebuild, it was so worn, and I sold it with the fail ticket, and the engine rattling, hunting, and smoking like hell but the buyer just wasn't interested, so eager was he to get his hands on a poor man's imitation GTI.
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

Hon car was a 'n waedlyd bagia chan cacha a 'r gwerthwr ydy bagl a would gwerth eiddo addef fam-gu.
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uhn113x
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Post by uhn113x »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by martyhopkirk</i>

Hon car was a 'n waedlyd bagia chan cacha a 'r gwerthwr ydy bagl a would gwerth eiddo addef fam-gu.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Marty - that almost looks like yer average ebay vendor's description [;)]
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reblack68
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Post by reblack68 »

I took my mate 450 miles to collect a 305 Estate, which was both free and as described. It even had quite a lot of tax and MOT. The colour drained from his face when he saw the cracks in the timing belt AFTER he'd thrashed it all the way home. The only other fault on the car, a leaky diesel pump, meant it wouldn't run unless the pedal was to the metal.
IMO Ebay cars usually fetch at least as much as I'd want to pay in a normal transaction with test drive and haggling option. to buy a car unseen I'd be wanting it significantly cheaper.
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by uhn113x</i>

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by martyhopkirk</i>

Hon car was a 'n waedlyd bagia chan cacha a 'r gwerthwr ydy bagl a would gwerth eiddo addef fam-gu.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Marty - that almost looks like yer average ebay vendor's description [;)]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Roughly:
The car is a big heap of (dung) and the vendor is a lying (child of illegitemate parentage).[;)]
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

David W
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Post by David W »

I fully respect Marty with all that EBay experience, I'm too much of an old furt to be bothered with it.....but it worries me for stuff like cars.
My actual experience is with two Citroens being sold by folks on EBay. One was possibly the best condition BX in the country with current caring owner for ten years and absolutely mint....sensible reserve and but almost no interest and eventually sold elsewhere. The other was a Xantia TD with a bodged in crank bolt (not declared) that can never have its cambelt changed again without a new engine.. that bid to a good figure!
So proof that there will be good and bad.
There is no doubt people will pay too much for stuff, not too long ago a guy locally bid a Sierra engine and gearbox up to £150 (for a kit car) and then had to borrow a trailer and do a 300 mile round trip to get it. Bear in mind the breakers round here charge folks £35 to take a car...he could have got one for free!
If you want to make sure of the quality of what you are buying it is best to stick to the stolen gear like the alloy wheel sets with part worn tyres and Ford CD head units (currently a "hot" seller).
Mate of mine needed some bits for a Discovery and "won" them on EBay. After collecting he was telling me what a good chap this was. "He had all the doors & wings, the chassis and bodyshell, the wheels, engine and transmission plus the interior...all in perfect condition".
Ah so he was breaking a stolen one then!
David
bxbodger
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Post by bxbodger »

With regard to people paying too much for cars on ebay, did anyone else catch this weeks "wheeler dealers" on home & leisure channel??
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]............funniest thing I've seen for months!!!!!
Bargain buy from ebay with the intention of turning it into a profit: Suzuki SJ410 for £250, About a grands worth of parts then bought to turn into a "mini monster truck",new axles, engine, rollbar, etc, all fitted by the shows "mechanic", and it then failed its MOT as absolutely full of rot and was sold off for £500, less even than what they paid for the new axles- I can't wait until they take on a BX with rotten pipes!!!!
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