Am I being ebay scammed?

[DanT69]

I bid on a car on ebay, and won. Now comes word from the seller that the car is already sold, it did say in the ad it would be pulled if sold independent from ebay, but the ad wasn't. He also added that he has another car that I might be interested in since the other one is sold. Has anyone ever had someone pull something like this on them? He did have the car advertised on another non-ebay sites, I found those ads long before he placed it on ebay so he could be telling the truth. I have never sold anything on ebay, so I am curious; is it really difficult to pull an ad in a circumstance like that, before the bidding ends?

I haven't given him any money, or anything of that nature so I haven't lost anything. Just as far as the ebay site is concerned I need to pay for the item and leave feedback, which I obviously wont be doing.

Any advice?

[Jasper Jones]

I would only go through with the second offer if you see the car first hand, and pay cash or check for it there, with the normal papers for buying a car included, of course. He could just be trying to get you to make a deal outside of the protection of eBay/PayPal, so I wouldn't recommend doing it any other way than in person. If he no longer has the item available for purchase (the car), then he should leave you positive feedback that you were "an understanding bidder when problems arose" and you should just leave him with positive feedback and whatever message. No harm, no foul, right?

[MrQuick]

Hey Dan, how ya doing?
Yeah you gotta watch that one...unless you see the car in person I would walk away and try again.

[dropit69]

ive bid on alot of things that the buyer sells locally..when you go back to bid page itll say item closed by bidder do to early sale..so as far as the other car id look at it and go with price from there,,if its something you might want ..im weary about buying something that no ones looked at...if your to far away alot of times guys on here will look at it for you and give there honest opinoin,,good luck..

[Restomod]

And dont think for a second that if you use PayPal to pay and get ripped of that they will do a damn thing to help you!!!!!! Oh sure they will give you back about $175.00 or so.............BTW did he pull the auction BEFORE it ended on its own or not??? If you bid,won and the auction ended with you being the winner he is in violation of ebay rules that may/may not do you any good.

[BB69]

It is actually easy for someone to end their item early, and ebay doesn't offer much protection for the buyer. I was the only bidder on an item, and it was cancelled shortly before the auction was to end. The seller said he no longer had the item for sale. Less than 24 hours later it was relisted. :banghead:

Ken

[baz67]

can we say bait and switch

[gEtyOpAPiOn]

whats the link of the relist ?

[DanT69]

Thanks for the advice guys. I have found other cars to look at, all is not lost! Just annoying that I followed that damn auction for 10 days.

Anyway, Im doing well Vince. Hope those RS parts are working out for you. :3gears: :3gears:

[race-rodz-inc]

the auction cant be ended within 12 hours of the time the listing ends, so if the car was sold that day...then he might not have been able to end it early. irritating yes, but as long as your only out the time wasted watching the auction.... then your ok.

i have sold several cars & parts after the auction ends, when the items didnt sell for whatever reason(reserve not met, zero bids, high bidder flakes out) i say use your judgment and expect everything to be a scam, never pay for a car sight unseen, if you do buy something outside of ebay, your best to see/pay for it in person. internet selling is great, and lots of people are honest, but the scammers out there make sure that everyone stays on edge.

[toofun]

RACE RODZ is right. If the car sold after the 12 hour period then it would not be possible for him to pull the ad. BUT!!!! It also gives the seller a perfect opportunity to use that as their excuse as well. Me personally I think it is the classic BAIT AND SWITCH as metioned before. Sellers like this know you are all hyped up to buy the car you saw so they offer to sell you another one to "MAKE UP" for the inconvinience you just went through. Many times this tactic works since most are caught up in the moment and settle for less of a car spending more than it is worth!!

If I were you I would walk away from the whole deal....But also contact other ebayers that have dealt with this person as well and see if this happened to them also.

[derekf]

If he pulled the ad because "he no longer had the item" but then relisted the item, I'd be contacting eBay (not sure that they'd do anything but I'd still let someone know)