Working with foregin buyer - help

[Lowend]

Well guys, it looks like the 71 Camaro is sold. The buyer is a guy in France who wants to do vintage racing.
I've done some homework on the buyer and he appears legit.
Ebay account (http://myworld.ebay.com/steevy8?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1181) since 2004 with 100% feedback and 195 transactions I checked with Ebay and his account is in good standing.
I used his email address and found has facebook page, which has friends and such...
He's asked me tons of technical questions via email; stuff that someone who wasn't a car guy wouldn't ask.

It seems like to rip me off the guy would have to be playing WAY ahead of the ball.

Now here are the problems. He wants to work outside of ebay, which is find by me as paypal won't accept more than $500 anyways.

So - how can I get payment and be safe?
It sounds like he wants to do a wire-transfer. I've never dealt with this before, so I'm not sure how it works.

[Charley Lillard]

What possible good does it do him to do it outside of Ebay ? That is a big warning .

[qwik1320]

Agree with Charley. He's got a 100% feedback with 195 transactions, the last 4 look to be ~$20 items. Were all the transactions little items - did he buy a car on ebay before? How is he planning on getting it to France? Has anyone looked at the car on his behalf? Have you spoken on the phone or just email? I think the only way I'd feel comfortable is a face to face transfer with cash or certified check. Good luck with the sale - but be careful, I'd hate to see you get burned.

[Lowend]

The outside of ebay thing is really my fault.... I had placed a US buyers only block on bidding, and forgot about it.
He had contacted me earlier in the auction for additional pics and info. The last day of the auction I was away from the computer and he sent me an email that he was unable to bid because of the block. I didn't get his email telling me this until the auction was over. to be honest he was the only person who actually came up with a real offer for the car.

I doubt he's going to fly out from France; but I know he does have friends in the LA area, maybe I can do the deal with them. Than again it is curious that he has not wanted to inspect the car.

AGGGHHHH - I want to get this thing sold, but it's making me nervous (with good reason).

Let's take a second and assume this guy is legit. How could I do the money transfer and protect myself. The car ain't moving out of the garage unti I have full payment confirmed and in-hand


edit... he sent me an email talking about what he is planning to do with the car ect.
He is claming this is his current vintage race car - does anyone recognize this car.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif (http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image002v.jpg)

If it's a fake or copied image (or someone owns the car state-side) I'm gonna tell this guy to piss off right now

[BlueBull]

I imported a car to europe three years ago and don't understand the problem. If he wants the car he only needs your account information to do a wire transfer. I'm convinced he's aware how deals look like on ebay and have experience who to trust and not.

I'm sure you are in a better position than he to do the deal to gain your safety.

[Norwaycamaro]

Second that Bluebull.
It`s not easy when you`re on the other end of the world to inspect cars in the us. I`ve tried this before and got burned as well, but unfortunelately the only way to do business like this is for the most part that the buyer need to trust seller.The other way around is not a problem since the money usually has been transfered before seller are willing to hand over the car. Don`t see the problem here on your behalf. Transfering funds by wire or paypal is done in no time so you should be good to go quickly..:)

[rjsjea]

Just make sure you have the money in hand before shipping the car.......other than that it's really on him to trust you. :smoke:

[Martin71RS]

wire transfer is very common on this side of the pond.....when the money is sent there is no way to get it back for us here in the Nehterlands, I guess France will not be any different)....so it should be safe.

otherwise ask your bank how it works and if there are any risks.

Martin

[wicked68]

make sure you have him sign a bill of sale and contract that is FOB your dock.

tell him you can arrange shipping "on his behalf" and tell him you recommend insurance.

set up an account to accept the wire transfer that is not tied to your other accounts - for this account only. when the wire hits - dont ship the car until the bank clears you to take a cashiers check from the account and take it to your other bank and deposit it in your account.

then take the car and have it shipped - make sure it is inspected at shipment by the shipping compmany and they sign a bill of lading for you. then you are done with your transaction and if the ship sinks / it gets stolen - whatever - it is up to buyer to make the insurance claim.

Make sure to only use a reputable shipping company and make sure its properly secured. your end goal is to make sure that it gets to the buy safe and secure and that he is satisfied with it. If this does not happen then it gets complained about and if too many complaints pile up out there it hurts the custom car overseas selling market overall which affects all of us. Happy buyers equal better prices and continued business!

[Modo Innovations]

make sure you have him sign a bill of sale and contract that is FOB your dock.

tell him you can arrange shipping "on his behalf" and tell him you recommend insurance.

set up an account to accept the wire transfer that is not tied to your other accounts - for this account only. when the wire hits - dont ship the car until the bank clears you to take a cashiers check from the account and take it to your other bank and deposit it in your account.

then take the car and have it shipped - make sure it is inspected at shipment by the shipping compmany and they sign a bill of lading for you. then you are done with your transaction and if the ship sinks / it gets stolen - whatever - it is up to buyer to make the insurance claim.

I was going to suggest the same thing on the "account just for the wire transfer."

The rest of this post is an excellent idea. Good advice wicked68 :twothumbs

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

when the money is in your hands that the ONLY way the car will move from your hands.

[Flash68]

I shipped a Chevelle to the Netherlands last year. Like what others have said, you get the wire transfer from him in your account and verify the funds with the bank, and then the car can be shipped.

Again, it's scarier for him than for you if this is handled correctly. It's good he is asking tons of questions. If he wasn't, then I would be worried....

[Tiger]

Here in Europe a wire transfer is the usual way of doing bigger transfers, I wouldnt mind at all making him wire the money, if you want to be 110% sure and dont want to give out your normal account, talk to your bank, explain the situation and make them open another account just for this tranfer.

[Restomod]

I have sold cars to Finland, New Zealand, Japan and South Africa! All were wire transfers and all were smooth. As said already get a well writen ASIS No warranty bill of sale and the $ in your hand before the car leaves and you will be ok.

[Lowend]

Hmm - If I use a standard DMV form and have scanned copies sent back and forth are we ok?

[dropit69]

my buddy sold a boat to a guy over seas..his bank set up account just to transfer the money into then they transfered it into his regular account so money couldnt be taken back out ..then he proceded with loading it onto transporter..all went well

[cluxford]

I've bought a car off ebay from the states. I am in Australia.

We did not do it through eBay.

Wire transfer.

1st get on the phone with the guy, it helps to agree a "plan". Not just payment but local delivery, shipping etc etc

2nd wire transfer is worse for buyer than seller. Money leaves buyers account a few days before it hits sellers...so he is in limbo. As other have said do nothing till it clears into your account

Have an agreed shipment plan, knowing who is responsible for what activity and condition of car at each step (simple protection). Good news is there is a bunch of places that handle the middle man activity if that becomes an issue.

All in all my experience was simple and a breeze. But key was I was on the phone with the buyer quite a lot.

Rgds
Chris

[wickedred]

"FOB shipping point" or "FOB origin" indicates the buyer pays shipping cost, and takes responsibility for the goods when the goods leave the seller's premises.

This is the best advice I can give. I send several turbo setups out of the States every year. Alot to the the Middle East.

As stated many times above a wire transfer is the best option. Open a new account for it though. Dont have it tied to any exsisting accounts you have. I keep a seperate account for just this reason.

[Tony_SS]

We sold a car to Germany a few years ago. We setup a wire transfer only account and everything went smooth.

[68Formula]

Looks like his account has been active at least for the past year, so that's a good sign. If it was stolen, often you'll see a period of inactivity for a year or more. Scammers find a dead account, and then use the member in good standing rating to gain your confidence. This one looks legit.

I can also confirm, Europeans do a lot of wire transfers for payments instead of personal checks.

[Charley Lillard]

Let him wire the money and then let his Friends in L.A. pick the car up and handle the shipping.

[CptKlutz]

I've bought 5 cars in the US so far for export.
Rule #1: Never buy a car on pics alone - fly over to see the car! $$$ purchase so a plane ticket is peanuts.
Rule #2: If you cant take possession of the car & title personally (or by help of a good buddy) use Escrow.com.

I would never wire money without an escrow service! :eek:
Escrow.com is GREAT for BOTH parties in such a transaction. Have the Frenchman put down a nice deposit and agree that the "transfer complete" term is that the shippers transporter loads the car and you give the shipper the title. Most shipping/transport companies know how to work with escrow setups.

[kenhaw]

Hi there
I am a danish guy who also bought my Camaro in the states. I wired the money and had the owner drop the car of at the shipping company. I did not travel over there to see the car but the owner provided me with so many pictures and videos that I was pretty sure it was in the condition I was promised. It is actually scarier to be the buyer in this situation, as long as you have the money you are safe.
I am actually living in the south of France now and have been here for 2 1/2 year. I live in Cannes, the city with the film festivals. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.

Kenneth

[CliffS]

If the buyer wants to wire money, there is almost no safer way. Just check with your local bank. Get the right bank details like your a/c #, bank address, Bank SWIFT address, and very important the ABA routing number! If the buyer has send the $$ ask him for a SWIFT MT103 message from his bank which proofs he wired the $$ and are on their way. Just sit and wait until funds hit your a/c. If you want I can check the MT103 to see if it's legit.
I wire money on a regular basis to my buddy in St. louis and working for a International bank for 11 years helps a lot.
Did the same thing with buying my last car in LA, wired the funds (downpayment) but flew over to check out the car.

[Lowend]

Guys - thanks for all of the feedback here.
The buyer supposedly wired money on April 8th (today is the 11th if this gets archived) and the buyer says to expect 2-6 days for arrival.
I'm working with Bank of the West on my end, and being they don't have what I would call a "strong international presence" I am expecting this to be more on the 6 day side of things.

The buyer is setting up Schumacher Cargo Logistics (http://www.schumachercargo.com/) to pick up the car once payment is confirmed.

At this point (providing the wire transfer comes in) the only potential problem I see is that the DMW release of liability form does not have a section for the international information

[paul67]

Ask for his address and home tel number and phone him,also this then can be confimed by checking name address in french phone book ie its prob on web and google earth to show address exists and not in some slum also if he is name is in print on the web somewhere ie relayting to the cars he races.

[paul67]

If you ring the shipper they should beable to help you with the paper work,I have imported a few into the UK.

[neki67]

If you ring the shipper they should beable to help you with the paper work,I have imported a few into the UK.

I agree with Paul (at least where it comes to the DMV paperwork ;-) ). I have imported quite a few into the Netherlands and my shipper always cleared/clears the DMV paperwork.

[Lowend]

UPDATE:
The money arrived, Schumacher Cargo is going to be picking up the car at the beginning of next week.

I tried to get Schumacher's help on the paperwork but honestly they and were kinda dicks about it. (I am unimpressed with this company so far).

No matter, I think I've got things straightened out myself.

It looks like I have a happy ending coming up real soon... except for the part where I don't have the Camaro anymore.

[kenhaw]

well glad everything is working out for you.
Regarding loosing the 71 camaro, I am sure you are going to spend the money buying a 69 instead:smoke: