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“I have used E-bay quite extensively for buying and...”

Written on: 17/12/2008 by pilotx (1 review written)

Good Points
Always had a good response for selling.

Bad Points
Not really E-bay's fault, but several cars I've won the bidding on have not been 'as described' at all.

General Comments
I have used E-bay quite extensively for buying and selling cars over a number of years. I'm not a dealer, just a private enthusiast. I have to say on the selling side of things, it has been very successful indeed; Huge amounts of exposure over the whole country. I've had people travel a long way to collect cars. I've found the way you sell on E-bay is very important to the end result - the best for me has been making sure you have a very detailed and honest description, excellent photos (NOT from a camera phone), and price wise all my auctions start at next to nothing with no reserve. This way, only 1 out of about 20 cars has not reached what I saw as a fair price (it was really worth a lot more, but as I say that was the only one I was disappointed in). Keep it honest, look out for the obvious scammers and all should go well.

As far as buying goes, 65% of the cars I've won the bidding on have been great - as described or even better, genuine cars and decent, honest sellers. These have pretty much all been a real bargain too, winning the bidding for a lot less than the average Auto trader asking prices. However this leaves 35% of cars I've won the bidding on which have been a problem one way or another. Mostly, I've traveled to collect the car, only to discover that a sparsely detailed advert was for a reason - the seller didn't have anything good to say about the car they were selling. I look at it that significant information being withheld from the description still deems the car as 'not as described'. All the ones like this I've simply told the seller I'm not willing to complete the purchase on these grounds, and every time if they had been honest about the car, it wouldn't ave made the money it did in the auction. More worryingly, quite a number I've won the bidding on have come up as having been written off previously in their lives - none of them stated this in their adverts. Again, on discovering this I simply contacted the seller and explained I was not willing to go through with the sale. All denied knowledge of the writing off. So, make sure you HPI check car you 'win'.

Finally, people stating in their adverts 'if you win the bid, you win the car no excuses' and such like... rubbish. They cannot re-write the sale of goods act or E-bay rules. You are obliged to purchase the car ONLY if it is 'as described'. When I sell, I state on my ads that if the car is not as described, the winning bidder should walk away and I'll be perfectly happy for them to do so. Any truly honest seller should feel the same.