selling a car by Paypal

i've had an offer for the Clio and a guy has offered to buy it with paypal, and get a shipping company pick up agent who will pick it up on his behalf, as he's away at sea.
my questions are has anyone bought/sold a car using paypal and secondly would you trust paypal.

cheers

Max
 
Hmmm...

The problem with PayPal is if he decides to start a dispute once he's got the car, they can freeze the money. And you'll be without a car and without any money. Make sure you stick something in writing and get something from him agreeing the car is sold as seen on photos and you offer no warranty at all. Then get him to pay via Bank Transfer. That's what I'd do anyway...
 
Sounds dodgy and I am a Seafarer. Paypal as said by Willis will near enough always side with the buyer, leaving you without a car and the money for what can be months. If they put in a dispute of course. Cash or Bank Transfer.
 
F that! bank transfer or cash in the bank before releasing the car.
 
SCAM!!!!!!!

Has he actually been to see the car in the flesh - bet he hasn't
This is a scam that's been around for ages - he'll put the money into your account, send someone to collect the car then claim the money back from paypal saying he didn't take possesion as it wasn't as described (or something similar) - PP will then refund him his money so you'll have no car and no money.

If he was genuine you could ask for a holding deposit (say £200) and agree for him to either call in person or send someone with cash within a week
There are still stolen blank bankers drafts out there so if you take a BD as payment make sure it's within banking hours so you can phone the bank to make sure it's legit
 
cheers guys i didn't get a good feeling about it said he was in the navy and buying it for his daughter.
some great advice thanks guys
 
Hard cash is my preference, if not bank transfer but while you're standing there with the guy transferring the money.
Any mention of being overseas or at sea or unable to meet you in person is a sure sign that it's a scam.


Even cash isn't perfect as it can be a wad of fakes, just need to know what to look for as it should have come straight from the bank anyway.
 
I've had loads of emails exactly the same lol, there 100% scammers, stay well clear

And I'd never sell a car without the cash in my hands
 
better off direct into the bank imo. Cash my not be genuine but they can't get cash out of your bank!
 
i've had some right weird offers it's doing my head in. and now a we buy any car dot com kind of seller-autotrader have texted me an offer even though my ad says no traders :swear:
i've just wrote to them to say this and suggested that if i'd put half wits as well they may have understood that better.
 
If you don't want any comeback as a seller and want to ensure you keep the money then insist on a bank transfer. However if you are a buyer of something then don't use bank transfer. I recently lost a grand because some scamming bast@rd would only accept a bank transfer. I have no way of getting my money back.
 
Glad you asked on here first mate, sounds massively like a Scam as has been previously said.

could have been worse you might have bid at auction on a house that days later fell in to the sea and lost £155000 :oops:
 
Glad you asked on here first mate, sounds massively like a Scam as has been previously said.

your not wrong i knew you guys would come good.

this was the e-mail

Thanks for your urgent response, i'm okay with the
price and i'm
pleased with the condition as i have already gone
through it on the
advert, but just trying to make little inquiry from
you ready to buy
it now as a gift for my Daughter, I'm at sea at the
moment as I'm
a Navy Officer,and due to the nature of my
Job.....phone calls making
and visiting of website are restricted but i squeezed
out time to
check this advert. I really want it to be a surprise for
my Daughter i
won't let her know anything about it until it gets
delivered to her, i
am sure she will be more than happy with it. I
insisted on paypal
because i don't have access to my bank account
online as i don't have
internet banking, but i can pay from my paypal
account, as i have my
bank a/c attached to it,Get back to me with your
paypal email and the
price so i can proceed with the payment quickly,
and sorry if you
don't have an Account, you sign-up for a
paypal personal account www.paypal.com it is very
fast and easy to
set up. And there is a shipping company pick up
agent that will come
for the pick up after the payment has been sorted
out.

Await your swift response asap.

Thanks.
 
Hahaha that's a cracker!!!

He may as well have asked to pay for it in Ugandan Dollars!!! :smiley:
 
I'm a merchant navy officer, If I buy a car looking at adverts whilst at sea or anything second hand really, I send a deposit and ask them to hold it until I get back.

And that's a copy and paste scam, I've seen identical before, I was at sea at the time when someone tried to buy my old car!