Ebay, the dreamer's paradise and haven of the halfwit. Any hope for Pistonheads?

[Surfer Ross]

What planet do some of these people live on? One example: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOYOTA-Hilux-S...item35a63b60f6

100k miles No Tax, not MOT (apparently its been lost, how much is a replacement certificate ffs). "The boot area is a bit dirty but nothing a good clean wouldn t fix", clean the fcuking thing then!!!!

A snip at £2300

I'm starting to think that anybody buying cars on ebay is in a bit of a minefield. The amount of shysters on there selling cars is ridiculous. Pistonheads, which used to be a reliable place for enthusiasts to buy and sell, isn't much better these days.

Does anybody else think the likes of Pistonheads has gone down the tubes with idiots arriving by the thousand?

[rbaz]

I have also been looking for a Impreza STI and Piston heads and Ebay can be a joke. I dont know how people expect to sell cars sometimes but somebody must buy them. Car specific forums are a much easier safer way to find cars but prices usually a bit higher.
Pistonheads is getting to be more of a swap site (For Subaru anyway) everybody I know that has put cars on get sick of the swap you for a £200 chaved up Corsa and a pack of fags or offering half the asking price.

[wetdog]

piston heads used to be an enthusiast's site, but more and more kerbside traders seem to be selling any old trash on there, and they are being allowed to get away with it.
gotta blame the site for allowing it to happen really.

mick.

[Scooter]

I found that Ebay is very hit and miss when it comes to cars. When I was looking for a surf the prices on there were just rediculous. I was lucky and bought mine from a member of this forum and I am very pleased that I did.

[Surfer Ross]

Its going to ridiculous lengths these days. All it seems to take is for one very nice vehicle to hit ebay at a price befitting its condition and history and then all of the Mike Brewer wanabees arrive with their worn out sheds trying to charge the earth.

Its amusing how often you hear "but they're going for £xxxx on Ebay/Autotrader/Pistonheads". They may be advertised for that kind of price but you can be sure that they're selling for far less. How many times have you had a car in your ebay watch list, it goes for a given figure but there is never any feedback left and it appears 2 weeks later "relisted due to timewaster". I think 8 out of 10 of these have either been "won" by the seller bidding on his own auction via another user id or one of their mates doing the same. Either that or somebody has turned up to see them and realised they've won something bearing little resemblance to the auction description.

Ebay needs to implement an IP address bidding screen, cross referenced to previous auctions by the seller so that they can't bid up their own item and neither can their mates. I was looking on ebay before I bought my blue 3.0TD and was watching an auction where it was obvious that the seller was bidding on his own item. I stuck him in to ebay straight away and he was banned within 2 and a half hours. These kind of people just take sales away from genuine sellers and undermine confidence in well looked after and well presented vehicles.

[darkdezigns]

both are the same as buying from a local paper,you will always get people like that

[slobodan]

At live car auctions the auctioneer will sometimes 'bounce' up the price. Or someone will bid their own vehicle up.
It's always been the case. If you want a car then you have to do your homework and set yourself a price.
I've had some genuine good deals off of ebay, and some nightmares. Life ain't a box of chocolates.

[Surfer Ross]

At live car auctions the auctioneer will sometimes 'bounce' up the price. Or someone will bid their own vehicle up.
It's always been the case. If you want a car then you have to do your homework and set yourself a price.
I've had some genuine good deals off of ebay, and some nightmares. Life ain't a box of chocolates.

Not at any car auction I've been to. They can implement a commission bid from a remote bidder or the seller can place a reserve on the car but the auctioneer can't just "bounce" the price up of his own accord.

I'd never get embroiled in a bidding war, I always bid in the closing seconds. It really puts you off when you see somebody blatantly bidding their own item up though, if they're the kind of person who can't let the car sell on its own merits, it doesn't say much for their car.

[slobodan]

Not at any car auction I've been to.

I haven't been for a long time, but when I was going regularly the auctioneer, if there wasn't any bids, would start going up, pointing at no-one in particular, waiting for a punter to join in.

when buying a house, people get a survey done, and other checks.
When buying a car there is the option of mechanical checks, HPI checks etc. but these all cost money and because we all want stuff as cheap as possible we will carry on taking our chances on the 'bay or at auctions, without doing these checks.
I would find it hard to sell a car knowing it had a fault and not telling. But some people find it easy. bastids.

[Surfer Ross]

I haven't been for a long time, but when I was going regularly the auctioneer, if there wasn't any bids, would start going up, pointing at no-one in particular, waiting for a punter to join in.

when buying a house, people get a survey done, and other checks.
When buying a car there is the option of mechanical checks, HPI checks etc. but these all cost money and because we all want stuff as cheap as possible we will carry on taking our chances on the 'bay or at auctions, without doing these checks.
I would find it hard to sell a car knowing it had a fault and not telling. But some people find it easy. bastids.

Did the auctioneer look like this? > How they get away with it I'll never know.

I would never knowingly sell a car with a fault and keep quiet about it. I just couldn't do it. Some people have no morals.

[tillytops]

had some lovely cars off ebay but only because i go and view first (well the first i didnt view was the surf and look how that turned out)Have sold a few cars via ebay but always been to honest and do offer a get out of if they turn up and not happy can walk away no bad feedback.But there is to many a**eholes willing to rip you off no matter what the cost with no second thoughts.Auto trader no better Ithink the best thing to do is set yourself limits on distance willing to travel,price ect.I have walked away because i have thought the seller was a utter numpty without even looking round the car.

[Surfer Ross]

^^^ A lesson in how its done.

I would never commit to buying a car again without seeing it first. You always have the option to walk away from an ebay auction car if its not as described but its a real pain having travelled for hours to collect it.

I travelled from Darlington to Wolverhampton to buy a Polo 1.4 Auto for my wife. I got there and was picked up from the station by 2 tracksuited chavs. Half way back to his house, the heater went cold with no temperature registering on the coolant temp gauge. Coolant bottle empty and grey mayo covering the underside of the oil cap.

Demanded my return train fare back as they had wasted my time.

[Albannach]

Not at any car auction I've been to.

I could take you to one tonight and show you it happening. Every auctioner can do it. Some are sneaky, some do it blatantly.

I know one in particular who does a lot of reconditioned and imported stuff. They always sell an item for a particular price, he just kids on it's being bid up to that price. I've seen it week after week, it's not possible for 50 odd things to randomly end up being sold for exactly the same price at auction.

[Surfer Ross]

I could take you to one tonight and show you it happening. Every auctioner can do it. Some are sneaky, some do it blatantly.

I know one in particular who does a lot of reconditioned and imported stuff. They always sell an item for a particular price, he just kids on it's being bid up to that price. I've seen it week after week, it's not possible for 50 odd things to randomly end up being sold for exactly the same price at auction.

FFS, unscrupulous ain't the word. I was thinking of buying the wife's next car (probably the new shape Micra or Fiesta) from British Car Auctions, surely they're a bit more reputable?

[Scorpion]

After months of searching for a decent diesel Galaxy for Laura I finally managed to get a cracking one from Ebay.

Local prices from private sellers and dealers were ridiculous for cars that had been to the moon and back. Even bidding on Ebay the prices soared in the last few minutes. Finally found a classified for a Galaxy on Ebay at 11 o'clock on a Friday night and I travelled to York from Newcastle on the Saturday to view it.

Luckily it was a very nice car with loads of history, bills and verified mileage. If it had been a crock I would have walked away, even with a long travel back. I've also bought good and bad cars privately, from dealers and from auctions. Luckily the bad ones were few and far between.