Why ebay is crap (dont' buy or sell your Treg on there)

[nickm]

So I'm bored and I come across a nice Touareg on ebay. Its an '07 V8, Campy White on Teak..full load package 2. Very nice, I think...maybe I'll buy it since the wife is driving mine so often now. I put in a bid.

The bid remains high bid for 5 days, I win the auction earlier today.

I send an email to the seller (in Pittsburg) asking if this friday works for them...also ask for title to be faxed etc.

I buy a carfax or whatever product ebay sells, just to check up on this history...looks good so I sit and wait.

Get an email for ebay saying the account was hacked, and my auction win is cancelled.

WTF??? Why is the account suddenly hacked? Isn't this a bit co-incedental?

What a waste of time and energy....

[chitown alex]

I'm just happy to hear that you didn't loose any money in the process. I hate online shopping especially from Ebay. It just sucks not to know who or what you are dealing with.

[gqjeff]

Might be shady but they may be looking out for your best interest.. This summer I thought I got a great deal on a porsche 911 also but turned out they were running a scam.. Ebay saved me a BIG ass headache for sure. So who knows.

Jeff

[pardesi]

I feel the same way Nick. Looks like I have a non paying winner for my MFD2.

[nickm]

Thanks for the support guys...I get that ebay is out to protect buyers, but this to me is obviously a case of a "seller" backing out since the bid didn't get to where they wanted it.

I usually prefer private sales, but looks like I'll stick to dealers if I'm shopping online...at least they are in the business of selling.

Alex, agree with you I prefer face to face dealing, it seems that all the interesting vehicles are too rare to shop for locally, unless you live in a "in the know" car market like Chicago or Miami, where there are enough car people around buying and selling interesting vehicles.

[EARL97850]

I'll second the idea of the seller backing out for what ever reason.

I'm not sure about this but if the "Reserve" was met or there was no "Reserve" set at all, I believe that the seller is also bound to the sale just like the bidder.

Cya

[NorthVan997C2S]

I have bought 3 cars on eBay, I suggest that you contact the seller before bidding, and then doing your homework (carfax, etc). I also think eBay is a better source for finding the things you want rather than finding a great deal.

[nickm]

I've bought many vehicles on ebay in the past, but I find the past year or so the quality of both buyers and sellers has fallen....

I think the price it ended at was more of a coincidence...I had bid fair market value for the vehicle, there were just no other competing bidders.

Whats funny is I did buy the autochek (equivalent to carfax) through ebay, and had to call them to get a refund on the purchase...basically I called them and told them it was like buying a dead horse, I have a report on a vehicle that apparently wasn't for sale. They refunded me without any resistance.

I guess my major beef with ebay is that if you're going to allow auctions, then there should be some actual legal clout to the agreement....try backing out at your local wholesale car auction - ain't gonna happen.

[NorthVan997C2S]

I agree 100%, I have done less eBay shopping in the last year then I did in the past.

[me_tobster]

This has happened to me in the past. Here is my experience, Someone hacked my I.D. then went to another auction for a quad (4-wheeler). and posted my I.d. to it and their bank account. A third party bid and won the auction. When they paid for the auction the scammer got the money and was gone. Ebay contacted me about the quad wanting to know if I started the auction. I was grilled about the quad for several minutes over the phone and in the end I was not legally held to any auction. This could be a similar situation to what you are dealing with.