Originally Posted by TommyG

I googled ebay car scams and found an article for you. Here is part of that should answer your question:

1.One of the MOST DANGEROUS scams: I have recently looked for a BMW M5. The prices will run well above $15,000, at least. There was this guy with a relatively appealing feedback having a very legitimate auction with a reserve. HOWEVER, he had a note right in the text informing the interested buyers to contact him at his email address (it is always something weird and with numbers such as britanny777@yahoo.co.uk). The guys was asking $8,500 for a car that had a real retail value of a good 20K on the spot. Now to elaborate on this to get a better analysis:
A) Some people actually prefer to be contacted on their email addresses. Because they use programs like MS Outlook and do not want to log in eBay every so often. So do not consider everyone asking you to contact him or her on his or her email a crook. However, in this point I would like to point out the format of the email address. Scammers routinely use unusual names with combination with numbers, to make it harder for internet police to track them. So your first question should be aimed at the email address. But again, do not condemn it for good, i.e. my address is andcorp2006@yahoo.com. PLEASE REFER TO THE IMAGE
-B) This point deals with not just eBay, not just the Internet, but the entire reason beyond trade. You simply can not buy a car that retails at 20K for well under 10K. Why not? Because no one would sell it to you at that price. Why not? Because when I have a car that has a real market value of 20K, I can simply go to any dealership and they will pay me at least 60% of it, and that is the bottom price any one would offer to you. There are countless places where you can sell your stuff right now for hardcore cash, like pawnshops or dealerships, of course with some loss. But be real, especially with easily estimated items such as cars, electronics and a lot of other items, everyone will be seeking for the most money at the lowest level of endeavor. So why the heck would they not walk into the local dealership and get the cash and forget about anyone making any sorts of claim and instead pay for listings on eBay and then face PayPal fees, just in order to sell the car well under the price easily acquirable at the local dealership? AGAIN, LOOK AT THE PICTURE. The car pictured has a real value well over $10,000. Selling for $5,000? On vacation? Bad scam, avoid!

Originally Posted by berg

Remember, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

You're smart to ask questions.

I would never, NEVER!, buy a car from anybody anywhere without first seeing it myself in person.

I don't rely on strangers to help me spend my money.

I wouldn't do a deal for a large amount of money (such as $4500.00) without sitting across a table from the legal owner/ seller and seeing that all paperwork is correct and legal and that I can take the car with me at that time.

There is no room for BS in these matters. You can only get screwed if you don't follow these guidelines.

Originally Posted by Howeecow

Well I have never really run across this but I have heard of stuff like this both ways. Either its really true or it's a big huge fake. But the fake ones have always been the buyer not coming through or saying they will pay extra. But I haven't heard of a scam where the seller is the one lowballing, unless she is going to add huge shipping costs or something, but she said she is taking the shipping costs and she only wants $4,500.

That's why I thought I would shot this out here...

I am not sure if I want her bringing it to a jeep dealer, they are just as big scam artists as a lot of people!

Originally Posted by berg

Now after saying all of that, I got a line on an 08 Rubicon in Nigeria.......

Originally Posted by benmar2000

The only real deal I have ever seen was my cousin's buddy way back in the late 80's.. He saw an ad in the paper for a Corvette for $50.. He laughed at first but for the fun of it called the number.. It was one of those divorce things.. The wife was pissed off because her husband ran off with the secretary.. He showed up with $50 and she gave him a 3 year old vette with the title.. A year later my cousins buddy totalled it.. I guess that is what you get when a 19 year old buys a vette..