Ebay purchases

[JackF]

I've never bought or sold anything on ebay. I've found a car I am interested in for my daughter and wonder how this works. Say I win this bid. Do you get an opportunity to inspect prior to closing the deal? What is the correct way to go about this? As always, thanks for your help!

[ClayW]

I've never bought or sold anything on ebay. I've found a car I am interested in for my daughter and wonder how this works. Say I win this bid. Do you get an opportunity to inspect prior to closing the deal? What is the correct way to go about this? As always, thanks for your help!

First, read all of eBay's policies. There are protections in there if the seller has misrepresented the car. I've heard of certain states' laws being so far in protection of the buyer that one seller had a car returned for full refund with 5,000 miles on it because the eBay ad stated that the interior was blue instead of black, even though there were pictures.

That being said, the best thing to do is understand the risk and bid accordingly. Check the seller's feedback score and comments. Ask questions on eBay (so there's a record). Or, better yet, hire a local inspector or get an FAQ'er to check it out, assuming that you're looking at a 2002.

Also, don't forget about shipping. Shipping a car is not a simple or cheap thing to do. Since you haven't looked at the car in person, I'm assuming that it's pretty far away. Just remember that you're looking at $750-$1500 average shipping cost. Factor that in.

Good luck!

[esty]

i've bought 3 ebay cars...4 if you include the dog that i walked away from....in each case i asked for the telephone number of the buyer so we could speak before the auction ended...you can learn a lot about the car by learning about the seller

the one i walked away from was about as falsely represented as possible, an 87 Honda CRX....another, my 87 325ic was also misrepresented...it had a bad transmission that didn't raise it's ugly head until after i paid & took possession....i filed a claim with ebay under the buyer protection deal, haggled with an insurance adjuster in alabama a few times and got a check from ebay for the full purchase price and got to keep the car

it's a crap shoot but you can increase your odds by talking to the seller

[adawil2002]

Bought Vern on Ebay 2 years ago. Before I bid seriously, I communicated with the owner at length, asked for additional pics and spoke to the mechanic who worked on the car. I was lucky, It was fairly represented and the seller was candid and honest, looking back now, I consider myself lucky, Vern is the best '02 I've owned.