Dishonest Ebay selling??

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Mon 14 Oct 2019 16:09
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - 64bit

I'm currently looking for a second car.

I cannot believe how many sellers on EBay and auto trader say its their own car and have only had it for a month or so and all the excuses under the roof about needing now to sell it.

the cars are not in on the v5 in their name at all. if I do any research I see they sell about 4 or 5 year and the big give away is that on Ebay they buy a lot of spares for them.

One guy up in has told me he has many cars to sell as part of Private collection but when I do HPI check I see he never transferred to his name after several years.

How they get away with this I don't know. As soon as I ask to many questions they don't want to know.

it seems dishonest to me.

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Mon 14 Oct 2019 16:40
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - SLO76
Smaller dealers often sell as private punters to try and avoid their legal obligations but sometimes they do it to avoid paying the fees eBay and Gumtree ask for dealers. I did this with cheaper cars but was always upfront about the fact that I was a trader when anyone contacted me, it was simply to save the cost of an advert. I was however very firm in telling people buying a sub £1,000 car that they had to regard it as a private sale, it was sold at trade money and no warranty was possible. Anyone with unrealistic expectations was shown the door.

To weed out the fly guys ask if it’s registered to them at their address and ask how long they’ve owned it. Accept no excuses, it’s not their daughters, sons, aunties or dads car, they’re a trader making a buck and expecting you not to darken their door when their auction bought junker goes bang. No V5 in their name and not owned it at least 2yrs then walk away.

Edited by SLO76 on 14/10/2019 at 16:42

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Mon 14 Oct 2019 16:44
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - 64bit

Is there not a limit to the number of cars a private individual can sell without have to tell the VAT man?

seems very easy for dodgy ebayers to get away with things.

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Mon 14 Oct 2019 17:47
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - pd

VAT Threshold is based on turnover, not number of cars.

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Mon 14 Oct 2019 18:11
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - Andrew-T

seems very easy for dodgy ebayers to get away with things.

I don't think It's the fault of Ebay, just that Ebay makes it so easy to advertise almost anything while hiding behind virtual anonymity. All Ebay sellers accumulate a reliability rating which may be a useful pointer. If the advert shows the car's registration, you can check its MoT history - if you can't do that, maybe you should worry.

I've bought a couple of cars on Ebay and quite a few bits and pieces; one or two have been returned without a problem. Most sellers seem reliable, but there is always a chance of a naughty one. Unfortunately the used-car trade has a bit of a reputation for Arthur Daleys ....

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Tue 15 Oct 2019 11:16
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - madf

Ebay has some buyer protection.

Gumtree is where the real fraudsters live..

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Tue 15 Oct 2019 13:42
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - Gibbo_Wirral

Is there not a limit to the number of cars a private individual can sell without have to tell the VAT man?

seems very easy for dodgy ebayers to get away with things.

There used to be a limit as to how many you could sell from a home address in a year. IIRC it was six.

So, local council might be interested to know if someone is trading from home or a street.

Over my way they prosecute those who do the latter.

https://wirralview.com/news/dealer-fined-roadside-car-sales

https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/13322965.wirral-dealership-selling-cars-on-the-public-highway-is-fined-1500/

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Tue 15 Oct 2019 15:34
Dishonest Ebay selling?? - pd

There is no "limit" as such.

The old "6" myth comes from the fact that Autotrader used to force you to trade rates if you advertised 6 cars in a year with them.

Technically, if you are selling for profit then you are trading but there are also sorts of complicated "badges of trade" arguments as far as HMRC are concerned. Planning permission is a different area entirely.

VAT only comes into it if (a) you are deemed trading and (b) your turnover is over £85k in the year.

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