Buying from ebay

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sat 25 Oct 2008 10:06
Buying from ebay - pullgees
Looking at the high prices some of the motors go for I can't see the advantage for the buyer. You can waste your time going round to view the item only to find later you are up against 15 bidders some of whom get into an auction frenzy and can't pull out of the bidding. What do others think?
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Sat 25 Oct 2008 10:54
Buying from ebay - pd
Eh? Most prices on the (few) genuine actions are below normal car auction prices - particularly if you are a private buyer with the horrendous buyers fee.

Problem is finding the genuine cars and sellers amongst them all.
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Sat 25 Oct 2008 10:54
Buying from ebay - gordonbennet
I'd tend to agree with you, no doubt there are some genuine cars and buyers out there, and i've seen some cars fetch quite ridiculous amounts, whether the sale goes through is another thing.

I had a most unpleasant experience trying to sell my almost perfect and low mileage diesel MB, barely understandable oiks asking fool questions and trying to trip you up on answers, then someone buys the thing and doesn't turn up, never again.
(i was pleased in the end though, my trusted MB indy gave me the same price and sold it one to someone who appreciates and looks after it, so i'm glad it worked out that way)

I do find it useful as a estimate though, if you are looking for a particular model, you can see what sort of prices are being attained and know where your guide prices are accordingly, possibly a more realistic figure than sometimes asked elsewhere.
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Sat 25 Oct 2008 14:00
Buying from ebay - jase1
I did buy a car from ebay once, a couple of years back, for my mother. A four year old Hyundai Getz, FSH with 20,000 on the clock, for £1800. The car was only 3 miles away and I'd already gone to see the car and offered £2000 for it (it was worth about £2500 at the time according to Parker's) which had been refused. Owner wasn't too chuffed, but the car was absolutely fine and is still on my mum's drive with about 35K on the clock now. To the best of my knowledge, nothing has gone wrong on it.

So it can be worthwhile at times, I think that car was a total bargain, especially as the resale values on these have sured up in the meantime and the car is still worth about £1500.
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