Selling my car - how do you know if someone's genuine or scamming?

[Floweryfields]

Put my car in the paper today and got a text from someone at 7.30 asking me to email my best price and pictures - okay that all seemed fine. But the email address doesn't come up as valid and is something really strange.... anyone heard of anything called graphic posture?
The text doesn't actually identify the type of car I am selling, it just says interested in your vehicle.
I've messaged back that the email doesn't seem valid - as it doesn't have any @ symbol it won't let me send it anyway.....maybe just a typo, but how do you know???

[Cranky Kitten]

Sounds bogus to me, but you could always text back with "your email address isn't valid, please confirm" with what they sent you. Genuine buyer will respond, bogus generally wouldn't

[Enchanted]

It's dodgy hun.

When DH & also a friend were selling their car & boat etc they would get those txts. They usually send a few and have different names on them.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

It's dodgy hun.

When DH & also a friend were selling their car & boat etc they would get those txts. They usually send a few and have different names on them.

^Yeah that.

Any email you get that is really poor english asking how much you will take for it or claiming its for their brother/uncle/father overseas is a scam as well. Its why we always say cash in hand it stops you getting ripped off and keeps the scammers away.

Also i got a text from an overseas phone number.

Selling a car is tricky trying to weed out the scammers.

[Floweryfields]

I did reply back email address isn't valid.

But what's the point behind it? They've got my phone number because it's in the ad, so what's the benefit of sending bogus email address when it get's him no further info?

I've not received a reply so I figure he's a con job.


I thought a bank cheque from one of the big banks would be the safest method of payment? Big amounts of cash - (we're talking over $10000) would be pretty dangerous wouldn't they?

[Enchanted]

I've actually got no idea what the point of it is.

Silly time wasters!

[~Trish~]

Yeah, very dodgy, they are so annoying! Just ignore people who make offers on your car without seeing it first. The scammers use stolen credit cards and pay with PayPal. They say they are buying it for a relative who is currently overseas. They arrange for someone to collect the car and then you lose everything when the owner of the stolen card reports it.

I'd accept cash or bank cheque for sure.

Good luck!

[Miss.September]

[QUOTE=ausgirl;2993067I thought a bank cheque from one of the big banks would be the safest method of payment? Big amounts of cash - (we're talking over $10000) would be pretty dangerous wouldn't they?[/QUOTE]

Double check with the bank. When I sold my car years ago we agreed on the bank cheque. Gave them the car, took the cheque to the bank and was told it needed time to clear. When I asked why, the teller told me that the person who gave me the cheque has three days to cancel it (in case it's lost or something). So basically, they have the car and I have a cheque that they can cancel. Freaked me right out, but lucky for me they were nice genuine people. This was quite a few years ago, so things may have changed, but double check with your bank to find out if this is the case. You might be safer to accept cash only.

Good luck on selling the car!

[Astrid]

Probably they want to start contact then take it further. Chances are they will want to pay via Paypal and that is where the scam starts.

Have a look at Carsale, they have a Scam section.

[Erin_25]

We advertised out boat for sale on ebay and had a weird text within an hour of putting it on there. I think it actually asked us to ring them, anyway my DH messaged back something like "you have my number, you ring me if you are interested and come and have a look". I think it's fairly easy to determine who is a scammer and who is not. If someone wants to look at it they will ring you and come and take a look. If they send a text I wouldn't worry about them.

[Beatrix]

There are actually two types of cheques.

There are the normal ones which take 3 days to process and clear and then their is a actual bank cheque which the person has to go into the branch and give them the money then and there and then the bank write you a cheque from them, not the actual person buying the car. So in sense the bank already has the money and it has been cleared so the person can not cancel it. That cheque will also cost the person to get as well. I'm not sure on the fee but it's around the $10 mark.

It's the best and safest way to sell a car privately for large sums of money.

[Floweryfields]

I've only ever had car yards accept bank cheques - which are basically like a money order - you have to buy it with cash to begin with. A bank cheque should be cleared instantly I'm pretty sure.

[Miss.September]

Yep, just double check. It wasn't a personal check we got and my bank confirmed that it was a bank cheque and it still had to clear. This was back in 2004 so as I said, things could have changed since then.

[briggsy's girl]

Bank cheques can be ordered online through net banking. They get mailed out. Hence the cancellation option...

[Lenny]

The scammers use stolen credit cards and pay with PayPal. They say they are buying it for a relative who is currently overseas. They arrange for someone to collect the car and then you lose everything when the owner of the stolen card reports it.

We got two messages exactly like this after we listed our car. Definitely scammers. Have you listed it on a carsales type website? They really appreciate the feedback - they try to keep on top of these things.

[Floweryfields]

I've had it on carsales for a month and not had one inquiry, put it in local paper and had nothing but painful messages all day!