Okay guys, I need everyone's opinion please
 

Here's the deal. A few nights ago, I came across a car on ebay that I really want to buy. The price was lower than you'd normally see for this kind of car, but it was also listed in the wrong catagory. It had a buy it now, which I would have been stupid to pass up, but I didn't want to jump into anything before knowing more about the car. I e-mailed the seller asking for more information about the car and prayed that nobody else came across it and bought it. The next morning, I checked the auction to see if anyone bid or bought it, and the auction was completely gone and no longer listed. I checked his other auction as he had a second car listed as well, and that one was gone too. I checked his ebay info, and it listed him as no longer a registered user.

Now at this point I'm thinking maybe he was a scammer, as there is lots of that going around. But he did have established GOOD feedback, dating back to 1999, so it wasn't just a bogus name to make a quick buck. The next day, the cars were still gone, but he was back to being a registered user.

I was going to write the whole thing off, but today he finally responded to my e-mail. Here is his reply:

"Hello and thank you for your interest
I want to tell you a few words about the car.
First of all the car is in perfect condition and looks just like in the
pictures.It is in imaculate condition and has no schrach on and hasn't been involved in any accident. The motor run very well. The title is clear ,it is not a salvage one. The car belongs to my brother.He died last month in a bike accident. The car is now in Italy as my brother lived there.I am willing to sell it and shipp it to any of the UE countries or to US.I will not ship to any African,Asian or Eastern European countries. I know that the price is low but i have no use for the car and I want to get back home as soon as i sell it. This price includes the 25%
shipping to your door and insurance, the shipping cost is 1700$ -
2000$ and if you agree with this price we can start to complete the transaction.As i've told you, in order to proceed with the deal i need a deposit of 2500USD.The payment must be done using a money order service. I prefer money order because in this way i will ship the car in the same day you make the payment.As i've said my brother lived in Italy and now i arrived here to take care of his funerals and to solve his problems here and i want to get back home asap. You will arrange payment through western union .You receive and inspect the machine you have to send me the rest of the money.The inspection period for it is 3 days.
Look here how things are going: I'm a serious seller with more than 2 years of experience in this field. l'm a fair trader with a very good feedback on ebay which is the proof that l have closed a lot of sucessful deals. You will have to make a deposit of 2500 USD . You will have to go personal to an western union office with the cash and send the money (the deposit of 2500 USD ) from your name and address to WATH NAME DO YOU WANT (FOR YOUR SIGURANCE)NEVER CAN TUCH THE MONEY IN THIS WAY ONLY AFTER YOU WILL RECEIVED THE CAR AND YOU WILL INSPECT IT YOU CAN CHANGE THE RECEIVER NAME WITH MY NAME.
The transfer only need to be here in Italy for i can be avaible to
check at my WU agent that you really have the money for this great car .in this case the money is deposited in westernunion on my adress but on your friend name. I will ship the car as a gift for my best friend so you will not have to pay any custom taxes and I hope you will do the same thing when you will make the transfer because this way we will not have to pay any other taxes.
After you will make the transfer you will email me the details:
-the sender name
-the sender address
-the amount
-the confirmation #-MTCN (money transfer control number)
-the receiver name, that you choose to be and the adress.
With all this informations i will be able to check the payment and
after i will see that it is OK i will send the car right away
and you will receive it in 10 days at your door (if not less).
Here is my name and my address where you must send the money:
First name:xxxxxxx
Last name:xxxxxxx
Address:xxxxxxxxxxxxx
ZIP:xxxxxx
City:Roma
Country:Italy
Don't forget to give me your exact adress!!!
Please let me know what you decision asap in order to prepare the shippment and because I have a lot of offers and I can not wait much longer, thanks. Best Regards I shall be awaiting your response. With upmost respect"

So what do you guys think? I know there are lots of ebay and overseas scams going around. But I don't want to pass on this if it's really legit. It seems this guy is trying to cater to protecting my money on my end with his Western Union method, but I don't know if that's a legit way of ensuring anything?

Any input would really be appreciated. Thanks!

There is a lot of it going on. I bid on a pool cue and the next day I was contacted by another person selling the exact same thing cheaper. It even had the same pictures. I told ebay about it and they pulled both auctions.The second item was also buy now. It was from Great Britain.

i say go to WU and see what the deal is with what he said. If they can hold the money until you accept the car, then it is worth the 2500 risk.

Its your money but i would be very suspicious of anyting overseas. my friend was ripped off of 5 grand becuase he bought a bike that was in europe, it would be even worse to lose 30k or more...American law enforcement cant do much if something goes wrong. good luck whatever you do though

sounds like a scamer to me. I just read about a scam that a guy was using in switzerland sounds like the same thing.. stay away if you asked me....


Dale

I would talk to Western Union and see if you can put some sort of insurance on your money.....

If it's a scam, your covered...... Western Union will have to go after this guy.

Maybe call Western Union and ask some questions.

It might turn out to be legit.

But I have heard allot of this stuff going on over at the corvette sities...

Buyer Beware.

What kind of car is it?

It's a scam. Someone posted over on one of my local boards about the changing of the name scam that was running on autotrader as well. I would say DON'T DO IT....I'll IM you the link if I can find it.

I'd call western union and see if that method is as protective of your money as he says it is, then take it from there. Dont wanna see you get scammed out of $2500.

Josh

Kind of sounds fishy , but at the same time if he can't touch the deposit untill you recieve the car and inspect it, that sounds like a good idea. I guess what you really have to ask yourself is, if it is a scam can you take the loss of $2500 or will it put you in a bad financial situation?

Gary

I'll tell you what. I'm a soldier stationed in Italy. I have a god friend who lives in Rome. Have the person give you his name, number, address, and location of the vehicle, and I'll see if my friend can go check it out. As this is Italy, you may have to give a little something for his time. geneulmer@hotmail.com

Are you guys fuggin' kidding me...this is one of the oldest scams on eBay...run like the wind! Let me guess...it was also a private auction with bidder's indentities protected. There's a reason it seemed like such a deal...

You can do like baddgene said...e-mail him back and tell him you have a friend in Italy that you will send the cash to. Tell him if the car looks good you'll just have your friend give him the cash and you'll take care of shipping it back, etc. You won't hear from him again!

A good friend of mine always says "If it's free, then I can't afford it"

It's either a scam or not worth getting involved in IMO.

Sal, you know that old saying
 

"If something seems too good to be true, then it usually is"! Don't know how you'd get the car in 10 days unless shipped by air? That would be more than $1700. No way in 10 days if by ship--not just travel time, but dock and customs time, too!

Send in the Troops................

That would be a site, the door opens up and 6 marines with M-16's with night vision are outside this guy's door. This guy would ***** his pant's.

Sal, ask him for his address and see if it matches a true location in Italy.

I had the same thing happen to me on an ATV. It's a scam for sure! I let ebay safe harbor know and it ended up being a stolen ebay account. Also, in most countries outside of the US all you need is a Western Union transaction number to get the money. No ID is required. Pass this one up.