I had a car on auction the winner then appears to think it was an advert & could dictate his terms

[prluton]

Obviously we had some toing & froing before it became apparent the buyer was not prepared to even pay a deposit before seeing the car which I think he expected me to deliver to him. I should say he was in London and the car was to be collected from Alicante in Spain all made very clear in the original auction details eventually,  as I could not come to any reasonable solution with him I cancelled the deal. In the meantime the second highest bidder( a member in France) wrote to me, through ebay, offering to buy if the winner failed. We messaged through ebay and he offered a 20% deposit  via transfer and the balance on collection. All fine up to that point my reply to him accepting his offer and several messages since all seem to be being blocked by ebay because I have not had one single message from him or ebay can anybody explain to me what is happening and or suggest a way forward bearing in mind it is impossible to write to ebay direct for help in this matter. Ebay if you scan these messages your help would be much appreciated.

[red_magpie]

the buyer was not prepared to even pay a deposit before seeing the car

Sensible buyer. Would YOU pay a deposit to a total stranger for a car you hadn't even seen? And with absolutely no buyer protection. Especially on eBay, which is overrun with motor vehicle fraud and where a senior police officer reported that one criminal gang alone had registered "multiple hundreds" of fake accounts to place fraudulent listings for vehicles.

Car sales on eBay are as risky for sellers as they are for buyers. There is no place for deposits. We usually advise payment in cash after inspection as the method of payment that is safest for both buyer and seller.

[rusticrye]

No buyer in their right mind would ever pay a deposit on a car they'd never seen. There is no buyer protection on deposits, or on vehicles. That applies everywhere, not just on Ebay. So I suspect that neither were genuine buyers, and that attempted scams were on the horizon! Plus, you cannot ask for deposits - totally against the rules.

You cannot communicate with a prospective buyer as you have, especially if one or the other of you has tried to supply contact details. It's a serious breach of the rules. Ebay's bots will pick it up as you trying to do an off-Ebay deal.  A buyer must first buy (without paying, of course, as vehicles should only ever be paid for in cash or by bank transfer, once the buyer has fully examined, tested, and completed all essential checks).  So the buyer may have been suspended, hence the silence. I'm very surprised, though, that you haven't been suspended too, as suspension normally applies to both parties..

@prluton 

[plpmr]

especially with their phone number in the listing.

[tsmgmd]

In spite of everything else that has been said I am totally amazed that in the middle of the Covid pandemic you are expecting people from abroad to come into the UK to inspect a car.

The words Foreign Travel, Essential Journey, Lives at risk, Heavy fines all spring to mind.

Even selling a vehicle to a UK buyer is risky.

The police are clamping down on non essential travel and your UK buyers face a hefty fine if caught.

[*knight-rider*]

on top of the advice already given, the best way to sell a car on here is with a classified ad, it` around £15 for a month and is less hassle, the ad stays live till it`s paid for and removed by you, you can swap messages as much as you want and no non-payers or people that waste your time.

Have to agree as well, i would`nt pay a deposit to a complete stranger for a car i`ve never seen, because all of us on here have had loads of buyers come here who have paid deposits and never heard from the seller again, or the car is a pile of junk, the back out the sale and the seller won`t give the deposit back, so you have to put yourself in the buyers shoes and not ask them to do something YOU would`nt do 🙂

[ruby*tuesday]

You broke EBay Policy by Asking for Deposits.