tinkam
Active Member
Hi guys,
I just thought I would warn everybody who is looking at trailers to buy. I have been let down too many times now whilst looking for Ifor William 505 or 510. First I sent a cheque as deposit to the seller who agreed a price with me and as the trailer was 4hrs journey away I was going to collect it at weekend. I wanted to insure it so I asked for the chassis number and suddenly the seller text me few hours later saying her hubby sold the trailer to someone else. Luckily I was able to cancel the cheque. This was via preloved.
Second time, much more serious incident, was via ebay just yesterday. I was bidding on a lovely trailer but missed out on it last minute. The next thing was I had an email from the seller ( we were corresponding prior to the auction end as I wanted to find out few more details) telling me that the bidder did not come through with the money as they could not secure a loan and that he would accept certain amount for a quick sale. I was getting really excited, especially as he came across very sincere and helpful and said the transaction had to go via Ebay to protect both of us. He asked for my full name and delivery address (the trailer was in Aberdeen and he said he was working away, but happy to arrange the delivery at cost) and advised he would sort it out with ebay and ebay would send me their invoice marked as ebay motors. In minutes I indeed received such email with account details to transfer money to, very believable and it even had live chat window help, which I used to verify there was an ebay motor account that would hold the money in their escrow account till I was happy with the trailer that it is not faulty or stolen and only after the 14 days the money would be released to the seller. All seemed very fair and above board. The chat person, was also very reassuring when I questioned why the account was actually in some russian name and based in Leicester, only to be told it was set up by ebay as the third party account and not to worry because that is how ebay motors is set up.
I still was not happy, so asked the seller which company was he using for the shipping. He did not answer and when I asked for the chassis number he kept saying he would give it to me the next day but he would like to start the shipping and therefore would supply after the money transfer. I was not happy, so I actually contacted ebay from their own website and not via any links from the seller's invoice, and very quickly discovered that the whole thing was fraud and that the winning bidder also reported it as fraud. I know we all want a bargain but it is rather shocking how easily this person would be able to draw money out from other bidders (there were at least 10 on this particular trailer)!!!
The other thing I find shocking is that people actually have no fear of selling either non existent items or stolen ones on Ebay freely. The amount of times when I ask for more details, especially about datatag paperwork and more importantly chassis number as my insurance will not insure without it, I rarely receive an answer! I am also very disappointed with Ebay as I was very quick to report the fraud and provided them with all the evidence, yet they did not take any action as I still received an email from the fraudster asking if I could make the transfer today!!! So much so, I actually emailed Ebay and told them that as they obviously cannot be bothered to report the fraud to appropriate police department, they are basically harbouring criminals and breaching the law by knowingly not taking any action. No wonder these disgusting individuals have the last laugh.
In case some people suggest to buy second hand from a dealer...no thank you...simply because I viewed few that were well overpriced for the condition they were in. Couple of my friends bought and sold trailers over the years privately and had much better deal and I am not talking just hundred or two pounds difference either. I just hope I will be lucky enough to come across some decent people soon just like many others have done and get a fair deal.
I am hoping to be lucky third time, this time a friend of mine emailed me few hours ago saying a livery may be selling her trailer in next few weeks, so fingers crossed this time I may be lucky!
I just thought I would warn everybody who is looking at trailers to buy. I have been let down too many times now whilst looking for Ifor William 505 or 510. First I sent a cheque as deposit to the seller who agreed a price with me and as the trailer was 4hrs journey away I was going to collect it at weekend. I wanted to insure it so I asked for the chassis number and suddenly the seller text me few hours later saying her hubby sold the trailer to someone else. Luckily I was able to cancel the cheque. This was via preloved.
Second time, much more serious incident, was via ebay just yesterday. I was bidding on a lovely trailer but missed out on it last minute. The next thing was I had an email from the seller ( we were corresponding prior to the auction end as I wanted to find out few more details) telling me that the bidder did not come through with the money as they could not secure a loan and that he would accept certain amount for a quick sale. I was getting really excited, especially as he came across very sincere and helpful and said the transaction had to go via Ebay to protect both of us. He asked for my full name and delivery address (the trailer was in Aberdeen and he said he was working away, but happy to arrange the delivery at cost) and advised he would sort it out with ebay and ebay would send me their invoice marked as ebay motors. In minutes I indeed received such email with account details to transfer money to, very believable and it even had live chat window help, which I used to verify there was an ebay motor account that would hold the money in their escrow account till I was happy with the trailer that it is not faulty or stolen and only after the 14 days the money would be released to the seller. All seemed very fair and above board. The chat person, was also very reassuring when I questioned why the account was actually in some russian name and based in Leicester, only to be told it was set up by ebay as the third party account and not to worry because that is how ebay motors is set up.
I still was not happy, so asked the seller which company was he using for the shipping. He did not answer and when I asked for the chassis number he kept saying he would give it to me the next day but he would like to start the shipping and therefore would supply after the money transfer. I was not happy, so I actually contacted ebay from their own website and not via any links from the seller's invoice, and very quickly discovered that the whole thing was fraud and that the winning bidder also reported it as fraud. I know we all want a bargain but it is rather shocking how easily this person would be able to draw money out from other bidders (there were at least 10 on this particular trailer)!!!
The other thing I find shocking is that people actually have no fear of selling either non existent items or stolen ones on Ebay freely. The amount of times when I ask for more details, especially about datatag paperwork and more importantly chassis number as my insurance will not insure without it, I rarely receive an answer! I am also very disappointed with Ebay as I was very quick to report the fraud and provided them with all the evidence, yet they did not take any action as I still received an email from the fraudster asking if I could make the transfer today!!! So much so, I actually emailed Ebay and told them that as they obviously cannot be bothered to report the fraud to appropriate police department, they are basically harbouring criminals and breaching the law by knowingly not taking any action. No wonder these disgusting individuals have the last laugh.
In case some people suggest to buy second hand from a dealer...no thank you...simply because I viewed few that were well overpriced for the condition they were in. Couple of my friends bought and sold trailers over the years privately and had much better deal and I am not talking just hundred or two pounds difference either. I just hope I will be lucky enough to come across some decent people soon just like many others have done and get a fair deal.
I am hoping to be lucky third time, this time a friend of mine emailed me few hours ago saying a livery may be selling her trailer in next few weeks, so fingers crossed this time I may be lucky!