Selling Car to Remote Buyer - Pitfalls?

Tightmike on 16/11/2021 - 20:01

I am selling a Mazda CX-5 via Carsales.

One interested party contacted me via Carsales and asked me to contact them via email to confirm car was available.

The conversation went back and forth clarifying price, condition etc.

The buyer mentioned they were located in Northern Territory as a FIFO worker and had limited mobile coverage so email was easier to communicate.

The buyer proposed a price I’m happy with, my asking price Which they would pay via Bank Transfer or PayPal.

The buyer is to arrange a transport to collect the car from Melbourne to ship it to Darwin once funds a cleared in my account.

What could go wrong? It’s not normal for me to trade this way.

Automotive

closed Comments

  • boomramada on 16/11/2021 - 20:01
    +15

    Don't do it, run! But you can sell it to me for $80K, unfortunately I'm working off shore at the moment but I can transfer the money over PayPal and you can drop it at my uncle's place at North Melbourne.

    • AndyC1 on 16/11/2021 - 20:20

      Do you FIFO into Karatha and then fly via helicopter to one of the offshore rigs by any chance?

  • mskeggs on 16/11/2021 - 20:04
    +2

    What could go wrong!

    • AndyC1 on 16/11/2021 - 20:20

      FIFO into Nigeria?

  • bloom on 16/11/2021 - 20:07

    Payment gets made with a fake receipt
    Truck arrives to collect car
    You say to the driver “but but but the money hasn’t cleared yet”
    Your cars gone
    You never got paid

    • Peter Enis on 16/11/2021 - 21:40
      +4

      I doubt there's ever a real truck involved, don't think these scammers are that sophisticated. I think the scam is about the fake payment including extra for the transport fee, and convincing the seller to transfer the "transport fee" to the (fake) trucking company. Scammer pockets the transport fee and moves on to their next target.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 16/11/2021 - 20:08

    Don’t do it kid

  • grog on 16/11/2021 - 20:10
    +7

    Classic scam been around for years

  • SF3 on 16/11/2021 - 20:11
    +3

    Selling Car to Remote Buyer - Pitfalls?

    Lots.

  • Hybroid on 16/11/2021 - 20:15
    +3

    The buyer mentioned they were located in Northern Territory as a FIFO worker and had limited mobile coverage so email was easier to communicate.

    Common scam. AVOID.

  • Tech5 on 16/11/2021 - 20:35
    +2

    Nope avoid. It is always FIFO, or away on a boat, or travelling internationally.

  • KSMLJ on 16/11/2021 - 20:36
    +1

    CX5 is not a rare car, would you buy one sight unseen?

    • Tightmike on 16/11/2021 - 20:51
      -4

      You say that, and I would agree. But if you search for them in Darwin or Adelaide they are in low supply, bloody surprisingly so.

      Would I buy unseen, hell no!

  • Tightmike on 16/11/2021 - 20:37

    Thanks all. The speed, efficiency and ease of transaction sounded alarm bells to me. Thought it best to settle my qualms with this trusty group though, just to stub out any desire to proceed.

    • Pelicannn on 16/11/2021 - 21:05
      +2

      Actually you may as well have a little fun with them. Tell them to organise payment, give fake address etc.

  • MS Paint on 16/11/2021 - 22:19
    +2

    Troll post for sure.

    Oldest car selling scam in the book.

  • thatonethere on 16/11/2021 - 22:53
    +1

    Carsales literally warns you about this scam

    https://help.carsales.com.au/hc/en-gb/articles/203860179-Sus…

  • baker bob on 17/11/2021 - 01:59

    That's a scam. I got same email within 2 days of listing my motorbike. I wouldn't use PayPal anyways, scammers love it. Whenever you are selling something online and it smells a bit funny always Google it, this particular scam would have come up on the search results.

  • Moderatormoocher on 17/11/2021 - 06:54

    Thread closed as OP has reached a conclusion

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