Was I right??

A bloke won a car I was selling on e-bay and came round to collect this morning.......he said he wanted to hear it running before he paid me and I refused....there is nothing wrong with it but I wouldnt let him out of principle!! He said "just leave me a negative" and walked off

the co*k has cost me £10 fees and wasted my time

Was I within my rights....as far as I'm concerned he had the last 10 days to come and look/listen!!

 

Ebays full of them John unfortunatly. Had similar with a load of stuff I've just been selling.

 

so you've lost a sale because you wouldn't start the engine?

i don't see the problem tbh, if it's ok then why not just fire it up?

to me the fact you refused would mean there 'may' be a reason!!

 

I see what your saying.......and I agree with you.....but he has already bidded and won the car...he's had the last 10 days to come and view/listen /look....I was in a rush this morning and didn't have the time for someone to spend time looking at the car.

Once I started it the next thing would be he was looking at this and that...and then start bargaining with me and making offers etc.....

Its just not the way it works!

BUT I did think to my self afterwards that I'd lost the sale because I wouldn't start it.

 

i think your wrong, i would check the item i was buying that it was the same as in the description.

you said there was nothing wrong with it, if you started it and it started pouring out smoke or making loads of knocking noises then i would of said its not as described then nutted you

 

See what you're saying...but should this not be done in the 10 days preceding the auction?? Once he has bidded and won the auction he has effectively purchased the car?

 

No way in the world I would hand over money without hearing it going.

And just coming to visit you the one time to actually pay is saving both your time and his...

I don't think it was fair to assume he would then start pulling it apart until he actually asked.

Sorry mate, but I would have at least started it, then gone from there.

 

i wouldent have bought a car that i couldent here running, why did you not just start it? abit silly realy mate, it would of made me thought you had something to hide..

andy

 

if he paid first would you give him his money back if the item was not as descrided?

 

I think you were wrong and you have wasted HIS time personally mate. Sorry.

 

Fair play...I can admit i'm wrong...its no problem

The thing is I had time all this week for him/anyone to come and view [so the time saved argument doesn't really apply] but not this morning which is why I expected to just hand the car over.

The car was exactly as described so I would have given him his money back if there was a problem....

Ah well lesson learned.....I thought once you won an auction you had actually bought the item...not just won the right to come and inspect.

 

Really mate there just checking you hav'nt lied in the auction, eg if you stated in the auction that it runs sweet then surely there allowed to check . Doesnt always mean there going to barter and being all funny the main thing with any car surely would be that it actually runs

steve

 

I think you where wrong aswell even if I did see the car a day before running I would still want you to start it up again before I handed over the money incase you tried to stitch me up, at the end of the day he does have a right to check out the car before handing over the money IMO

 

But there are people who are out there that wouldnt do that so its aways better to check things out

 

to lose a sale based on flicking the key and starting the car is a bit daft really you never know things like the batt could have gone flat etc and when you would have took his money and gone what would he have thought then ??? buyers that purchase items from ebay although they have agreed to your terms and conditions they would still like to check there item to make sure the item was as described or the seller is breaking his own terms and conditions .as for coming up before the auction ends alot of people can travel from miles away taking hours to get to the sellers location which is why they rely on the so called [ honest ] descriptions that people write up about there auctions which we all know are never that accurate which is why ebay is the sham it is nowadays . remember as well when you leave him bad feedback he is going to do the same and how will it look when yours says you wouldnt even start the car ??? people will deffinatly question that in futre auctions which wont do you any favours really never mind we live and learn time to re list then

 

i bought my van from ebay it was a bit strange not really checking it over or even starting it. but it turn out to be fine no problems in over 6 months.
i have also sold my old van on there the bloke picked it up without really looking at it i wound not have a problem if he wanted to see if it was as i described.
If i asked for it to be started and the seller wouldn't i would walk away. thinking you must be hiding something.

 

i do see what your saying. When you bid, surely you would want to go see the car BEFORE the auction ends. Thats what an auctions for! When you bid, you BUY, whether you have heard it running or not.

BUT....

If the car was fine, and you had nothing to hide, you should have just started it and let it be. I think personally you let your pride get in the way of the sale.

 

a bid is a binding contract, in theory he should just come and pick the car up without looking over it because he has brought it already, but for any reason your description doesn't meet what your selling you can pull out. ive had a few people come and try and haggle after a auction has ended saying i didn't see that in the picture i just tell them straight i did state on the auction viewings welcomed you should have come and viewed it before you bid i state in the listings.

 

People dont seem to realise its an auction and once you have bid on the item and won, it is yours what ever! I would not bid on a car with out seeing it first and hearing it run, unless it was a breaker.

 

Thats what I think...viewings were welcomed and a couple of people did come to view/listen/look etc...

I have had experiances before where people have won an auction then come and viewed the car and complained about this and that and tried offering me less money etc..... which is why I didn't let him listen to the car first ... and the fact I didn't have time [I had already agreed to go to the post office with him to tax the car and was pushed for time as it was]

[Bear in mind the car was on the drive so he did look around it - could see it was as described etc...]

Ah well......I learn next time and just accept the winning bidder will expect to fully inspect the car when he turns up.

 

Look at this way mate - If he gave you an envelope with the money in and you said I want to check it first, would that be unreasonable? What if he said to you - "You sold the car heres an envelope with the money - but you can't check it - and drove off?"
You wouldn't be happy if it was bits of blank of paper in the envelope would you? You would want to check it was as agreed.
Technically you are right but when dealing with people you have show some courtesy. Don't leave him a negative - sort your own attitude out.

 

Ebay is shit!. They removed a listing i had because i said "I reserve the right to end the auction if it sells elsewhere". They didn't email and ask me to revise it they just cancelled it, so i lost everything that was written about the item which took me about an hour.

Anyway, i wouldn't take an ebay sale as a sale. Although he's entered an "agreement" to buy its not really a law binding deal, he has the right to test drive and listen to the engine just like any other buyer from autotrader or something. Whats a negative feedback in comparison to say £1000 down the drain because you didn't check something properly.
I'd say if you give him bad feedback he'd just say you wouldn't let him listen to it like you had something to hide and you'd have no chance or reselling.

If i went to see a car with a view tyo buying it and the guy said he wouldn't start it up i'd be gone.

 

Fair play

 

 

and you think were out of order not posting photos all the guy wanted was to hear the engine run its no big deal,Iam sure if the shoe was on the other foot it would be a different story
leaves a bad taste in your mouth having your time wasted doesnt it,I bet the bloke was well pissed off
the bloke has every right to check it over to make sure the decripition was true

 

you just made it look like you had somthing to hide , start the car, if it runs sweet he has NO comeback, as he has heard it running, and he has read the description. If it is as you described it and he is happy with the comparison, then you are home and dry for 30 secs work, and actually build a bit of trust . If I turned up to buy a car off you I had bid for on ebay, I would check it over just as thoroughly as if I was buying it from the trader/local rag... it might be a binding contract, but that means your descrition has to be 100% spot on as well And if you refused to start the engine, I would have walked and had some petrol money off you for wasting my time

 

pmsl i would of called you all sorts of names then walked away what a stuupid thing to do all he wanted to do was check it was as described, personally i thing you wasted HIS time and money

 

Thats silly really like if you sold a motor & had a glove box by key & the buyer asks for the glove box key & you dont give it to him..

That dont make sence but neither does not doing a lil fav, all my motor buyers i give thiem the keys for the car because they untiled to them

 

id have wanted to hear it running and go for a 5 min spin up the road but thats just me.

 

I've tried to sell a few cars on ebay and quite frankly it aint worth the bother.

I sold one just after christma and I happily let the bloke take the car up the road and back..

 

"A bid is a binding contract" pmsl.

 

completely agree, you're a tit in my book!

Not a chance would I hand over cash without hearing it running, would you?

 

christ you could of just fired it up while he was filling in the v5............youve done yourself out of a sale

 

Irrespective of whether you won a car on Ebay or not, would YOU pay for something if you didn't know what it sounded like ? No, neither would I......so why expect someone else to ? The fella never said he wasn't going to pay, he just asked to hear the engine before handing over his hard earned. Not an unreasonable request. If it were me I'd have done exactly the same as the other chap and swallowed the negative feedback.

 

only an idiot would buy a car without at least hearing it run

 

So if i was selling a car on here and told you it run perfect and you came to buy it and i wouldnt start it you would just hand the cash over

I dont think so ,,,,,,,,, Just because i say its ok doesnt mean it is ,,im sure you would check it and i would expect you to , Think about it , you say he had x amount of days to view it ,,but that means travelling twice ,,

I would have kicked you in the bollocks mate , then walked of

Paul

 

i had the same sort of thing and i can see where your coming from...the bloke has had 10 days to view the car and if you bid and win you buy,tough luck if you cant be bothered to check before auction end,i would of knocked the cunt out if he had done that to me...i had a bloke view my car and go over it for a hour 2 days before the auction end and then he wanted to check it over again after he won the auction...it was a £1200 golf that i had just paid to be serviced and new cambelt that morning for him...he wanted to check it over and test drive again,my actual words to him were,pay me my money and you can test drive it for as long as you like or im going to get very angry with you and you will not like it the outcome....he took the easy option

mark

 

Would I buy a car without hearing it running......of course I wouldn't...... but I would have viewed the car [and heard it running etc...] BEFORE bidding and winning the auction

Travelling twice....yep thats the way it should be done on e-bay [or just take the cash when you view like I usually do]!

The bloke actually only lives about 20 minutes walk from here he has had plenty of opprtunity to come have a look.

 

So if I'm in the wrong as everyone seems to thinkt ..... the way E-Bay actually works is that if you win an auction on a car you have not bought the car but won the opportunity to view??

 

Maybe he should have viewed first, depends on your viewpoint - but you were wrong to not at least let the fella hear the car before handing over his money. If you wasted my time like you did his I'd not be best pleased. And as for you loosing the listing fee - who's fault is that ? If you were a tad more reasonable then you'd have had a sale and money in your pocket.