QUESTION: Is it common for out of country buyers to offer a lot more than the selling price to cover shipping?

May 04, 2005

Hello Tony

I recently put my Alfa Spider convertible up for sale on Autotrader.com. The first 3 offers were from Canada, Great Britain and England and all offered basically the same deal.

Each of them had stories of how their assistants or wives would be conducting the transactions. The car is priced at $7,000 and two of the potential buyers said they would send me a check for $14,000 and to pay the shipper!

None of these people have seen the car and I find it strange that someone would pay double the cars value to have it shipped. Is this common? Do I become responsible for the car if I ship it? Will I have to pay taxes for $14,000?

I have asked around and nobody ever heard of this type of transaction. I would appreciate any of these questions being answered. with all the new interent scams I was suspect of the offers.

Thanks,

Mike

Answer:

Hi Mike,

I've heard of a scam just like this. Just use common sense. Make sure you get your price, and if a buyer wants you to ship the car be sure you get enough to cover the cost.

Even better, tell the buyer they have to arrange their own shipping. Any legitimate buyer can do this easy enough.

Most of all, don't ship any car or sign over any title until the check clears and the cash is in your bank account.

Ideally, you should be able to speak to the buyer by phone to verify everything.

Common sense tells you that if you are asking $7,000 and the buyer says they are sending you $14,000....well, that should be a big red flag!

Be careful. Get the money first. Make sure the check is cleared. Then deal with shipping and title transfer.

All my very best...

Tony Iorio