Autotrader - 3rd Party Offers

[Tonberry]

Does anyone have any experience of www.offers-autotrader.com?

They've offered to buy the car I'm selling for near asking price.

Scam?

[Grenoble]

Looks dodgy as hell

No street address/registered office address. No fixed landline.

FREEPOST 7479, London. N1 1AA
Telephone:[phone]
Website:www.offers-autotrader.com
E-mail:[e-mail]

[Bill]

They look like a WBAC clone, and I bet they chip the price when they look at the car.

[POORCARDEALER]

SCAM SCAM SCAM .... £70 admin fee payable up front, by ecash voucher or some other untraceable method.

[Grenoble]

Bill said:

They look like a WBAC clone, and I bet they chip the price when they look at the car.

No, looks like a scam.

[Bill]

Ah, I didn't read far enough to see the up front charge.

[Grenoble]

"9.a Our Fees

www.offers-autotrader.com does NOT charge any fees for our service.

We may request a fully refundable appointment deposit. The deposit will be returned to you at the appointment - even if you do not decide to sell your car to us."

[billzeebub]

One of the reasons why I now use Pistonheads to sell all my cars rather than Autotrader. Along with having the third Nigerian Prince of the day enquiring (about a complex and convoluted sight unseen buying process) before I've even had my cornflakes!...if it looks too good to be true it usually is

[scarble]

Are they even linked to autotrader?

[Grenoble]

scarble said:

Are they even linked to autotrader?

No. It's a scam. Really straight forward.

Its
A
Scam.

[Grenoble]

It works like this...

• You give them reg, condition
• They bid Parkers minus a little bit (you are now hooked)
• They ask "because of your location" for an appointment fee paid through some legit looking, but fundamentally scammy website or untouchable offshore Russian e-cashcredits, etc
• They no-show to appointment
• They may, or may not then send you "we attended 3 times but you weren't in, therefore you are in breach, we are keeping your £70"

And...

• With no true listed address, good luck serving them with a County Court summons
• Many people would pay with a debit card for £70. Debit card protection only kicks in at £100 IIRC.

Oh, and they also now have: you address, reg plate, car details and credit card data to sell on.

[tdm34]

Grenoble said:

It works like this...

• You give them reg, condition
• They bid Parkers minus a little bit (you are now hooked)
• They ask "because of your location" for an appointment fee paid through some legit looking, but fundamentally scammy website or untouchable offshore Russian e-cashcredits, etc
• They no-show to appointment
• They may, or may not then send you "we attended 3 times but you weren't in, therefore you are in breach, we are keeping your £70"

And...

• With no true listed address, good luck serving them with a County Court summons
• Many people would pay with a debit card for £70. Debit card protection only kicks in at £100 IIRC.

Oh, and they also now have: you address, reg plate, car details and credit card data to sell on.

So it's a scam then............

[Grenoble]

tdm34 said:

So it's a scam then............

Apparently so...

[tdm34]

Grenoble said:

tdm34 said:

So it's a scam then............

Apparently so...

Righto! Scam it is then.......

That's the power of PH for you.......

[Tonberry]

Cheers gents. Confirmed my suspicions.

Had a quick scan through the T&Cs but didn't see the fee bit.

[zeduffman]

Autotrader has a scam warning for this site on their homepage (and in fact every other page on their website). Don't people read scam warnings?

[dufflecoat]

I use the following formula in this situation

If its smells fishy, it's probably a fish.

[scarble]

zeduffman said:

Autotrader has a scam warning for this site on their homepage (and in fact every other page on their website). Don't people read scam warnings?

Wouldn't have known it was there if you hadn't pointed it out, not exactly attention grabbing is it?
What is the "like" button doing up there next to the logo? It's like they ran out of space to put things, probably as they're too busy trying to sell you insurance, loans, breakdown cover, HPi checks, valuations, warranties, etc.

So can't they send a DMCA notification to the domain registry (godaddy, took me 5 minutes) or the host?