Buyer paid in full for car - Now vanished. Suggestions?
Discussion
Hi all,
My friend put a car up for sale on eBay as a classified advert in September 2014 and immediately had numerous enquiries from people offering the asking price.
One guy drove a couple of hours to come and look at it, decided straight away he definitely wanted it, and said he would transfer the full asking price when he got home and then arrange for it to be collected shortly after.
The money duly arrived into the bank account for the car, in full, as promised.
Since then the buyer has completely vanished. Won't reply to calls, texts, emails or messages through eBay. And my friend has been trying to contact the guy at least once a week since September with zero response.
He only knows the buyers first name, no address or anything as it was all via email/calls.
Since September he has had various other people desperately trying to buy the car off him and offering to come 'today' with the cash if he decides to give up on the original purchaser.
What's the score with things like this if you really can't get in touch with whoever originally paid and can't even refund them as you don't know who they are?
cheers
My friend put a car up for sale on eBay as a classified advert in September 2014 and immediately had numerous enquiries from people offering the asking price.
One guy drove a couple of hours to come and look at it, decided straight away he definitely wanted it, and said he would transfer the full asking price when he got home and then arrange for it to be collected shortly after.
The money duly arrived into the bank account for the car, in full, as promised.
Since then the buyer has completely vanished. Won't reply to calls, texts, emails or messages through eBay. And my friend has been trying to contact the guy at least once a week since September with zero response.
He only knows the buyers first name, no address or anything as it was all via email/calls.
Since September he has had various other people desperately trying to buy the car off him and offering to come 'today' with the cash if he decides to give up on the original purchaser.
What's the score with things like this if you really can't get in touch with whoever originally paid and can't even refund them as you don't know who they are?
cheers
part of me says sell it to someone else and if buyer 1 pops up again, just refund
part of me says it needs a bit of digging: has the eBay id of the buyer been active at all recently? could your mate call eBay customer services and explain the situation to them and see if they can check if the id has logged in since then for instance / send a message to the user
he could send a text saying that if he doesn't collect within 14 days, it will be sold and that his money will be available for refunding - keep a copy of that text of course
part of me says it needs a bit of digging: has the eBay id of the buyer been active at all recently? could your mate call eBay customer services and explain the situation to them and see if they can check if the id has logged in since then for instance / send a message to the user
he could send a text saying that if he doesn't collect within 14 days, it will be sold and that his money will be available for refunding - keep a copy of that text of course
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 26th April 19:18
Well he is considering selling it again and keeping the original buyers money ready for him in case he returns, but the concern is that the buyer legally owns the car seen as how he paid for it in full.
Although I guess it could be classed as highly unreasonable for the buyer to still expect to get the car after all these months and he should just be pleased with a refund?
Although I guess it could be classed as highly unreasonable for the buyer to still expect to get the car after all these months and he should just be pleased with a refund?
Charlie1986 said:
rings a bell to the thread where the buyer paid the finance off then never returned.
Well hopefully this one will be a lot more straightforward than the one that involved finance.As I pointed out earlier, the only real worry is that legally the car belongs to the buyer as it has been paid for in full, and therefore what would be the repercussions of selling it again, even if you intended to refund the original purchaser.
He might not want the money back, he may just demand the car.
LaurasOtherHalf said:
One thread was mine, but it wasn't the one everyone is talking about that involved finance
my thread
buyer pays off finance thread
Google, as always, is your friend
At least yours had a sensible ending Craig, although this one is bizarre... Nearly 7 months!my thread
buyer pays off finance thread
Google, as always, is your friend
The car can't stand outside either so it's talking up valuable storage space.
Old Merc said:
Could it be a "shipping agent scam" and a dopey crook in Nigeria has cocked it up and really HAS paid for the car?
The guy came from Glasgow to view the car in person the day before he transferred the money and seemed completely genuine.I have recommended to my mate that he sells it again and keeps the original payment ready to hand back to the purchaser if he surfaces.
He doesn't want to simply refund the money to the account it came as who knows whose bank account it came from in the first place. It might not even exist anymore. It could be the account of a business that has since gone bankrupt. Who knows?
He would much rather just hand over the cash in person or actually get an email confirming the definite bank details to pay it into.
Variomatic said:
Google Torts (Interference with goods) Act 1977 (or just follow the handy link below 
). Section 12 explains all.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/32/crossh...
That is fascinating. Never heard of that Act before. ). Section 12 explains all.http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/32/crossh...
Thanks for sharing
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