Information on a potentially dodgy seller
Discussion
I was researching a car which I was interested in through the auction on here and I came across some info which didn't seem quite right, and then on digging further, found a blog/personal website of a person who had been sold what, by the sounds of it, was a complete lemon. His complaint however was that the seller was a commercial seller acting as a private seller to avoid rules applied to commercial sellers (namely, requirement to accept a return for a full refund within 30 days). The seller also appears to use different surnames on companies house for various companies (not different spellings, but completely different names), which would be a clear case of fraud.
The car in question may well be absolutely perfect, and this instance above could be a one off, or, there are always two sides to a story etc. etc., but it did make me wonder about what role PH has in a situation where people are selling in bad faith. If they're writing the copy, promoting the product, and taking a cut, then if, hypothetically, a car dealer was pretending to be a private seller to get rid of the odd lemon, is that just the rough and tumble of auctions, or is there any guarantee or vetting by PH?
The car in question may well be absolutely perfect, and this instance above could be a one off, or, there are always two sides to a story etc. etc., but it did make me wonder about what role PH has in a situation where people are selling in bad faith. If they're writing the copy, promoting the product, and taking a cut, then if, hypothetically, a car dealer was pretending to be a private seller to get rid of the odd lemon, is that just the rough and tumble of auctions, or is there any guarantee or vetting by PH?
Nope, any reasonably large auction site will have this written into their terms, as per point 8 under "4. Buyer’s Role and Terms" on https://www.pistonheads.com/auction-terms-and-cond...
8. We do not inspect any vehicles that a Seller lists on the Auction Services. You acknowledge and agree that PistonHeads bears no risk associated with purchasing a vehicle from a Seller listed via the Auction Services.
If PH were deliberately engaging in fraud and deliberately platformed ads that they knew were scams, that would be different. But PH have no responsibility to essentially "do due diligence on your behalf" - that falls down to the buyer.
8. We do not inspect any vehicles that a Seller lists on the Auction Services. You acknowledge and agree that PistonHeads bears no risk associated with purchasing a vehicle from a Seller listed via the Auction Services.
If PH were deliberately engaging in fraud and deliberately platformed ads that they knew were scams, that would be different. But PH have no responsibility to essentially "do due diligence on your behalf" - that falls down to the buyer.
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