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wuvvum

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So I bid on a Pajero at lunchtime today, and I won it. It was very cheap - £260 with 10 months' test - but that was because it was listed in the Classic Spares section. When I got home I found the following message from the seller waiting for me:

hi im not sellin 4 that amount u can buy it now 4 £850 if u want it.

I've written back, respectfully pointing out that the legally binding contract created by an eBay transaction is a two-way thing and that he is as much obliged to sell the car to me at the bid price as I am to buy it from him, adn that if he wants to be a tightwad and save on listing fees by putting it in the wrong section then he has to be prepared to take the consequences if it sells for less than half what it's worth (I value it at about £600). Thing is, I'm not sure whether it's worth pursuing it. Mr. Bickle, I seem to recall you recently took someone to court to force them to sell you a car - how did that work out? Was it fairly straightforward? I've reserved my right to take further action with this bloke if need be, but I don't want it to end up being more hassle than it's worth. Anyone else had any experience of this kind of situation?
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You'll never get it off him for £260, I would give him some hassle, neg him and complain to eBay, and put it down to experience. Also if you can get his address from the 'send payment' option, order him up a load of Supa Tenalady free samples.I had exactly the same thig not long ago with an F-reg Hyundai Pony.

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You always have this problem on eBay & it really narks me. It's got to be made more black & white to stamp out this sort of thing - if something's been won fair & square then people should be forced to follow it through, even if they have mis-listed something - they won't make that mistake again will they! People seem to interpret & twist eBay to suit them so they leave themselves in a win-win situation! They seem to think that they're accountable for nowt & the rules mean squat!It's supposed to be a fair & open market but if people don't play the game then it means that the whole point of eBay has been missed. You're supposed to be able to get things for a good price - that's why people look at it. It works both ways, sometimes seller's make huge profits on things which really take off, but they're supposed to roll with the punches & take it on the chin when something doesn't meet their personal valuation. You win some you lose some, but some of these people (read alot of these people!) are trying to remove that element of surprise & control it which ruins everything & takes the fun out of an auction. We're picking up our first eBay bought car this afternoon which we got for only £70 above the starting price* which we get the feeling the vendor is a little disappointed with & apparently we got a real bargain, but so far so good they seem to be playing the game & we have arranged to go get it later today for the winning bid. Wish us luck!*mum was the previous high bidder using her ID, but I logged on & put another bid on in the closing seconds with my own ID to make sure we won, but mum stayed the previous high bidder, so I outbid her & won the car for her. Like a dunderhead, I didn't consider that I had actually bumped the price up, so we could have had it for £840 instead of the £870 we got it for but I just couldn't leave it to chance & mum's just happy to have secured it (shouldn't say that till we pick it up!) and it was still £30 below her top price! :oops::roll:

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No, RegieRitmo, it's just that having had one of these 405 Autos for a couple of years and been blown over by it's overall brilliantness, I want a spare for when it finally conks out! Plus because of a back problem manuals aren't so easy to drive at present.Back to wuvvums problem, I was just thinking how funny it would be if our friend with his Pajero was hit with two £100,000 bids at the last minute - would certainly put the wind up him! But perhaps that's just because I'm a childish vindictive old sod...

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^^^^^ I think thats a jolly good idea and would be happy to use my mum's eBay account to assist with that. If he lists it in the 'spares' section the selling fee will be a percentage of the sale price, so if it 'sells' for a million quid, his credit card will take a right pounding.

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No, RegieRitmo, it's just that having had one of these 405 Autos for a couple of years and been blown over by it's overall brilliantness, I want a spare for when it finally conks out! Plus because of a back problem manuals aren't so easy to drive at present.

I concur. My dad had a GTX auto estate back in '94 when I was learning to drive. Wonderful car.I know of an Exec manual diesel wagon going locally with a farked head gasket, if you need body/trim/interior bits...
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I was right miffed when I missed out on a nice sounding 55,000 miler GTX auto sans MOT which went for £232 on ebay a week or so ago. Thought I'd got it but someone had a last second bid £5 more than me. My fault for trying to nick it really. Plus the thought of 200 miles without MOT or tax was a bit unappealing.We must all keep an eye on this Pajero, subject to any updates from wuvvum of course.

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Something else Wuvvum, if you get your negative feedback in before the relisted car ends he's never going to sell it is he? Who's going to buy a car when the last feedback received relates to the same car genuinely won?Something along the lines of 'Careful, this seller wouldn't sell as the car didn't reach his own valuation' or similar would suffice.

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I was right miffed when I missed out on a nice sounding 55,000 miler GTX auto sans MOT which went for £232 on ebay a week or so ago. Thought I'd got it but someone had a last second bid £5 more than me. My fault for trying to nick it really. Plus the thought of 200 miles without MOT or tax was a bit unappealing.We must all keep an eye on this Pajero, subject to any updates from wuvvum of course.

Well, you could always have booked an MOT for the drive back - a Road Traffic Act loophole, as long as the car is insured - see my previous thread. I took a chance on the re-acquisition of my old GLDT - having sat unused for 5 months, all it needed was a bulb :lol: Tough cars, 405s.Wuvvum, I wonder if this guy is worth the hassle. A robust negging may be more worthwhile, then look for another car. If you pursued it he may well just sabotage the thing anyway. It's disappointing that some sellers do this - I've bought some stuff cheaply in the past (the Mk3 Cav being a case in point) because it's been incorrectly listed, and while the seller hasn't been happy they've honoured the deal. Just a question of moral values. The last thing you want is to raise the ire of a musclebound pikey - the Pajero does have something of a reputation amongst that fraternity, after all...
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It's disappointing that some sellers do this - I've bought some stuff cheaply in the past (the Mk3 Cav being a case in point) because it's been incorrectly listed, and while the seller hasn't been happy they've honoured the deal. Just a question of moral values.

Yup, I've had several like that - the Daimler being the most recent, but also the Transit camper and the '34 Hillman Minx among others. I've never once had a seller flatly refuse to sell me a car at the bid price before. I think you may be right about it not being worth the hassle though - the bloke does seem to be a bit of a knob so he might try to make things difficult for me. I'm not worried about arousing the ire of one pikey, however musclebound he may be, but the problem is that when you piss off one pikey you have the whole tribe come after you. I'm seriously considering setting up a couple of new eBay accounts for the specific purpose of sabotaging the relisted auction though...
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Just had the following response from the seller:

sorry it clearly sed in the ad that it had a buy now price ov £995 but if ur still interested ill sell 4 £850 sorry bout the fuzz

Well he's now apologised (I think - I'm not 100% sure I understand his version of English) and the relisting has been "removed due to an error in the start bid", so I'm not going to take it any further. I did go back to him saying that if he relists it again it'd be an idea if he puts a reserve on it. I think I'll just chalk this one down to experience.
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Hiya Wuvvum -sorry -been offline. for work.OK -I've had this happen a few times -the last with that Citroen dYANE cdu thingy that I got for my French mate. Winning bid £655 -he insists on (Non existant) reserve of £1500.First -after the polite exchange -I hit Ebay -and got him suspended.Then I downloaded County Court papers -completed them and emailed him a copy -telling him that I intended to file them in 5 days time. he capitulated- and sold it to me for £655- but cut the fuel line strategically over the exhaust manifold!A similar situation with a P6B, manual. Owner delayed Paypal payment for 10 days -whilst he negotiated with another buyer- cutting me out.I sued -porved my case -and won the difference in value I had outlined, plus costs. Using that as proof -I had him removed from Ebay -sent the bailiffs in when he didnt pay and had his wife's car taken to auction.Got the cash OK.I can list a couple more if needed. I wont let people do that to me. Only downside is that they may 'neg' you -if they react early in the process before Ebay uplifts them.

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Just an old fart that doesnt like wasters or excess, unreasonable bureaucracy!!

Good man! 8)

 

Speaking of which...

 

...having a tidy-up before SWMBO comes home from hospital, I found the issue of CCW with your letter about your local council's interesting attitude toward your private property on your own land. Did you sort out those muppets in the end?

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Hi Chaseracer- in abeyance I think. They would love to hassle me -but are struggling to find a 'legal' stance to apply. I'm sure they'll be back...

There was a chap on eBay last year, somewhere in the West Country, who was having to sell off a load of his classics because the Council took a dislike to them and threatened to crush them. I emailed him asking why he didn't tell the Council to go fork themselves and he said he didn't have the time or energy to mount a legal battle. It seems to me that the powers that be in this country have some very funny ideas indeed about the concepts of private property and personal ownership. I had a huge argument a few years back with the chap who deals with abandoned cars for my local Council - he was telling me that if he came across any more cars of mine on Council land he would just have them HIABed straight away without putting a notice on them. I dared to point out to him that this was actually illegal and would constitute theft, and he got very uppity with me. I also pointed out that if a 7-day notice has been put on a vehicle and I then telephone the Council to claim ownership of the vehicle, that 7-day notice is invalidated and the car can no longer be removed under abandoned vehicle legislation. It can still be removed under other regulations regarding the disposal of waste on public land, but under those regulations, as long as the vehicle does not constitute an immediate safety threat or environmental hazard (leaking petrol tank etc.), 28 days' notice is required. It has become apparent to me that the "authorities" in this country don't have nearly as many powers as they like to think they do. They ride roughshod over people's legal rights safe in the knowledge that, for some reason, most people in this country still trust the authorities to know what they are doing and therefore don't challenge their actions. When someone dares to question them or point out that what they're doing isn't actually legal, they have no idea how to deal with it and start running around like headless chickens. It can be great fun to watch. :D
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