Why my deals are cash only unless it's a company check I can verify beforehand, sold a lot of bigger specialty mechanical equipment that way. Bike or cars are local only I don't do long distance or dealing with shipping nonsense, tried a couple long distance deals and they never play out in the long run too much bullshit for me.

 

I got scammed one time many years ago, when a LOT of deals were done by sending items ahead with a COD through Fedex or UPS.
I was a total dummy I guess, but had done dozens of deals that way. The item was a $2600 DEC laptop, sent via Fedex to CA.
Fedex delivered the item and took a cashiers check, Fedex would not do "cash only" at the time, only UPS did that.
My fatal error was using Fedex. Got the check a few days later, and deposited it. THREE WEEKS later my bank sent me a letter saying it was fake!
Fedex denied any responsibility of course, but lucky for me my home insurance policy paid for the loss in FULL.
I called them just on a whim to see if it might be covered. They looked at it as if the item was stolen from my house, man I got lucky that time.
Nobody wants to admit they were scammed...

One other time was a boat I found on Ebay, looked great in the photosm and the seller made up a nice story about how nice it was.
Since I was going to pick it up in person, I felt it would be ok, and if not as advertised I could get my $1000 deposit back.
Went to pick up the boat, and it was a TOTAL POS, the transom from all cracked because the 150 Merc engine was mounted up too high.
Inside was a mess. Told the guy I wanted my deposit back, and he told me he didn't have it right then, and would mail me a check.
Of course that never happened. I tried to sue him in small claims, be he dodged the sheriff when they went to serve him.
If you have ever tried to sue someone out of state, it's a REAL PITA!! The guy finally did go the the sheriff's dept in person, and actually told him
that the guy I was suing was his son, not him! After that the sheriff told me if I wanted them to try and serve him again, I would have to file a NEW claim, and pay another $50! Now I was getting pissed, so went to Ebay and Paypal, filing a claim on both sites.
The major error I made doing that was on the Ebay claim, the had a few options, one was "item not as described" or "item not received"
Like a dummy, I chose "item not as described" when I should have chosen "item not received"
Because of the reason I chose, Ebay denied the claim stating they did not cover "item not as described" in their guarantee.
This was many years ago, and they have since changed this. WHY did they even put that as an option if their guarantee did not cover that scenario?
Meanwhile my Paypal claim was left open, as not enough time had elapsed or something like that.
After sending all the small claims paperwork to Ebay, along with photos I took and the ones he put in the ad, along with a LOT of correspondence, Ebay did eventually pay me about 1/2 of the claim! After a few more weeks went by Paypal also sent me about $350, so I really only lost $150 or so.
The $1000 was the deposit amount the seller wanted, so had no real choice once I had won the auction..
Lesson well learned on both instances. Since then I have never sold an item by COD, and will generally only buy vehicles that are close enough that I can go see them in person before I commit to anything..

 

I've bought and sold many items on eBay. Only had one issue... I sold an older iPhone and the buyer was in a foreign country. I didn't know any better, so shipped the phone off to him. It was marked as "received", but he claimed it wasn't and threatened to file a claim thru eBay and cause me all kinds of hassle. The phone sold for 75 bucks or something like that, so I just refunded him the dough and learned a lesson. Will not ship outside US ever again.

Had another situation trying to sell furniture on craigslist with the old "I'll send you a certified check and someone will pick up the desk" routine. It didn't sound right so I checked with a buddy who is a district attorney and he enlightened me to it being a scam. I replied to the "buyer" in very colorful language figuring if he, by chance, was not a scammer, he would either be offended or prove to me that I was mistaken. Never heard from him again, so I presume my gut was correct.

Cash rules and avoids any of this nonsense, but if on eBay, do some homework - review the feedback for any buyer or seller before sending item out or bidding on something. It's not foolproof, but can certainly inform, raise flags and give some peace of mind. I avoid craigslist completely.

 

Beware of the Scam on Crags List. Seen it 3 times now. You list a vehicle. You get this really interesting person asking a lot of questions. After three or four emails, he will then say his mechanic wants to see a VEN check and will say he is on the way shortly to pick it up. Gives you a shortcut to the VIN check outfit and says he is at mechanics office and needs you to do it for him. Sure he works for them.. It's $40.

 

I've sold a few bikes and cars on Craigslist. But it seems like our friend Twizted, my BS meter is always on high sensitivity. On every single one, I got a text message within minutes of posting. Always the same story, and similar to DaytonaFatBoy's. "Im deployed overseas. I'll gladly pay you (x amount above the listed price) because I REALLY want "The Item." It's exactly whatI've been dreaming of. I'll Pay Pal you the money and I'll have my Brother/Sister/SecondCousin come by tomorrow to pick up"The Item".

So, I always said "Just have your Brother/Sister/SecondCousin bring cash and they can pick it up."

That was always the end of it.

 

Mostly, the sites like Ebay and Craigslist are safe to use. I know it's a pita to deal with scammers but for me at least,, it's been easy enough to weed them out. Also, I think every honest seller and buyer is highly aware of this situation so deals typically go excellent.

 

your story reminded me of a situation that happened to a friend of mine. here on the army post we have a 'lemon lot' where people can put there cars, trucks, bikes, trailers, etc. up for sale. my friend saw an ad for a boat and liked the pictures and the price. contacted the seller and made arrangements to meet him at the lot for a more thorough inspection, make the deal, etc. when he got there, the boat was in really good condition, and the price was too good to be true. my friend was ready to jump on the deal, but there was just one little tickle in the back of his mind. seller was just a little 'too' something. he wasn't sure what, but he just was. come to find out later that it wasn't even his boat. he had just gone to the lot, took a picture, placed an ad and was trying to get people to give him the money now, and 'i'll get the title later'.... (i heard the mp's arrested him, eventually)

 

Nice Night Train bid about $1000 under what it should be. Contacted seller and agreed on the price. All Email through EBay. Was arranging shipping and the "SELLER" stated he was in the shipping business, there were actually 2 cargo haulers in a couple of pics. Bottom line he said he would beat the shipping by $100. Confirmed again through EBay messages. Sent Payment - payment cleared and of course that was it. POOF add gone, no history, feedback, or anything. My finacial people contacted the RI financial institution and after lots of hassle, account was opened and closed within a couple of days. You know they had to have some SS #s and ID - but that's for the FBI. Then I got an Email from Ebay stating that the messages were from a fraudulent account, after it was all done.
FBI Cyber Crimes report, local LEO reports and many Ebay forms later they made the Sales refund, minus $400 for the shipping.

Got a text yesterday NY goggled the # and got almost the exact information Daytona Fat Boy described.
347-667-1593 google it. Looks like they are busy.

 

Thanks, that is what I wanted to know. So Ebay made the sales refund ?

Did the search and read all the complaints.

 

Had a similar story (although much cheaper lesson).

I bought a $600 cat-back car exhaust on eBay. Photos looked good, seller said it was only installed for about 100 miles. It was $1,000 new, so the price seemed legit.

I got it packed in what had at one time reportedly been a box. Unboxed and found the exhaust had been scraped and scratched heavily across the bottom, including the dual exhaust tips that stuck out behind the car. I emailed the guy and asked for my money back. He sent a rude email back, LAUGHING at me telling me it was "my problem now".

I sent the email to eBay and PayPal. Three moths later, they said I had to return the exhaust, and when that could be shown, they would refund the money. $80 in shipping later, he refused the package, and it came back to me. The refusal was sent to eBay and PayPal, and they accepted that as enough, and refunded my money - minus the original $60 in shipping as well as my return shipping.

$140 lesson. Never eBayed again.

ETA: The idiot actually emailed me back and said if I'd ship it again, he'd accept it this time. I laughed at him, and recycled the exhaust.