Going once, going twice, NOT SOLD!

You may have read about me selling my Land Cruiser on eBay here. I started to write this post back in February when it happened, but I didn't publish it right away because it was ongoing, I was still trying to resell the vehicle, and I didn't want anyone to see the discussion and think it was a problem.

The guy who won the Land Cruiser on eBay emailed me four days after the auction was complete and said that he wanted to return it. He found a couple of problems that I wasn't aware of, and needed a reliable vehicle right away. The thing that bothered me the most is that I went overboard to be as honest as I could, he came out and drove the thing, and still wasn't satisfied. I offered to give him some money to fix the things he had found, and he said "no, this just isn't the right vehicle for me". He said he couldn't get it inspected, and I offered to take it to the guy who did the repairs and inspected it last year. He said no, and he wouldn't compromise. Most of the folks I talked to about it said that I should either tell him that a deal's a deal, or that I should keep the $1000 deposit. I ended up agreeing to take back the vehicle, and I offered to write him a check, not knowing that the guy had already stopped payment on his check. Seven days after depositing the check, I checked my balance and there was a debit on my account for the amount, and a couple days after that I got a letter in the mail from my bank saying he had stopped payment on the check and that the bank was taking the money out.

So, never accept a personal check from ANYONE for ANYTHING. They can always take the money back, and you won't know about it for a while. The good news is that he did return the vehicle as promised, and I was able to sell it easily to another bidder in the auction. The bad news is that he was able to violate the entire agreement on a whim, and there's little I can do about it. I can't recover the deposit or the $82 it cost me to list it on eBay in the first place. And I heard on the radio that cashier's checks and money orders are just as bad. They are impossible to validate, and are easily counterfeited. So what do you do? Even wire transfers are reversible nowadays. Requiring cash for a vehicle purchase sounds fishy. But if you want a guarantee, then there isn't anything else as secure.

Of course if you're dealing with people you know, you have some recourse, but for eBay and the other auction sites, it's difficult. These sites rely on their seller ratings for validation. I probably wouldn't have made the grade, since even though I've had a dozen or so successful auctions, this is the first time I was acting as the seller. Anyway, caveat venditor (let the seller beware) is as important a principle as caveat emptor.