Practically Classics Forum

I bought my wife a cheapish runabout last year that was advertised on ebay. It was local to me so I went to view the car and agreed a deal with the seller there and then. I paid a deposit and he took it off eBay. Similarly when I last sold a car on eBay I insisted that the buyer paid a deposit which he happily accepted. I know there are a few problems with car trading in general never mind just ebay, it's a case of being careful.

I had the Acclaim on ebay. One of the bidders came up to view the car. It turned out that I knew his dad (who came with his son to view it) and when they asked to do a deal I agreed. If it wasn't somebody I already knew I wouldn't have done it. I bought my Dolomite 1300 in the same way in 2006.

I'm doing good with just 6 squirts of plastic ! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261223021620? ... _481wt_958

They are well shaped shots of plastic. Let's face it, Katie Price makes a fortune with 2 large squirts of plastic

Parts for Fords will always sell. In fact, when the country has been declared completely bankrupt and the Pound is worth less than a soiled copy of the 2007 Daily Mail annual, we'll all be using Ford spares as currency?

"How much are these bananas please?" "Those are three Cortina 1600XL track rod ends and forty Transit wheelnuts per Kilogramme..."


Katie Price? Pah! If she ever has her chest ornaments restored to factory spec her IQ will drop by 50% as a result.

JPB wrote:Katie Price? Pah! If she ever has her chest ornaments restored to factory spec her IQ will drop by 50% as a result.

Can they measure IQ in fractions?

I hate Ebay even though I still use it. The quality of morons is declining at an alarming rate. It doesn't matter what you stipulate about your item, they won't read the description anyway. I have my E30 on there at the moment and I stated that I wasn't interested in PX or stupid offers. So far I've had an offer for 1/3 of the asking price, one for just over half, one idiot who tried to convince me his crappy Irish 'private' plate was worth a straight swap, two idiots who made appointments to see it and never bothered showing or calling again.
Once I had a really mint Maestro with 22000 miles on the clock and as straight as a pin. No on wanted it, not even the Rover forum guys. So I stuck it on Ebay and had some idiot call me to say he had an 88 astra . It had a head gasket gone so would not make it the whole way so could I meet him at a halfway point? (Though how he thought I'd be able to get it back anyway was beyond me), it had no mot because it failed on rust and the tax was out too. Would I do a straight swap?
Another was my 1978 Alfa Alfetta GTV 2.0. A guy asked me to pick him up from the train station, I agreed and used the Alfa to collect him, I had it up at £1300 for a freshly taxed and MOT'd car with all the welding and paintwork done, the car had 78000 miles on it and was really tidy (an idiot I know, worth a bit more now). So, I pick him up and let him drive back to my place at which point he says that the car doesn't feel as crisp as when he last drove one. I asked him when that was to which he replied....'about 22 years ago'....FFS.....after pulling the car to pieces he made me a stupid offer of £600 at which point I offered to call him a cab.

I'd have let the bugger walk! Taxi indeed, you're far too nice to the hard of thinking,

Lance1a, your story is familiar.

A good mate of mine, Ken, had a similar experience with someone who flew in from interstate to buy a Falcon GT off him. After a massive email exchange, several phone calls and maybe 100 photos they negotiated a price over the phone.

Ken met him at the airport on a Sunday afternoon. After one lap of the airport carpark the buyer got out of the car and started pointing out minuscule marks in the paint, all of which were detailed in email exchanges between them. The buyer offered 70% of the asking price and insisted he had to leave now to be back home in time for work tomorrow. Ken told him he'd better fly home then and drove off.

One minute later Ken's mobile rang. It was the buyer offering to honour the amount they agreed the week before. Ken turned around and drove back. The buyer handed him a paper bag containing loose cash and tried to get in the car, insisting he needed the paperwork done, he was in a hurry. Ken is no fool, he took the keys out of the car while he counted the money. It was $1000 short!! Ken told him to f#$k off and started to get in the car. The buyer stood in front of the car and pulled another $1000 out of his sock. They did the paperwork in terse silence. Ken walked away with his cash and the buyer drove off.

Some people are just not worth the hassle!!