Safe trading guide. Recommended that you read this.

Area to post your for sale or wanted Cars
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Gemi Coupe
Long Term Member
Posts: 4173
Joined: Mon May 23, 2005 8:33 pm

Safe trading guide. Recommended that you read this.

Post by Gemi Coupe »

OZGEMINI.COM and its administration are not responsible for the actions of dubious sellers on this site,
all efforts will be taken to minimise or remove any fraudulent activity that may occur in the trading section of this site.
You trade at your OWN RISK!


It is the SELLERS responsibility to make sure the add complies with the rules, they can be found here;
http://www.ozgemini.com/forums/non-tech ... hp?t=14415
failure to comply with these rules will result in your add being removed.
Continual abuses of the rules may result in a suspension of your account.

It is the BUYERS responsibility to ensure what they are paying for, and how they are paying is legal, and honest.

Tips to ensuring an honest and legal transaction.

1. Ask questions. If the seller doesn't want to answer questions, no matter how silly, then they obviously don't want your money.
Dodgy sellers will often try to avoid answering specific questions that reveal personal information.
eg, buying a car from interstate.
"(buyer) Where exactly is the car? I have a friend who will come and look at it, and what is the VIN/Chassis number,
engine number and rego number, i want to perform a REVS check on it"
"(seller) Its in melbourne, I don't know the Chassis number or rego number, coz its at a mates house"

That sounds dubious, he may be genuine, and if he is, it should be no trouble to find out the details and get back to you. If not, dont touch it.
remeber, if its too good to be true, its probably is.

2. Work out a payment that suits you. NEVER use Western union or Moneygram, or any other instant money transfer service.
Likewise, dont accept or use cheques, unless you know and trust them, cheques can bounce, or be cashed later when you dont expect it.
many people use DD (Direct deposit) and have no problems. It is not recommended that you use it if you dont know the person though.
Another form of payment is COD (Cash On Delivery) and it is exactly that, when the item arrives, either by courier or Aus Post,
You pay for it, then receive it. the company then sends a cheque to the seller.
This costs NOTHING to the seller, the cost is included in the postage, usually only a few dollars extra.
It can take upto 3 weeks at the most for the seller to get the cheque, which can be bad if you need the money fast.
You can also use paypal, if that suits you better.
When making a payment, regardless of how its done ask for details BEFORE sending any money.
Ask for their home address, and phone number (call it to confirm)
Ask for their drivers licence number, and make sure any DD goes into THEIR OWN account, not a friends, or mums ect ect
Ask them if there is someone else on the forum who can vouch for them.
Ask them to send the package via registered post
What you want to do, is create a large enough information base that if they are fraudulent then you can track them down.
Police claim that nothing can be done interstate, but they are full of it. You just need to go above their heads to the station master,
then the commissioner, then your local member of parliament/state/council ect
It does take some time though, its different departments dealing with each other.

3. Get lots of photos. Be tricky about it, for example, If the car is sitting on the nature strip, and there is a street sign in the
background over the bootlid, ask for a shot of the side of the car, towards the rear.
Or just ask them for a shot of the street sign.

4. ask other members on the forum if they can look at it for you, usually it would be the person who is vouching for them,
but be aware, its most likely one of their friends, who wants to help their mate sell something.


Common sense should prevail, and if you're stupid enough to get taken advantage of, use the advice above or it can come back to bite you...
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