Selling and how not to get cheated

[MarkL]

Greetings All,
It's time to list my 87 GN for sale and have a question about the money part. In this age of easily counterfeited money orders and such, what's the most trustworthy way for a buyer/seller when it comes to the transaction? Even cash is suspect nowadays. I've read about people who take a $1 or $5, bleach it and reprint as $50 or $100. It still passes some of those cheap markers that spot funny money. So, is it best to go to my local bank and let them verify the funds on the spot? Or, is it acceptable to have the buyer wait till his funds clear my bank? It seems a little unfair to ask the buyer to drop off 15k and not take the car with. Any opinions??? Thanks, Mark

 

[qwksilver]

Greetings All,
It's time to list my 87 GN for sale and have a question about the money part. In this age of easily counterfeited money orders and such, what's the most trustworthy way for a buyer/seller when it comes to the transaction? Even cash is suspect nowadays. I've read about people who take a $1 or $5, bleach it and reprint as $50 or $100. It still passes some of those cheap markers that spot funny money. So, is it best to go to my local bank and let them verify the funds on the spot? Or, is it acceptable to have the buyer wait till his funds clear my bank? It seems a little unfair to ask the buyer to drop off 15k and not take the car with. Any opinions??? Thanks, Mark

Cash is my favorite.
Do this to check for funny money:
1.) To check for a bleached $1 or $5 turned into looking like a $100 hold it up to the light and look for the ghost image of Ben Franklin on the far right side of the bill (looking from the front). You can do this for all the other bills too. From the front the ghost image should be a match of the picture in the center of the bill. For example a bleached $1 made to look like a $100 will still have the ghost image of Washington on the right side. Another check for the bleached bills is to look at the shiny green '100' in the bottom right corner.....It is green when you see it straight on but will fade to black when viewed from any other angle.

Fact: The most counterfeited bill is the $20.

Do a google on how to check for counterfeit bills and educate yourself in about 10 minutes of time. A little education is a powerful thing.
I certainly wouldn't pay big money (i.e. $12,000) for a car and not expect to drive away with it and don't think many buyers would want to either.

Good luck with the sale!

 

[TurboBob]

for a local sale, meet at the bank.

When I sold my last car, we met at the buyers credit union (he was financing). I was paid by the CU by check, I then stood in line and cashed it there.

I was pretty confident when I left.

Bob

 

[Grumpy]

tuff now with all the scamming crap goin on.. I paid for a car an took it.. Guy kept the title till the bank check cleared.

 

[regal81455]

tuff now with all the scamming crap goin on.. I paid for a car an took it.. Guy kept the title till the bank check cleared.

X2 -- Did the same thing with a boat I sold. Guy who bought it wrote me a personal check. I let them take the boat but kept the title till it cleared as well, then mailed it to them.

 

[Royal-T-Ltd]

You can meet at the police station and have an officer be the witness on the bill of sale. then only accept $100s [look for the strip and the reflective ink] or have him transfer the money directly from his acct to yours.

never done the first part but i would figure that would scare off the average scammer.

 

[3-5.0]

Possibly a good thread,I only came across it because the title was on first page,it could be a main topic. Myself,I've never bought a car out of my city let alone out of country-and I think thats one reason why people will pay an extra premium buying from a dealer.

I'm of the general understanding that you can do a bank to bank transfer(is there any risks involved on a private sale doing that?) or certified cheque-but seller should never release an item until funds clear. I bought a $400 part about a month ago and used my debit card thru email to sellers email-it worked good,I don't know about 15+ grand but?...

 

[regan j]

I would schedule the meeting day and time when your bank is open and have them check the money and deposit it into account. The bank is then liable.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Have the buyer meet you at the bank, have the bank check his currency before you ever sign the title. Let the buyer know up front you plan to do this.