Showing posts with label online classifieds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online classifieds. Show all posts

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Scammers, Scammers Everywhere!

Nowhere is safe anymore! We've been looking for a car the last few weeks, because my husband's truck is just not good enough on gas for his daily commute to work and we can't afford to keep using it as a commuter vehicle. So we thought we'd look for a "beater" car we could pay cash for from our tax refund, and started our search in the online classifieds.

There were several cars listed in our price range, but some of them jumped out at us because they were in great condition, had low miles and they were priced way below one would expect. I know sometimes people are desperate to sell and will therefore take a loss, but when I saw several of the sellers were taking a $2000 loss on a $3000 car, or a $3000 loss on $4500 car, that seemed a little too good to be true. But there was still a part of me that was hoping that maybe this was legit. I mean, they had several pictures posted for the car, had all the details a person would want to know, and even admitted to a few tiny dings....So I looked for a phone number. There wasn't one. I couldn't find a contact name either. I could only contact the seller via email. Well, that got my suspicion up even more. I was sure at this point that something was up, but I couldn't just let it go. I had to see what this person would say if I expressed interest.

I sent an email saying simply "When can we come look at the car?" The next day I got a deeply personal sounding response:

The 2001 Ford Focus SE is in perfect condition, no electric problems, no accidents/liens/loans. No scratches, never been repainted. Ihave all the car manuals, title,documents. I'm selling this car because my child of only 23 died 4 months ago in a car accident,a drunk driver hit him and his fiancee. He was with his fiance's car coming to our home at his little brother birthday of 15 years old. The car belonged to my son and it brings me bad memories and that's the reason I want to sell it. The last price is $1,500. Me and my husband travel a lot with our business and we want to make this deal through eBay's Buyer Protection Program. I just need your full name,full shipping address, home/cell # so I can open a case.(with no further obligation or fees).eBay will contact you with all the Transaction/shipping details you will need.We will take care of the shipping so don't worry.
We hope to hear soon from you.

P.S. For more pictures please click the link
http://www.use.com/599b37d25b69b92b5cee

Thank you for your interest!Ella and Ben Genton


Also you have here some details about the Focus:
Mileage: 84,300 miles
Vehicle title: Clear
Engine: 2.0L L4 PFI SOHC 8V
Transmission type: Automatic

Well, it turns out I had read up on this type of scam, and knew what would follow. They would require that I wire them the money, and then they would say the car would be shipped. There is no car to ship. Also, eBay states clearly on their website that they do not allow wire-transfers. So you'll be out the money and have no car to show for it.

Anyway, don't fall for a deal like this. Remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is! There are ways to get a car that is affordable, and often you can find those deals on classified sites. But never pay for a car you haven't seen from someone you don't know. Don't wire money to a stranger. When you find the scams, report them. And if you're looking for more tips on buying a car, you can read my article on Hubpages here.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

New vs Used

Okay, now I know as much as the next person that you can't get everything used, like underwear for example. Haha. I don't care how much you boil it, if it's been on your unmentionables, I don't want it anywhere near my unmentionables;) And I personally prefer my shoes new, unless they're given to me by someone I know (and they don't have really stinky feet), and they're still in good shape. The shape is important because, let's face it, they're only comfortable after we've worn our foot print into them, and unless someone has your same footprint, it's just not likely to work right the second time around. Also, I've got a phobia against foot fungus.

But actually, there are a lot of things I don't mind getting used. I love hand-me-downs for my kids, so long as they're in decent shape (so they don't become targets for the lucky kids who have never even had to think of hand-me-downs). It's pretty cool when my friends have been able to pass things on to me, too and vice versa.

I also like getting good deals on other used things, and I've listed a few places to get great used things for a fraction of what you'd pay new.

You can find just about everything you want, that someone else no longer needs at thrift stores. I've actually found clothing in there with the tags still on--no kidding. But they also carry furniture, electronics, books, games, movies.....you name it. Sometimes you just get lucky and hit the motherload.

A friend of mine got a baby exersaucer in nearly new condition (because really, how long do they actually use it?) along with some other baby goodies for free just because she happened by when someone was waiting in line to drop off some things at a thrift store, and she asked if she could have it. I'm probably not that brave...but I'm sure it would have still been a great deal once it made its way inside the store.

Yard sales and swap meets are other good places to get things, and more often than not, the price is negotiable. I've actually made money doing both of these things, and I have to tell you that I never refused an offer that I felt was good enough, simply because I didn't want to pack those things back up again. I wanted them gone.

If you don't want to go outside looking for your deals, you can find plenty of them online. We got a killer deal on a bunkbed set that had the attached dresser and desk with it. We'd priced the same set new for about $800 and then bought one in great shape from KSL Classifieds for $300. Check out the classifieds for your area, you'll be surprised what people are willing to settle for.

You can also find Used Items on Amazon and Ebay. With Ebay, you can either bid for your deal, or you can find one for a set price. On Amazon, the price you see is the price you get, but you have several vendors competing so the pricing is competitive.

So I'll leave you on this note. New is not always better (unless it involves the unmentionables or old stinky feet). Happy hunting!



Tuesday, March 3, 2009

List Items You Want to Sell for Free--(Discovered by Accident)

Did you know you can list stuff you want to sell for free? So you get to keep more of the money you make off of an item because you're not paying for an advertisement. I actually got an unplanned lesson in this, though I ended up being grateful for it later. I have to tell you how this all happened:

We have a purebred Black Lab. Her name is Shonie and she's nearing six years old now. When we bought her, we couldn't afford to pay full price for her, so the guy we bought her from made a deal with us. He really liked her bloodlines, so he asked that we let him breed her one time, and he would cut the price in half.

Since he was willing to work with us and seemed like a responsible breeder (he didn't even want to consider breeding her until she was at least two), we went for it. There was no way we could walk away from her after seeing her, so we were hooked. She's beautiful! So, long story short, we never got her spayed. She was pretty good about sticking around, and she's also an alpha female, so even when we did the agreed upon breeding, she had to be held in place since she thought she was supposed to...um...be the one on top--sorry for the visual folks. Haha!

Now, let's fastforward a few years. Since Shonie hadn't been very cooperative with the male, and we kept a pretty close watch on her when she was in heat, we hadn't rushed to get her spayed, mainly for financial reasons.

I admit though, I watched Oprah, and saw that show she did on dogs. So I was thinking maybe I should stop populating the earth with more puppies when there are so many dogs out there needing to be adopted. I had the plan that as soon as we had some extra cash (which wasn't looking like it would be soon with the bad economy starting), I would take her in and get her spayed.

God had other plans. Shonie went into heat again. I wasn't sure at first, but thought I noticed the signs. I let her out one afternoon, and then opened the windows so I could hear her. I sat by the window and started to nurse my baby. A few minutes later, I heard yelping and jumped up quickly, with my poor baby trying to figure out why her meal was interrupted.

I started yelling like a maniac when I saw she was....um....connected.....to another dog. "Why?!" I screamed. Why was this happening? What was I going to do now? I put down the baby, told my preschooler to stay there with her little sister for a moment, and ran outside. I was going to get that dog. I noticed he was wearing a collar and planned on giving his owner a call.

Turns out, the dog traveled three miles to get to our house, went around to our back yard and laid in wait for our dog to come out to greet him. I don't know how I missed him when I let her out. The good news was (yes, there was good news) he was a purebred Chocolate Lab with decent bloodlines.

We were able to sell every puppy without paying a cent in advertising. I did a search on free online classifieds. The popular one in my area that sold better for me is KSL Classifieds, but I also got calls from listings I made on: Go County, Kaango, Kijiji, Superads and Domestic Sale.

You can use these links I've given you, or you can do a search for free online classifieds in your area by typing in "free online classifieds" and your state. We sold all our pups in less than two weeks from the time we listed. We also made some much needed cash at a time when we definitely needed it. See? Even if we don't always understand God's plans for us, He knows what He's doing:)

So, the point of this post is: if you're looking to make some money from selling something you have at home, don't pay for that ad, list it for free!

Stay strong and have faith!

*I do have to add one caution and that's to watch out for scammers. There are some people who lurk in these sites and will tell you they're from out of state, working in some profession or other that will make you think they're honorable, and they'll offer you a deal that's too good to be true--because it is. They'll offer to give you more than your asking price, ask that you keep some for your trouble and ask you to send the rest back to them. It's a scam and you won't be making anything. In fact, you'll be losing whatever you send them, plus whatever the fees are for the bad check. So be leery of email-only inquiries, or Relay calls.