Internet Selling

[Past_it]

Hi all, has anyone had good or bad experiences selling their van privately over the web, or should I just take it back to the dealer for a pittance.

 

[Damian]

A lot of business is done via the Internet, and in many cases withour trouble.
HOWEVER.............(there is always a "However").......you need to be very careful and not give lots of information away about the vans location. That information can be given to prospective purchasers when needed.

Make abolutely certain that you have the money for the van firmly in your hands BEFORE releasing it to the buyer.
Make sure you describe the van truthfully and do NOT hope that any imperfections will go unchallenged and get the purchaser to sign a declaration that they have fully inspected the van and are totally happy with the purchase.

I am sure others will have more points to make.

 

[DeliDave_]

I sold my motorcycle over the web and it went quite smoothly.The payment was made 3 days before by BACS into account and I checked with the bank that it could not be taken back before I let the bike go.It is a bit nerveracking though,my bike went for £4250,that was worrying enough.The buyer came up viewed it and gave me a cash deposit and seemed genuine then returned a few weeks later to collect.Best of luck

 

[RogerL]

I sold my motorcycle over the web and it went quite smoothly.The payment was made 3 days before by BACS into account and I checked with the bank that it could not be taken back before I let the bike go.It is a bit nerveracking though,my bike went for £4250,that was worrying enough.The buyer came up viewed it and gave me a cash deposit and seemed genuine then returned a few weeks later to collect.Best of luck

BACS is only used now for cheques, since Jan 1st all electronic transactions in Sterling have to go through the Faster Payments Scheme which is fully processed within 24 hours.
Never, ever, accept cheques or bank drafts drawn on banks not in the UK - they can be bounced and reclaimed even weeks after the event - it's the favourite tool of fraudsters who offer to pay over the asking price and then use a dud cheque - even if your bank has cleared it it can still bounce abroad.

 

[darrenm]

I have sold a few coach's and bus's online no problems at all

 

[DeliDave_]

Roger,you are quite right,it was the faster payments as you say.

my mistake

 

[MrsSorento]

payments going to a UK bank/building society take 3 days through the BACS system (including the working day the payment was made) unless the bank accepts faster payments in which case they go through the same day to the bank and they then pass it on to the account of the beneficiary. Beware though not all building societies/smaller banks currently do faster payments.

 

[RogerL]

payments going to a UK bank/building society take 3 days through the BACS system (including the working day the payment was made) unless the bank accepts faster payments in which case they go through the same day to the bank and they then pass it on to the account of the beneficiary. Beware though not all building societies/smaller banks currently do faster payments.

As I posted above, things changed from 1st Jan 2012 - EU Directives require that electronic transactions which don't involve currency conversion MUST be completed within one banking day.
Cheques still go through BACS and still take 3 days but other transactions should all go through the Faster Payments Scheme, rather than it being optional, usually for a fee

 

[topshelf]

Love it or hate it I sold my last van on E bay, Oct last year, I sold a car a few years ago and have learned the pitfalls of this site, time waisters, no money, Ill get back to you when I sell mine, silly offers, But there are good buyers out there and E bay is a cheap form of advertisment covering the whole of the UK. Came close to being scammed on one advert, but it was a to good to be true van and alarm bells were ringing very loudly, always check there feed back for history. Now got a van that I bought of a caravan web site privatly, checked with cris to see if he was the owner, rang the storage site to confirm he had not rented the space for a month or so, used a dvla web site to check if a car is insured to verify the reg with the car, then sent him a huge ammount of money by bank transfer, and sweated it out until I collected it.

 

[barrychas]

I have recently sold a van on ebay and I was amazed at the response that I got from genuine expert timewasters and the genuine enquirers.I have always adopted the attitude of letting the quality of the product sell itself . The people who bother to turn up are already enthusiastic about your deal...its just up to you to show how you have cared for the product and let the client have as much time as they want looking at the van, with as much paperwork and photographs, as you can possibly muster. Be open and honest if there are small faults, warts and all....it does matter to mention it....people are as much tuned into the seller, as the product....and a cup of tea freshly brewed, sat in the van works wonders.