What does it take to rip someone off?

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I've got to say, if I paid 9k for a 92, I would want and expect a mint example for that money or I would walk away, no matter how far I'd travelled. I've been rebuilding my 95 for best part of 3 years. I know every single nut and bolt on it but I would never dream of getting 9k for it when it's finished ,but if I was offered that I'd snap it off you in a heartbeat .
Well this might be one occasion where a newbie who knows bugger all, tells you you're talking rubbish and you're actually gonna like it Mick. A year I spent studying prices, completed listings in auctions, mark ups on part exchanges, sold garage prices in Lancs, etc. If you ever want to sell your mint, nut and bolt, newer than mine defender for (ermmm, let's see. Should I rip Mick off? yeah alright then) 7.5k, just let me know, cos I can sell it up here for 12k without a sense of having ripped the buyer off. Stick it on the forecourt of a garage not far from me (windmill near blackburn) and it'd be on at 15k and be gone within the week. I might explore the psychology of buyers and sellers at a later time when I'm settled down with the new purchase (expectation/reality, buyer emotions and the discovery of positive features and problems, ...). I've used the forum (LZ) reactively and spontaneously, so mapping that buyers ball in the pinball machine should be quite easy. I mentioned it in an early post, but generally lost in all my buyer panic is the fact that I did get all of the seller's spreadsheet invoices and mechanic narratives in stages as his restoration developed, and he had spent 13.5k on it with an Adrian Flux valuation of 13-17k. I bet you're glad if not surprised at your thoughts on values (unless you live in a pocket of the country where they aren't valued). You might not be attributing a monetary value to the hours and hours of time you've put into doing yours up? We often don't because we're doing something we love. It can even come down to a persons internal self-esteem and confidence, and the price tag they put on themselves, though in the case of landies, it's supply/demand to quality/rarity of good examples (bit like the state of the NHS). I'm wrong nearly all of the time, so yer doing well :D
 
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FyCk him m8
I too would never rip someone of I have fcving morals, the only other thing I can say is karma is gonna take a big bite of arse from him one day
 
Who knows why this guy screwed you with the Landy; maybe he had mounting debts, facing eviction along with his fat wife and six kids. But he spotted you and clearly thought he had landed gold; reneged on the original deal and pushed the price back up again, because he could. Genuinely sorry to say this, but I truly don't know why you didn't walk away because there are decent people and vehicles out there for you and I'm sure your head was warning you all the time you were with this guy. Your heart won.
I bought a D90 from a guy in rural Scotland earlier this year; I live in NI, so had to book a flight and agreed that the guy would pick me up from the airport at the other end. I also checked out the taxi's in his village and priced one to take me back to the airport in case the deal fell through; at all times, I was prepared to walk away. On inspection, I came across several issues that I was unsure about, so took some pix and sent them to a friend with much more experience than I on Land Rovers; after the rather long test drive, I had those answers to my queries and made the decision to buy it in the end.
Pontificate all you like about morals and honesty and is the human race going to hell in a hand cart, you'll never find one answer because we're all different. One thing I've found though, is the incredible help and support I get from the many decent blokes on this forum, who offer advice and support without malice or intent. I've bought items here and all have been honourable and helpful; I'm sure there's the odd a@@ehole out there, but I've yet to meet him. That sorts of says something..
 
Hi Mackers....
Not at all. The listing was on Ebay. It was 9895 on a Buy it Now. Like everyone does, I sent an offer. Mine was the highest at 9k. He agreed, but since I couldn't travel up to Scotland until the weekend (and he didn't want to end the listing in case I changed my mind before the weekend) he told me to put the BIN price through, but he'd accept 9k cash and amend the final sale price with Ebay. However, when I got there, he told me other people had been in touch after the listing disappeared (I'd spoken to him before I set off and he didn't say that), and he now didn't want to stick to the verbal agreement (when I was in the middle of the mountains 10 miles from the nearest wickerman village). The pictures on his listing weren't an accurate description (5 years old) and all the other stuff I've said in the previous thread. Basically, I was 900 quid down from the deal I was supposed to be doing (he didn't even offer the fiver change from the BIN price), then I drove it home in the ****ing rain, wipers shagged, fuel guage bust, no spanner if my tyre popped, miles more oxidisation bubbling on the rear door than he said (a wee bubble is actually 50 bubbles) .... . Anyway, I've got safe brakes now :0) Best of all, if I had have walked away (swhich is hard when you've travelled all that way), I wouldn't know everyone on here now, would I? :)
Well, I sympathise. Your experience mirrors mine in many ways, even down to the journey. I travelled the reverse route, from "the bothy" to Haywards Heath a while back having agreed a price on my present 110. I won't bore you and everyone else with a blow-by-blow account of what happened next - it's on my blog, if you're interested PM me - but there are a few things you might be able to do if you can be bothered/are still angry enough...
My PO - an airline pilot, so could I be forgiven for thinking he would be honest? - gave me a lot of info on the vehicle which turned out to be factually incorrect or deliberately falsified. It took me 6 months of wrangling and a Money Claim Online action but in the end I won and had him pay my costs and provide a gearbox from Ashcroft's which he claimed it to have in the first place but "only said so because (he) remembered the gearbox supplier began with an "A" ".
Basically, if someone says something about the vehicle which entices you to buy it and that statement can subsequently be proven to be incorrect, you are entitled to a full refund. In the worst case, the seller is also guilty of fraud. Is this the position you are in? Obviously, if you knew about the faults before you handed over the cash the picture is different.
If you want any advice on the legal aspects, I'd be happy to chat. I'm not a lawyer, but the PO's wife was, and I still won the case so I think I've learned a few things as a result of the experience.
 
Who knows why this guy screwed you with the Landy; maybe he had mounting debts, facing eviction along with his fat wife and six kids. But he spotted you and clearly thought he had landed gold; reneged on the original deal and pushed the price back up again, because he could. Genuinely sorry to say this, but I truly don't know why you didn't walk away because there are decent people and vehicles out there for you and I'm sure your head was warning you all the time you were with this guy. Your heart won.
I bought a D90 from a guy in rural Scotland earlier this year; I live in NI, so had to book a flight and agreed that the guy would pick me up from the airport at the other end. I also checked out the taxi's in his village and priced one to take me back to the airport in case the deal fell through; at all times, I was prepared to walk away. On inspection, I came across several issues that I was unsure about, so took some pix and sent them to a friend with much more experience than I on Land Rovers; after the rather long test drive, I had those answers to my queries and made the decision to buy it in the end.
Pontificate all you like about morals and honesty and is the human race going to hell in a hand cart, you'll never find one answer because we're all different. One thing I've found though, is the incredible help and support I get from the many decent blokes on this forum, who offer advice and support without malice or intent. I've bought items here and all have been honourable and helpful; I'm sure there's the odd a@@ehole out there, but I've yet to meet him. That sorts of says something..

Reading your post actually took me right back into the situation. Reflecting now, I knew he was lying and I felt embarrassed for him (humans often cough, I know the non-verbal cues, and he was rubbish at non-verbally telling his wife to shut the f$%k up when she counted the money and kept looking at him with the extra 900 in her hand). I became awash with a feeling of me not wanting to embarrass him by calling him out, and ... well yeah, I guess me putting his needs before mine at the time means I've only myself to blame, or have I? I think that by being honest as a seller, the seller makes it impossible for himself to discriminate. I think if a seller pleads innocent until proved guilty when selling something, yes, he can expect the Mr Perfectos to identify the problems, tell the seller, then the seller has to own up and renegotiate or Mr Perfecto walks away. If the seller knows he's got a technically vulnerable buyer in front of him, so goes in for the kill, can you honestly say to the victim caveat emptor, you should've walked away?? The point is, the seller lied to me and ripped me off. Fox has the chicken around the neck. "Oh Mr Chicken. You are silly for standing in front of Mr Fox. Walk away". You must've paid too much for something or been had at some point in your life. Absolutely kick yourself for being a fool, but my OP is trying to understand why some people do it.

Let me use another example. The chap in Manchester copying lowri's in his shed. He fooled every expert in the country for years. If you were the expert, would you pat him on the back for being so good at painting he fooled you, or would you call him a cu%t for diddling you out of 200k??
 
Hi Mackers....

Well, I sympathise. Your experience mirrors mine in many ways, even down to the journey. I travelled the reverse route, from "the bothy" to Haywards Heath a while back having agreed a price on my present 110. I won't bore you and everyone else with a blow-by-blow account of what happened next - it's on my blog, if you're interested PM me - but there are a few things you might be able to do if you can be bothered/are still angry enough...
My PO - an airline pilot, so could I be forgiven for thinking he would be honest? - gave me a lot of info on the vehicle which turned out to be factually incorrect or deliberately falsified. It took me 6 months of wrangling and a Money Claim Online action but in the end I won and had him pay my costs and provide a gearbox from Ashcroft's which he claimed it to have in the first place but "only said so because (he) remembered the gearbox supplier began with an "A" ".
Basically, if someone says something about the vehicle which entices you to buy it and that statement can subsequently be proven to be incorrect, you are entitled to a full refund. In the worst case, the seller is also guilty of fraud. Is this the position you are in? Obviously, if you knew about the faults before you handed over the cash the picture is different.
If you want any advice on the legal aspects, I'd be happy to chat. I'm not a lawyer, but the PO's wife was, and I still won the case so I think I've learned a few things as a result of the experience.
Brilliant post and well done. Yeah, the truth is I do have a great case, and I'd likely 'win'. The difference between him being honest and telling porkies is only about 1.5k though. I'm just interested in how sellers prioritise their needs over other people's and how they then live with their sins lol
 
So you knew he was lying and you were being diddled, but still went through with the sale? what am I missing here?


Cheers
As he told me the answers to my questions, I wasn't convinced. That, at the time, doesn't mean someone is actually lying. You're just smelling a rat. As evidence transpires in the weeks to come, that's when the smell of the rat correlate to the answers given becomes clearer. (edit from here: battery went flat). Reflecting now, my suspicions turned out to be right. However, they could have turned out to be wrong (if the seller wasn't ripping me off)
 
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For every shyster like the guy you've described, there's ten decent folk out there, like yourself; as my (now rather old) Irish mother would say, "he'll have no luck"!
 
For every shyster like the guy you've described, there's ten decent folk out there, like yourself; as my (now rather old) Irish mother would say, "he'll have no luck"!
LOL I wish the ratio of half-decent landies out there meant that one hundred good men to a few rotten apples actually existed tailhook lol. Unless I'm missing something, tratters really are becoming as rare as the oft thought roxking horse s%$t!
 
@Mackers , I think you should start a thread on your fight for good over evil. In all seriousness, it might be very useful to other potential buyers of anything on eBay and give your fellas their comeuppance .
I'm gonna do just that Mick. I think it will help the tough, naturally talented, take no bulls%$t, know what they're doing owner/buyers on here understand that not every buyer has their assessment skills, and that finding an expert to take with you to the other end of the country to check it out (or find an independent locally to do it for you that you can trust) isn't that easy at all. It's easy to say "you should've taken someone with you, you should've done x, y and z" but people, life, logistics and the race to secure a find is a lot more complex than that.
 
To answer the original question why the seller did it... because he could. If he went back on the deal and put the price up then he would benefit. If he lied to make the sale happen and the sale went ahead, he would benefit. He did it because he could. If not you then the next person may have been taken in by it. Benefit = eggstra money int his pocket.

Grass him up to his wife. Yer may get a refund.
 
You really think so? Anyone with that much neck or lack of moral compass isn't going to take any earache from The Wifey. I live amongst these folk, and the mantra "look after yourself" runs in their blood.
joke ;)
 
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Cool, now stop whingeing and get on , fix it and enjoy it..:):)...then fix it again,:D:D because breaking them is part of ownership.....:p:p

Cheers
Yer saying that, you've said it before, I've said it three times before, then someone comes into the thread, asks a question, and the whole whinging has to start again lol:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
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