Modern Vespa

I am the one who won the 250 on ebay last week and a number of you read about. Money has never exchanged hands, so really no harm done, but I did receive one email from seller 3 days after auction closed and he wanted my name and address to 'research shipping and close the deal'. Instead, I emailed him back a list of questions (5 min. after getting his) under the recommendation of input from members here - copy of VIN bill of sale, Title etc. and have never heard from him again. Auction has now been ended for almost 7 days. From Ebay I got his phone number and called getting a man that claimed (in an accent - whether relevant or not) that he was not the person I was calling for but he would relay the message. Still never a response.
So, as I got thinking about the MV member that posted about the speedo in MPH and the US flag in the background of the picture and that the ebay listing says that the bike is approx. 90 miles North of Toronto. So it is seeming that he has either taken a random photo of someone's Vespa in the US and is really just auctioning the picture or he has stolen the the scooter - there were new 2 Vespas in the picture and if that is the case, he should be reported to someone, but who? E-bay doesn't care about such thing, they feel they are just a platform for people to use. Other than a little disappointment on my end, I certainly have not been harmed by this, it is just a sad reminder of the need to be extra cautious and wary of everything.
Fortunately I have also had 2 good experiences buying a Vespa on Ebay - but they were 150's and you all know how that story goes...

Sorry to hear that it didn't work out but I'm not surprised. It just didn't seem on the up & up. Always have them fax a copy of the title before proceeding. If they won't do that, then it's a scam. The economy is in a mess and I've read about some very good bargains lately. Someone just posted that they bought a 300 Super for $4500 and I've seen over ten, low mileage GTS models that have sold for $3700-$4000. It's a bad time to be a seller and a great time to be a buyer. I don't think you'll find one for the price that the guy was trying to scam you for but when you consider that many of us paid full-pop for GTS models just a little over a year ago, $3700-$4000 sounds like a pretty good price. Good luck with your search.

*just sent you a PM

XLR8

Cool, never knew about that, thanks a lot.

Correction - VERY cool

Glad to hear you didn't get burned.

It's pretty easy for somebody to copy pictures from Craigslist and then list on eBay a few months later, concocting a story that matches those pictures.

Good luck on your search. cheers

Sorry to hear that it fell through but I'm happy you didn't burned.

I would have been happy to drive the hour and a half for you to check things out if you needed. The speedo in miles and temp in fareinheit is what caught my eye. Plus the US flag was a red flag.

In anycase, hope you find the perfect bike soon.

agree and glad you didn't get nailed I too am seeing more sketchy stuff coming out of cragslist and Ebay. Spot on about the economy. Hope you can get yourself another scooter. Good luck.

either I buy and sell in person, or from a dealer...like when I bought my Typhoon off ebay, but even then, I pick it up in person, and get title in hand........and pay for it in person..can't trust anybody any more...That's the way the world is these days...

You are coverd by ebay and paypal if you get ripped off I've used ebay to buy a Motorcycle from a person in another state and it went well.

Read this

http://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/purchase-protection/index.html

CatEyez13, thank you for the very generous offer. Chalked up to a lesson learned. Shame so many scams are out there - I was never in any danger of losing any money since I was only going to deal face to face (unless of course their angle was to rob and kill me - then I have a different problem).
But since I want to go faster, I am going to keep looking for an attractive deal - preferably a Vintage Red deal. I don't really NEEED a new Vespa, I just WANT one. Or is it the other way around?

I'm not sure any of us ever really know the true answer to that question. 8) But then again, do we really care?

Better luck next time. At least you didn't get completely hosed on this one.