Ebay Car Auctions Help?

One problem with Ebay is you are buying the car without being able to visually inspect and drive it. Sometimes you can get a decent deal and other times you can buy a piece of crap. You can go get it. Usually you give them about $500 by PayPal and pay the balance when you pick it up. I took a pretty good hit on a pickup I bought on Ebay. It was a piece of crap.

First... I doubt that it's legal for a 14-year-old kid to bid on Ebay in the first place. If you DO post a bid on Ebay or any other on-line Internet auction, you'd better have the money to pay for what you bid on, because you are making a LEGAL contract to buy the car.

Next, some people who post items for auction on Ebay are private individuals and some are dealers. If you're looking at a car that is dealer owned, then you can buy the car directly from the dealer just the same as if you had walked onto the dealer's sales lot and made an offer.. In fact, I would seriously recommend doing it that way so you can inspect and drive the car BEFORE you agree to buy it.

You need to pay attention to where the car is located when you think about offering to buy it, because once you bid and win the auction, the car is YOURS, and it's YOUR responsibility to go pick up the car or to PAY to have it delivered.

eBay is an auction. You have to understand how auctions work. The high bidder at the end of the auction buys the car for their bid price. The starting price and the bid price during the auction are irrelevant. The only price that matters is the selling price at the end of the auction.

Buying a car sight unseen is a huge financial risk. You can't return a car once you bought it, it's yours. Buying a car without ever seeing it in person, driving it or inspecting it is a huge risk. I would never buy a car on eBay that I couldn't at least test drive.

You are much better off shopping locally for a good car that meets your needs.