eBay Motors & Dealer Fees. Don't Get Ripped Off.

Dealer Fees. Don't Get Ripped Off!


by: timebuilder( 879)

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Guide viewed: 2282 times Tags: E350, E420, E430, SLK, CLK
Mercedes Benz
S Class, E Class, C240, C230
Benz S500
Kompressor, Benz AMG
Many sellers on eBay Motors use hidden seller fees. Avoid these sellers who add Dealer Service Fees, Vehicle Preparation Fees, Document Fees, Administrative Fees, and Vehicle Inventory Tax Fees.
Please read this and PLEASE VOTE for this guide. This is intended to save YOU, the potential buyer from paying more than you should for a vehicle on eBay Motors.
In addition to your winning bid or when you use Buy It Now to purchase a vehicle on eBay Motors you may run into many sellers who add many extra fees to the purchase price of your vehicle. Most of these sellers are dealers who either own or work for a dealership. You seldom encounter these extra fees when buying from private sellers of vehicles on eBay Motors.
It should be noted that eBay Motors permits dealers to charge these hidden fees and they make no attempt to regulate excessive fees that are charged by sellers on eBay Motors!
These "hidden" fees can add hundreds of dollars to the purchase price of your new vehicle. These sellers often admit that they do not have any legal requirement to charge these fees but do it anyway. Don't buy a vehicle from them!
It is very important to READ all the FINE PRINT in each eBay Motors Auction before you bid or buy. These fees can be avoided. Here are some of the fees you may encounter and you should avoid.
Vehicle Preparation Fee: One seller charges $49.00 to check the tires, check fluid levels and vehicle interior and the brakes. Avoid these types of fees. It is only prudent that the seller check these items before selling the vehicle in the first place. Remember that it is illegal to sell or offer for sale an unsafe motor vehicle.
Dealer Service Fee: These fees will run as high as $150.00. Sellers never seem to say what these fees cover but these dealers should be avoided.
Document Fee: I have seen these fees run on the low end at $50.00 to $500.00 on the high end. Most sellers have document fees that range between $199.00 to $399.00. I would suspect that most of these fees are used to cover the cost of listing the vehicle on eBay Motors. Don't buy from these sellers.
Administrative Fee: Many of the sellers on eBay Motors seem to charge this fee. The typical cost is $52.00. Again most of these dealers fail to explain what this fee actually covers. Avoid these sellers.
Vehicle Inventory Tax Fee: This fee or tax is usually charged by dealers in the Texas area. This tax or fee is .002679 per cent of the sale price of the vehicle being sold. So on a $10,000.00 vehicle the tax would be about $26.79. Are these dealers so cheap that they can't pay this tax? Avoid these sellers! If they are so cheap that they can't pay this they are not worth buying a car from.
I have only found one dealer who admits in his auction that he has NO LEGAL basis to charge the extra fees that are listed in his dealer auctions for vehicles, but does it anyway.
Again, if you are looking to buy a good vehicle on eBay Motors, there are many sellers to purchase from that don't charge these extra fees.
Look before you buy and READ all the details of the auction first. If you don't like what you see, move on as there are many other cars available on eBay Motors where these fees don't exist.
You can also call most of these dealers and negotiate these fees with them. Remember, they want to make a sale and most of the time will remove these EXTRA charges. Don't get E-Screwed by these dealers.
Here are some typical examples:
There is a nominal Processing Fee of $299.00, this applies to EVERYONE so please don't ask for an exception, none will be made. Out-of-State Residents; Processing Fee of $299.00 is due at the time of sale.
Don't buy from these sellers. Your money looks better in your pocket NOT theirs!
The only fee associated with the sale is a $150.00 transaction fee which covers processing of all paperwork, vehicle pre-delivery costs, cleanup, FedEx of paperwork, and In-Transit plates so the vehicle can be driven prior to transfer of title in your area.
It is obvious that this seller is covering the cost of selling the vehicle on eBay Motors. Charging the buyer for "cleanup" and "pre-delivery costs." Pre-delivery cost is just another term for "eBay listing fees and first bid fees" that eBay Motors charges sellers.
Don't fall victim to these extra seller fees. Don't pay them and don't buy from sellers that charge them!
Here is another example from a dealer in Ohio. This one makes no sense at all.
Fee and Tax Information: A documentary fee will be applied. Its 10% of sale price from $1 to $2499.99, and $250.00 from $2499.99 and up. Title fee of $25.50 will be applied at the time of sale.
Like I have stated many times before, avoid these sellers and save yourself hundreds of dollars.
Below is an example of how one eBay Motors dealer hides the extra costs of their auctions by making the fonts sizes small and also makes the text very light and hard to read in the auction. The original text was very small and very light colored and blended into the auction background. It was not possible to duplicate it here due to eBay restrictions on using HTML tags.
Please note: Texas residents are responsible for state sales tax (6.25%), vehicle inventory tax, license fees, documentary fee ($50.00) and a miscellaneous fee ($250.00). Out of state buyers are responsible for vehicle inventory tax, documentary fee ($50.00) and miscellaneous fee ($250.00). Inventory tax is calculated at 0.21% (that is 21 per $10,000).
These sellers appear to be trying to hide their fees which amount to $300.00 extra in addition to the purchase price of the vehicle. If they try to hide the "fine print" what else are they trying to hide?
The award for the eBay Motors dealer with the HIGHEST FEES goes to a dealer in Knoxville, TN. Their fee is well hidden in their auctions. It simply states, "all bids plus $597.80 dealer fee."
all bids plus $597.80 dealer fee? What are these sellers giving you for almost $600.00? The answer is this. NOTHING but ripping you, the BUYER off.
Save YOUR money and only buy from private parties or eBay Motors sellers that DON'T charge these fees.
Its about time that eBay Motors puts a stop to the rip off of auto buyers on eBay Motors. Why does eBay protect these sellers anyway?