honestly guys, IMPORNTANT! am i walking into a scam.

TheUser said:

An escrow is a third party who represents both parties and exchanges the product and funds. People use it when buying houses and things too, as well as on ebay. It protects him from sending you $5400 and losing it. I've never used one, but I'd assume he'd send the money to them and you'd probably have to send the car (maybe just the title, that would have to be discussed). Of course, you'd want to use an honest escrow service, so you might call them and talk to them just to make sure they're legit. If you don't agree to the escrow thing, I doubt he'll buy the car because it sounds like he's cautious and doesn't want to lose his money - and rightly so.

This is just my opinion.

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Strype said:

A) I'm in Bama- where is he? I'm in Huntsville

B) Call escrow. Email escrow. Find out if you have to send the car prior to recieving payment.

C) Maybe ask him to use Paypal

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TheUser said:

ok dude, I went and read about it at escrow.com, as I'm sure you've read through it multiple times yourself. First of all, do not do anything you're not comfortable with; it's not my intention to convince you to do something you don't want to do. What I'm trying to do is help you understand how it works and the benefits for you so you can potentially make a better decision.

Escrow.com checks the funds to make sure they're legit. Checks must clear, credit cards must be verified, etc, before you ship the vehicle.

He has an agreed-apon amount of days to inspect the vehicle from 1-30 days. Set that inspection time to whatever you're comfortable with. You'll probably have to negotiate that.

The buyer is paying shipping (I assume) and you said he's paying escrow fee's, so it costs you nothing. If he has a problem w/ the item, he must decline before the inspection period is over. If he should decline, he must ship the item back to you at his expense and it must be in the same condition as when you shipped it, THEN he gets his money back. If he doesn't decline it it by the end of the inspection time you agree on, it's his and you get the money from escrow.

So to answer your question, he would not get his money back until you receive the car back in the condition in which you sent it.

Buying cars online is hard; I've done it and didn't get exactly what I thought I was getting.

Maybe he wants to do escrow because he can't leave home for personal reasons (family, work, medical, etc)...you never know.

Just trying to let you know that it doesn't sound like he's trying to screw you (to me), it just sounds like he's trying to get a fair shake. Think it over and do what your gut tells you.

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mob said:

Man if he flys down there to give you money id say give him the car and let him be on his way. There are alot of people out there that will scam you, but there are alot of people out there really looking for a car. Tell him if he wants to fly down there, you can pick him up at the airport, and he can drive the car home. If he dosent want to fly, take as many pictures as you can, be 100% honest, tell him everything that is wrong with the car, explain you dont want him to get the car and find any suprises. Its always scary dealing with people online, but just let him know, the car is for sale locally also, if he wants to have someone he knows come check it out, and thats the way buying something online works you have to trust the other person, and as long as you give him as much info an pictures as possible he shouldnt have a reason to not trust you. I think the problem here is getting him to trust you, like I said your the seller, you should have nothing to worry about.

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