if he gave you his girlfriends number,it sounds like he doesn,t even have money for his own phone ,,then ran out of gas money in va.

Sounds like Fat-Steffe at work...

A Globally known scammer and underworld guy that totalled his Enzo in Cali...

http://img.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/06...fe-655_438.jpg

Bought and sold dozens of items on ebay, though nothing over $2000, and that was a new item from a power seller. Only had one buyer back out on a $400. lens, and sold it on the next try.

Big ticket items are a different story, and I, too, would never buy something like a vehicle sight unseen.

Had very good luck w Craigslist, too- especially with buying equipment like cameras and printers that I didn't want to risk having shipped.

What was there names? I had a similar experence when I was selling my 30 motion cat a few years ago. They were boyfriend and girlfriend team from upstate NY . We negotiated a deal , and he was supposed to come and pick up the boat . When I asked them where upstate they lived and they said Rochester area , I said I have a friend up there who is a cop in the city of gates ny . Well, I never heard from them again.

I sell all the time on ebay. ive seen it all. you can do a classified listing on ebay now. its free except for pictures in the ad. only covers you for 100 mile radius though. i would just relist and block the users name from ever bidding on your stuff. i never file non payment. it will tie you up a few weeks to settle it sometimes then you cant relist righ away. atleast you still have your boat . no harm. just a waste of a week or 2.

i'm just under an hour from there....thats quite a haul to get to any kind of real boatable water. I know the Ass. DA out in that county if you need anything.

I`ve sold over 100 items on Ebay. Good for the most part but as always, there are quite a few "tools" out there.

The best ( or worst, in my case ) was the guy from Chicago who won an auction for a classic car I had. He phoned within 10 minutes after auction and we made a deal for him to overnight a $500 deposit. I received the deposit and he agreed to come pick up the car in person a week later.
He calls a week later and asked if I can come down to the bus station and pick him up. HE RODE A GREYHOUND FROM CHICAGO TO TEXAS. He was planning to drive this 35 year old car back to Illinois !
He looked the car over and drove it around town for 30 minutes. (It was a super-nice old Mopar). He looked under the car, in the trunk, checked EVERY fluid, kicked the tires, etc... Then he looks at me and says "It`s just not what I am looking for. Can you give me a ride back to the bus station".

I drove him back, then he asked for his $500 back. I told him to get out or I`ll kick him out. :lolhit:

The guy really looked like Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter. :drink:

I bought my boat off craigslist a month ago from FL (I live in TX). I spoke with the seller several times and did a basic background check on line (backgroundcheck.com). I had a survey done by a certified marine surveyer (SAMS.org). I talked to the mechanic. Couldn't find time to visit in person so I escrowed the money (escrow.com), hired a transporter (uship.com), had a copy of the title faxed, and closed the transaction. Everything went fine and the boat is exactly as I expected. It can be done but you need to be careful and protect yourself.

I have probably 2000 buy/sells on Ebay with over 1000 feedback.
Bought and sold 12 cars,boats and trucks.
Out of all those thousand of transactions
I have had maybe 10 bad experiences and have made way way more money selling on ebay than I have lost on non payers or bad deals. It comes down how much you protect yourself and how careful you are , you also have to treat every buyer as a crook until they prove themselves otherwise. trying to be a nice guy will get you nowhere in this case.

I had a very similar experience. I bought a boat off craigslist in late July from Tacoma Washington and had it shipped (via uship) to Maryland. The boat was a 2004 model and the transaction was smooth. However, I did not conduct a survey via a certified marine surveyor. I had the hull ID number and ran a boat fax though.

I sent a bank certified check to the seller, and had the boat and trailer titles sent to me via fedex. I also contacted the boat manufacturer and got additional vital information.

When the boat arrived 5 days later, the condition was better than I expected.