CarSales Question

[Citroënbender]

As a “browser” I’ve found a car that I’d seriously like to view - shopping SUVs for my mate. It’s about 90km away.

The seller isn’t apparently reading his enquiry messages per the web form, they are showing as unread. He hasn’t put in a phone number that I can see. I know he’s been online because the advert was updated yesterday - a week after my first message. The location is given down to suburb, not street.

So - the question is - am I missing some clever trick to spot a phone number, or is the seller just not seeing his messages?

[Yellow_Festiva]

Probably a scam.

But yes, this has happened to me in the past. Some people are so bloody scared to put anything out there that is remotely personal in an add including basic stuff like a phone number and then have no clue how to use the site and don't reply to messages.

Keep persevering and you may score a bargain as other will give up or just move along.

[Cav]

Give us the link so we can all put in offers

[Citroënbender]

Cav, I’d love to link the ad but concerned that not everyone here plays by gentlemens’ rules and I may miss out...

I can’t see how it could be a scam, been going too long - would have been contacted by a scammer much sooner. Not a “too good to be true” figure, just in the zone of fair price vs work required.

I’ll persevere. This is for my mate in remission, cheap hack for his family.

Should use the “book an inspection” option, see if they have the same grief...

[naddis01]

Are you on a computer or phone?

[Citroënbender]

I’ve logged in on desktop and phone, did the full verification thing.

[naddis01]

Obviously don't have the call button on the bottom left on your phone?

[Citroënbender]

No, just email.

It says the seller hasn’t provided a contact number, but I read that as possibly just meaning I wasn’t high enough up the CarSales food chain to view it - a bit like forums telling you a topic doesn’t exist if you don’t have access to a particular category.

What does my head in, is that they’ve only got this form of contact, have not read the messages (because they default to “read” when you open them and there’s no means to not show as read) but have logged in and slightly edited the advert!

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

No, just email.

It says the seller hasn’t provided a contact number, but I read that as possibly just meaning I wasn’t high enough up the CarSales food chain to view it - a bit like forums telling you a topic doesn’t exist if you don’t have access to a particular category.

What does my head in, is that they’ve only got this form of contact, have not read the messages (because they default to “read” when you open them and there’s no means to not show as read) but have logged in and slightly edited the advert!

No, sellers have the option to only allow contact through the carsales site - i.e. seller can opt to not provide their number.

It's probably someone that is computer illiterate and they have no clue they are getting messages and how to read them.

But better to be safe and not provide your number when you are trying to sell an item and have no clue as to how to use the sites other methods of communication.

They are probably wondering why they haven't had one enquiry..

[JAYMZ]

Im sure you get an email notification stating someone has sent a message enquiring about your ad? Prob's sends it to junk mail lol

[Citroënbender]

Yes, and half of my incoming CarSales messages get sent there automatically - I retrieve them.

[Citroënbender]

If I could get an 11kV overlay map of the Central coast it would help immensely...

[oldel]

Probably someone that doesn't want to list their phone number (too many nuisance calls) so prefers email/messaging.
Maybe they've ignored your message because it seemed scammy? Like was it "Hi I live far away and plan on buying this for a mate" type of language? Or a default pre filled enquiry words?

Just message again saying I'd like to look at your car* for sale

*mention it by year, make and model and maybe it will get past a spam filter?

[Citroënbender]

Neither, I never use pre-filled wording, instead polite Australian English vernacular. I’ve indicated a strong desire to view the car and have not mentioned the third party (my mate) to keep the discussion streamlined. There is the opportunity to attach an image, thinking I may use that next time...

They haven’t read the message. Like some messaging apps, when you’ve opened a message it shows as read. So they haven’t even got that far. I think they are just not on the ball with how it works. Hence my desire to physically locate them and either doorknock (preferably) or leave a note.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Try contacting carsales directly.

Hopefully you find someone arsed enough to contact the seller directly by phone or email to educate them on the method of replying to enquiries.

Sent from my LG-M700 using Tapatalk

[Citroënbender]

Advert 6528470 (Put this in the keyword search.)

I bought another Terry off Gumtree, $600 from a colourful First Nations character in Macquarie Fields, so youse can all have a crack at the one above. Sent another polite message to the first seller saying I no longer needed to see his car and why.

Stay tuned for My Territory Just Won’t Start...

[Citroënbender]

It will be sold to the first interested buyer who can actually work out where the heck it’s located.

[Trendseeker]

Yes, the only form of communication is the online form. No rego number listed too although you can see some of it in the photo. He does seem secretive.

The only other way is to cruise the streets of Bateau Bay using Google Maps and look for the houses shown in the photos.

Anyway, good luck with the one you bought.

[Yellow_Festiva]

I sent an email. See what happens??

Seeing as the car is no longer needed perhaps we should all flood Ben with emails offering to buy or wanting an inspection?



Sent from my LG-M700 using Tapatalk

[Citroënbender]

It’s probably not too bad, especially if $300 was shaved from the ticket. The need for four tyres plus brakes, plus rego, put me off a bit.

Registration is BMU48H (known because I received an advertising SMS which offered to inspect it, and stated the full rego) which RMS says is a “Ford Terracan”. Pwned by autocomplete!

Note the shadows, the 11kV overhead lines, the number 4 house opposite, the nearby heavily solar panelled roof, and the cross-street with 11kV as location clues. I’m still stumped, though!

[sneaky]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Note the shadows, the 11kV overhead lines, the number 4 house opposite, the nearby heavily solar panelled roof, and the cross-street with 11kV as location clues. I’m still stumped, though!

Good luck with the 11kV theory - there is 11kV overhead almost everywhere on the Central Coast and the underslung links are fairly common as well.

The 'solar panels' look more like solar heating for a pool, the black rubber/plastic tubes for the water to run through.. So that might help narrow it down to being near a house with a pool and electricity


***edit***
Have you got it narrowed down to a suburb or Gosford/Wyong end of the Coast?

[Yellow_Festiva]

If someone finds them they deserve a gearboxing

Sent from my LG-M700 using Tapatalk

[Citroënbender]

Gearboxing? They’re coasties - did you mean motorboating?

Sneaky - it says Bateau Bay, but if they’re such a secret squirrel that mightn’t be the case!

[Jastel]

Having just sold a car on there myself today after a three week listing, it was an ex taxi with repairs needed, unregistered, all explained in the ad, I can give several reasons why he didnt put a phone number on there...

texts at 3am
phone calls at 3am
stupid questions that are clearly stated in the ad (in my case)
lowball offers that insult your intelligence

I was answering politely at first, but then would text back did you read the ad...answer was usually NO.

Some wanted me to drive it 500kms away so they could "have a look", but they couldnt come here because of the virus??? We have a 50km limit currently.
People lowballing you with an offer of $X CASH(boldface)...what did he think I wanted to be paid in...potatoes?
The usual scams of "I am on deployment in Afghanistan, On an oil rig and will paypal you, just need your bank details" etc...
Can you hold it until next week when I get my Centrelink...
Can you leave it registered for me?
I will send my brother around to have a look...nobody comes.
People on the opposite side of Australia wanting it sight unseen. Being an ex taxi the freight would be triple what I sold it for.

I can now see why people do trade ins...
I did check the computer each night, and the phone periodically during the day at work...but sometimes I couldnt answer for a while...actually had a customer etc...and they would text you 15 times with the same question because you didnt answer straight back.

I think the phones display a different ad or at least setout on the screen and people miss the details, they see the picture and price and push the contact seller button...most forget to ask a question so I get a ping showing me my own ad...thats useful.

Of the people that actually came to see it, 5 people, only 2 were kind enough to actually text/phone back and say "No thanks" after going away to think about it etc.

I think with more people sitting at home with nothing to do there are more tyre kickers looking for bargain than usual.

[Citroënbender]

It’s not the lack of a phone number which was my problem, it’s his lack of ability to read incoming messages!

The seller hasn’t read my messages then decided they’re not worth replying to, he simply has not read them at all. When someone says “Please call, text, or email me back, I can inspect it today if that suits you” it’s not exactly the beginnings of a typical scam...

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

It’s not the lack of a phone number which was my problem, it’s his lack of ability to read incoming messages!

The seller hasn’t read my messages then decided they’re not worth replying to, he simply has not read them at all. When someone says “Please call, text, or email me back, I can inspect it today if that suits you” it’s not exactly the beginnings of a typical scam...

Yep... the seller has no clue what they are doing.

I sent an email saying the same thing. No reply.

[Citroënbender]

- It’s sitting there saying unread?

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

- It’s sitting there saying unread?

Yep...

[roKWiz]

Not sure how CarSales works (never used it) but reminds me of all the Gumtree ads, where the sellers state in big CAPITALS no txts or emails will be answered. Call only (me included) and still find half a dozen msgs in the inbox.

[Citroënbender]

You have the option of providing a phone number in the advert. You don’t have to display it.

“Messages” are filtered through CarSales and notification forwarded to the email address you used to register. Your own email address is not published. You log into CarSales and read your messages.

The problem here, is that the bloke who has posted the ad, does not “get it”. I can pretty much guarantee he has not opened a single message (forwarded in the way I describe above) enquiring about the car. So - paying CarSales to advertise it was a complete waste of his time and money.

Because he is not reading the messages from the website. Not ignoring after reading, simply not reading them.

The best bit? When you log into Carsales, like Gumtree, it has a little icon to advise of new stuff happening in your account. He’s managing to overlook that, too, when he’s logged in to edit his ad. It’s a double facepalm with a cherry on top.