To think the van can't be THAT desirable?

[SilverShadows]

DH has recently bought a new van. Old van went on AutoTrader yesterday afternoon. Since then he has had no less than 17 phonecalls saying people want the van, will do bank transfers, want promises we wont sell it til they come etc etc

I have said that we won't do bank transfers, as I seem to remember some con around that.

Someone has allegedly just got on a train 3 hours away to come and look at the van at 4pm and says they are bringing cash for the asking price.

Another person says they will pay £100 over the asking price if we phone them next, assuming 1st person doesn't buy it.

DH and I are flummoxed.
Van is 11 years old, has over 100,000 miles (average for age), bodywork has a few dinks, but is in mainly good condition. Price is about what we have seen others go for, and is only £800 less than we paid about 5 years ago.
We just don't get the sudden appeal of said van. Am concerned that we are about to get dumped with a load of counterfeit cash or be victims of some other unknown scam

AIBU to be very suspicious?

It does sound a bit odd. The mileage is pretty low at around 9000 per annum, which may be why it is proving so attractive. Doesn't AutoTrader have an advice page for buyers and sellers? Would be worth having a look. The AA does.

A bank transfer is one of the safest ways to be paid, especially with online banking these days and faster payments as you can check you have received the money before handing over the van and documents. It's a bankers draft you need to be sceptical of.

When DS sold his white combi van the number of calls he had about it was ridiculous, the bloke who bought it did so over the phone without even looking at it.

We were still getting calls a week after it was gone.

When I sold my camper van I made the person come to my bank and pay in the cash. Then the cashier could check the notes and I didn't have to worry.

That is interesting Betty is that recently?

wowfudge I thought there was something dodgy about transfers but it is paypal I was thinking of. I've googled and read lots of articles this morning.

brian that is a good idea - what did you say to the person buying it?

When we bought our last car the woman selling it made dh go to the bank with her to pay in the money. She just told us he either went or we didn't buy the car!

you can cancel a transfer or take it back a bankers draft is paper money as it were you cant get it without the money being in the bank

Must be a shortage of decent vans?
Bank transfer is perfectly safe it's how I bought my gorgeous car. I sat there and transferred over the money in the car showroom on my iPhone and was handed the keys and paperwork as soon as the money showed up in their account 10 minutes later. Job done!
I've bought & sold cars on Autotrader before with no problem. Good luck op.

A payment through Paypal can be cancelled afterwards, that happened to me with an unscrupulous client... gggrrr

Don't take Paypal for that sort of item. The scams cab be much worse than a bank transfer.

Bank transfer is safe!
We have recently bought a van to convert into a camper. The right one is like finding hens teeth

Thanks all. The guy also wanted to convert it into a camper van.

He looked at it, bought it, and gave us what we asked for it. The cash all looks fine, so we are happy to have sold it with minimal effort.

Cheers for the advice.