Autotrader scam adverts

[russellbridge]

Grrrr....bl00dy scam adverts on Autotrader
I'm finally concluded it's time to swap the A2 for something a bit newer, and I've decided on a Mini Clubman diesel with a sunroof - '07 or '08 plate, up to 80k miles. They're hard to find - there's not many for sale in the whole country, and even less from private sellers (who I prefer to buy from if possible - cheaper, and you can meet the person who's looked after it and judge if they've looked after it well).
The obvious scam adverts are easy to spot - email address in the photos, but there's been a good number (in fact every one I've enquired about - 4 now) where it looks like a genuine advert with a private number (not telesafe). The number rings out, then I get a text to my phone saying 'if you're interested in the mini on Autotrader, please could you email me at xx@xx, where presumably they'll be hoping to trick you with some pre-payment scam.
I've used the 'report advert' on Autotrader. Is there anything else I can do? (other than not use Autotrader...)
Just needed to vent...
Russ

 

[Rich.]

They are always on there, i'm not sure why autotrader does not do anything to stop it happening. They always appear to be the lowest priced too. I would try looking at pistonheads, ebay

 

[Birchall]

They are always on there, i'm not sure why autotrader does not do anything to stop it happening. They always appear to be the lowest priced too. I would try looking at pistonheads, ebay

I don't know why they seem to focus on Autotrader, but they do.

It means that if you do see a bargain your first thoughts are "Scam!!"

It must be damaging their reputation and sales, surely they could so something?

I had someone clone an advert of mine on there and Autotrader blocked MY advert and no refund.

So treat their ads with caution and only use the telesafe option (still no guarantee, but the least risky option.)

Steve B

 

[sailesh]

AutoTrader only care about selling adverts and keeping their Trader business.

If you've noticed, Private seller adverts all have the same generic headline text, whereas Traders can edit their headlines in all manner of truthful and sometimes inaccurate ways. I pointed this out to AutoTrader customer service, and advised them that they were in effect creating an unfair marketplace for private sellers.

This restriction does not exist on eBay or Pistonheads or pretty much all other car selling marketplaces, and as any economist will note, creates an imperfect market where one party benefits from information asymmetry - i.e. in this case, private buyers are attracted to AutoTrader because of the wealth of choice created by Traders and Private sellers, however the Trader adverts immediately present more distinguishing, and therefore competitive information to potential buyers, therefore disadvantaging private sellers.

I pointed out the above to AutoTrader about three months ago.. response or acknowledgement so far - nada.

Out of principle I will avoid advertising on AutoTrader as far as possible, and would encourage others to do the same. Equally, a £10 contribution to A2OC will do much more good for the world!!

 

[murdo]

AutoTrader only care about selling adverts and keeping their Trader business.

I would completely agree with this statement. I used to report scam A2 adverts regularly, and they would respond stating their legal team does everything within its power to prevent scams. Its easier to report an advert on Autotrader now and they do remove reported items, however the continued frequency of scams makes me think that as posted above, the volume of business is far more desirable than any drive to reduce the incidence of scams. Surely it can't be that difficult to prohibit images with embedded text?

That said, I'm sure if you close one loophole another will be found and exploited anyway.

 

[timmus]

I used to use AutoTrader by default. It was deemed to be somewhat more distinguished, while eBay was deemed to be somewhat lowbrow. These days though, eBay is my default choice. AutoTrader charge 3 times as much to advertise a car for half the amount of time you get with eBay. AutoTrader limit your characters, you can't apply basic formatting like paragraphs, their image quality is inferior, any external links are automatically deleted, etc, etc.

 

[timmus]

Surely it can't be that difficult to prohibit images with embedded text?

It is quite difficult. The text is just part of the graphic, meaning that a computer doesn't see the text as anything other than part of the image.
I suppose all graphics could be passed through some character recognition system, but then every image containing a car's registration plate would be flagged up as a potential scam. Without human aid, it's a difficult one for them to sort out...

 

[KekseKaempfer]

Even though we now have an A2, I'm still checking Autotrader daily. I have no idea why. A couple of days ago I spotted an ad which was a blatant rip off , i mean it was identical, of the red 3L that was on there legitimately. Only 3 grand though.

Rather than email autotrader I have been sending an email to the contact details, the dealer whose reputation is generally being abused. I figure that if dealers are made aware of this situation, they may withdraw their ads from AT and AT need to do something about it to get business back.

Edit. And I agree that eBay seems better value for money. We are going to be selling the Smartie in the new year and I am not paying 30 odd quid to AutoTrader when I can get double the time for a tenner on eBay.

Chris