Anyone actually bought a plane off ebay??

Has anyone done this or know of someone who did??

I see lots of long shots, and misrepresentation of the aircraft advertised on ebay.

Lots of them seem to end with the base price never being met.
I bet some of it is just to see what the market will bear so they can plan their sales price at a later time.

There are lots of non-pilot, non-owners selling things with wings.

I got hosed just buying some training videos, I can't see gambling with anything high priced like a cub...

I brought an Ag Cat back from Atlanta that a friend bought on eBay. The guy was a crook. Fresh annual by a band of monkeys. When I started taking panels off the guy says we already bought it. I told my buddy lets go. He didn't want to cause he had sent a deposit. I've never seen so many liars in one place in all my life. I tore the thing apart and found some stuff I wouldn't let get by on an annual but it was still worth the 985 on the front so I flew it home. Sweet flier but I wouldn't buy an airplane off eBay unless I could look at it first. I bought a project and then someone else had to have it before I could pick it up. It had wings from a different model and the fuselage was bent more than the seller let on. If it is to good to be true it probably is. Ask yourself why one of the other guys at the airport didn't buy it?

While certainly you can get hosed on eBay just like you can at a used car dealership or anywhere for that matter, I have had great success both buying and selling on there. I have not purchased or sold an airplane, but I have bought and sold many things that were well over $1000.

Ebay provides a lot of information to make your transaction safe:

1. Check how much stuff the seller has sold. If this is the first thing they have sold, well....

2. Look at their feedback. Is it good? Is it lousy?

3. I only have one experience with getting stiffed by a buyer and it was a supercub guy in AK that I had already sent the stuff to on the presumption that I would get paid. Go figger. Hoping to meet up with him at the AA show next week...

4. MOST reputable sellers offer some kind of "satisfaction guarantee", I do. If somebody is unhappy, I just ask them to pay for the shipping both ways and have them send it back and their money is cheerfully refunded. I state this in the ad.

5. As for airplanes, I would never (since I essentially did it once) purchase a plane sight unseen unless I had just won the lottery and it was a new 206 with a G1000 panel. Most of the eBay A/C sellers understand there will be a prebuy inpspection, but CLEAR this up with them by email or phone before you bid.

I may have told this story before, but back in the days BEFORE ebay, when we bought and sold stuff on newsgroups, I put $2000 cash in a fedex envelope and sent it to California with nothing more than an address. About a week later, the item I bought from the guy arrived in advertised condition. That is the way 98% of the transactions go, you just have to watch out for that 2%, but you can usually sniff out the bad guys by watching their tactics.

sj

I purchase things all the time on ebay. I purchased a 1995 911 Carrera Porsche last year, and a set of EDO 2000 Floats the year before that. I found several ways of protecting myself and have been very happy with the purchases. The Porsche I purchased, drove up the coast from S. Calf to Seattle, shipped it to Alaska, drove it for a year and then sold it for 5,000 more than I paid. The floats were in perfect condition and were priced 4000 less than they go for around here. Keep your eyes open, pay attention, be careful, and don't part with bucks tell you see the whites of their eyes.

I agree, just be careful and don't have your expectations to high. After all unless it's a brand new item it will have some sort of wear. Pictures can hide alot.

Scott

Well I just spent some time sending e-mails and calling about one. It was one of those planes with logs that mysteriously started in the 1980s. For a 1950s cub.

WELL..... I checked the NTSB reports and what do you know...

The plane crashed and burned. Back about the time the origianl logs disappeared.

I e-mailed the report to the broker/seller and now they won't answer my e-mail. Gee I wonder why...



xx

I purchased a J3 off ebay about a year ago. Great airplane, but did a through pre-buy before any money or bidding took place. Lots of great bargains on EBay. Lots of JUNK too.

Alex, Would you be willing to post the N# on this cub??? I'd hate to see a fellow Cub enthusiast get burned.

Dave I sent the NTSB report to you via e-mail.

The current seller must have just bought it since the registration still shows it as belonging to the last owner.

I sent a report copy to the seller and he says that the FAA must be exaggerating.

Lets see,
1. Seller is not the person who flew the plane.
2. Logs disappear in the 80s.
3. Plane reported as destroyed in a crash and burn in the 80s.
4. New seller says FAA is full of it.

Yeah, whatever....as my 14 year old daughter would say.

It just makes you wonder how many Supercubs have similarly appeared from nowhere... With prices being what they are, it must be a very inviting target for scam artists.

It would be Ok if they would say that it was a data plate plane and the rest of it is really newer parts. I gave them that OUT on an e-mail and they responded that the NTSB report must not be true.

NTSB Identification: DEN89LA214 .
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 39899.
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, September 11, 1989 in WINSTON, NM


I see that they let there ebay auction expire and no sale. But it is still on their ag plane site for sale.

I have seen aircraft that were "sold" on the last day of auction with the reserve being met and then appear again on e bay at a later date. So maybe the buyer(s) went to pick up the prize from winning the auction and left the check in his pocket. As someone else already mentioned there are a lot of non aviation people selling aviation stuff on e bay and you can never get your questions answered accurately. I also like the "no reserve" statement and then a ridiculous figure for starting bid. I have bought a Harley Davidson in the low teens costwise on e bay and although I was nervous I came out with a good scooter. Kevin

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T.J. you bring up an interesting question. What kind of data plate do you suppose the AAA raffle cub has? It has a new Airframes fuselage, Dakota wings, and a large collection of other new parts. I'm not sure it has many (if any) original parts. I understand that Cub Crafter's data plates say "Top Cub" instead of Piper PA-18. Can Dan put his own data plate on the raffle cub or is it still a Piper PA-18? If so, what year is it?

Understand, I don't have a problem with lots of replacement parts - after all my '52 model has been rebuilt at least 4 times with few if any original parts remaining (other than the data plate and logs). I'll have to take a close look at it this weekend at the trade show.

Dan is useing the orgional data plate. I forget the year, but do know there is plenty of the old plane there to qualify. It sure looks good when I sit in the front seat. Hale to N449WF!!!