100% SCAM!!!!!! No doubt at all. I've seen that exact same ad and wording many, many times (for different vehicles of course).

Read any of the scam alerts on places like ebay or Craigslist and you'll see that this ad fits it to a 'T'. There is no ATV to be had here - it does not exist. If you still doubt it, just tell him that you'll make the trip and pick up the ATV and pay in person - they'll cease contact or try to make some other BS story about why you cannot do this (ATV locked in storage or some similar BS story.

 

sounds to good to be true to me

 

DO NOT DO IT!! I almost fell for it myself. The same thing i was told only worded differently. "Shipping was only 200.00, the truck was going out your way next week," extremely lower price than blue book, mint condition, owned for a year,etc...and when i said to give me their number and offered to come out and check it out, i got no more responses. This was on craigslist and they wanted to do the ebay "purchase protection plan", it a SCAM. first off ebay does not have such a thing, only paypal. Second, craigslist is set up to make an exchange with someone to make the deal which obviously requires a phone number. Which you wont get from them. Google search," ebey protection plan" and you will see lots of others who did fall for it and loose all their money. Sounds to good,it is. most of the time anyways. I gave a fake address and "ebay" sent me something(i havent opened it yet),but it showed up in my spam folder. Oh, The add for the atv was in my city, but the bike was acrooss the country. That was the final tip for me that it was a scam.

 

Def a scam! Been there, done that! Once you have wired the money it will be his. you WILL NOT be wiring money to ebay protection but rather a site setup to look identical. Tell him you need the address to send the money to. he will almost definitely send you a link that includes a bunch of random numbers or a bunch of random letters in the URL. That is a HUGE red flag! I do this for a living!!! (not scam people but catch the listings and delete them on several websites) you will see here is hte link to buyers protection eBay Motors - Purchase Protection - Overview Nothing fishy about it, all real words, no weird numbers or anything. the scam link might look somehting like this http://734578346.ebay.njdsaguiraj etc etc etc. you get the idea. they will make sure there are words that make you feel safe in the URL but the numbers or random letters are what you watch for.

DO NOT WIRE HIM ANY MONEY! It will cost you just as much to drive there and pick it up as it will to ship it. That's why he's willing to pay half. keeps you from being tempted to drive there.

 

And I've said it over and over again: THERE IS NO ATV!!!!!

It is a total waste of time to try to cover your bases to make this a "safe" transaction. The ATV you are trying to buy is simply a picture captured from a legitimate ad on the internet. The scammer does not have it - ANYWHERE. Even if you only sent the scammer $50 to hold the bike until you can travel to where the bike is supposed to be the net result is that you will loose $50. The scammer will be happy - he made $50 for nothing.

NOTHING you can do will ever get you that ATV that you see in a scammers ad. Sure, you can have your fun and try to scam the scammer but you know what? They really don't care. A scammer puts a little effort into capturing some pics and making up an ad. Then it gets posted to thousands of sites. Responses are pre-written. Anyone who is on to the scammer will be dropped and the scammer will move on to easier prey.

The reality is simple: A scammer has nothing to sell. Most are posting from another country. But go ahead - send them some money. Send it in a 'safe' way. You'll be buying nothing and that's exactly what you'll get in return.