[techweenie]

I bought a car via eBay and was promised the title, with many excuses over a period of months. Turns out not only the seller had never had the title, neither had the guy he'd bought it from. I watched buyer complaints accumulate against this guy for selling cars without titles for a couple years. eBay let him come up with multiple accounts as he continued to defraud multiple buyers this way. His tactic was to delay buyers until the eBay "window" for fraud complaints was closed.

Buying a vehicle via eBay is not an assurance of anything.

As for the 'flipper' practice of skipping title, that's most common in states where there's a sales tax on private party used car sales. Personally, I don't see the benefit I get from California for paying 8.75% on a used car purchase. So I've done a few skipped titles over the years. Other people under-report the purchase price. Either way, it's not legal, but it does mean more of what you pay for the car, pays for the *car.*