What to do when I see a bad deal getting advertised here

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by Six Gun

The people that you refer to are the public, and they do have a say, its called a vote and they elect the people who make the laws. As far as I know, there is no law against flipping.

If you were to outlaw or otherwise penalize people who make a living as third party re-salers, you would have a lot more people out of work.

No. I do not refer to "the public" and I am not talking about additional rulemaking. Otherwise I would have included ALL people, and would have said there ought to be additional rulemaking.

There are ample rules in place to give everyone an idea about what PP is about. The FS forum guidelines are very clear, and limit folks as to what they can, and cannot do. Flipping is not forbidden, and shouldn't be. But there is a very large gap between "forbidden" and "discouraged". Distateful behavior does not imply behavior that should be regulated.

People who are making a living here on PP as third-party resellers are automatically being dishonest. They are piggybacking their business on someone else's effort. Do these PP servers come free? Are the "businesses" registered as such? Do those folks pay taxes on their profits? It's a business, right? So if they are a business, they should follow the very same rules other businesses do. An enthusiast who is getting out of the game and selling parts he didn't use is a different animal than a guy who is making a living flipping parts/cars. Even the guy who is flipping parts/cars to fund a project is a different animal than someone whose business it is to offer nothing but skimming off the top of the enthusiast community, taking advantage of other people's infrastructure.

Finally, most states have rules against "curbstoners" - folks who buy and sell whole cars without being licensed car dealers. Most states have rules about how many times a year someone can do that without being licensed. Maybe you are advocating breaking the law in this case, but I'd like to believe you are not. In any case, a full reading of the FS forum(s) guidelines gives you an idea that those forums are not places for folks to run a business, but for enthusiasts to buy and sell parts/cars to/from each other. It is not stated explicitly, but it certainly is strongly implied.

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Calling out every flipper and picking fights is petty in my opinion. Posting a new thread here should really be reserved for the most egregious offenses where someone is at risk of buying a total lemon. Though as Six Gun points out, paying for a PPI will protect you from buying a dog.

Calling out every flipper would be a fool's errand. Calling out serial flippers might be worthwhile.

Calling out dishonest flippers (folks who buy stuff cheap with issues, then present that stuff full-price as 'without issues') is an obligation, IMO.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by coldstart

I ask about getting a PPI and he tells me that he never registered the car so it isn't driveable on the road. I passed on the car.

That is a big red flag to me that someone is buying and selling cars above and beyond their state's annual allowance without getting a dealer's license. I am sure he'll find a buyer for the car, but jumping title like that, as was mentioned above, is illegal in pretty much every state.