I have found out that (thanks to great help from some of you and especially Zed Head and jonbill) eAutoSmart Traders (www.eautosmart.com) and all the forum sites supporting its name and reputation reg. experiences IS to my understanding A TOTAL HOAX. DO NOT TRUST IT (I wouldn't, now, as many of you also pointed out). As jonbill checked and noted, the owner of www.eautosmart.com site is an individual person somewhere in Russia...

Here's the list of my google search that mention eAutoSmart Traders. Every single one of those so called forum sites is owned by a single person (with a Bulgarian name) supposedly living / registered in Yuma AZ: https://www.google.com/search?q=eautosmart+traders&client=firefox-b-d&ei=mb4yXumkDrSYk74Pg7im0AE&start=10&sa=N&ved=2ahUKEwip1bbmnKvnAhU0zMQBHQOcCRoQ8NMDegQICxA9&biw=1366&bih=626

And those sites are the only ones that even mention that eAutoSmart...

I almost fell for it (I was suspicious from the gekko though..), it sounded too good to be true.. Here's the thread if you are interested to know a bit further:

 

Edited January 30, 20205 yr by Jan K

Thank you Jan!

I wanted to add that it looks like EAutoSmart traders is gone and replaced by ECarsBroker Depot. Similar site registered by an individual (Russian). Also same exact process which I walked through quite far (just short of an electronic transfer to their bank account, where I called it quits).

The reply I received is word for word the one you received when you emailed the seller:

"Yes, it's still available. the vehicle is in good condition, it has no technical damages at all, no scratches or dents, no hidden defects. The interior is in virtually spotless condition. The seats are clean and not torn. The exterior is in excellent condition, tires are in god shape, brakes work well. This vehicle has never been involved in any accident.. etc."

The verbiage of not paying until you receive and inspect the car (and have 10 days to do so) is what they say, but not what they actually demand. They want you to electronically send money to their "escrow account" which is just a personal account. They will not ship you the car until you have completed the full escrow payment, which is explained in the next email from them..

This fraud/scammer has been doing this for awhile and has quite a few sites of his own where he has posted questions and then positive reviews from various other accounts. Once the site takes too much heat its closed and they open up another with a new name. Currently they advertise very heavily on "HotMuscleCars.com". Easy to determine now that I got so close to being scammed myself. Same car (sometimes different angles) listed in many other big cities. They will not send you a VIN number or a location to inspect it personally. They promise no payment until they ship it to you (for free..) and they say you have 10 days to do so, BUT as you go further down the rabbit hole, will require you to deposit the full amount into their personal account (which they call an escrow). There is no contact numbers, no address to visit or mail and all correspondence is done by clicking "contact us" on their site at which point you might receive a single reply to your email that is often just more photos or a cut and paste response. They do not reply to your reply of that email, so their is no chain of information, you have to click "contact us" again for a follow up question.. If you ask them to do anything that further protects your financial safety (ie Escrow.com vice their version) you just don't get a response or maybe more photos.. I should also add that the Better Business Bureau has zero listings of any company even remotely close to this name, meaning their history is non existent and you have no recourse to file a federal complaint against them (because they don't officially exist).

I created an account just to help keep others safe from fraud like this. After doing some reading on this site though, I feel like I might want to get a vintage Z 😃

Best Regards to all!