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Welcome back to the future ! It ain't cheap and further more a lot of them won't do deals ! There are various ones around me and depending on which one I use the numbers are similar if not more ! But it works for me .. not every week - just like online but having built an audience over the years and the ' mature' buyers still read the local and are more comfortable dealing with local business. Let me know if you decide to plunge and try it ! Good Luck

the old addage always applies is if it smells at pos then dont take their money i only use classifieds im a real believer in this even if short term im cutting my nose theres always a sensible trader somewhere ready to take a risk or just scrap the things is often an easier answer if they really are worth zilch

It's confusing that the Sale of Goods Act 1979 still applies in certain circumstances, and that it can apply to Trade sales.

Thank you for your business Max! I had to share your comment with the sales team, they found it very amusing when I told them 'Max Branning' was buying our trade sales pads Assuming the pads are the October 2015 version and not a previous version and as long as your actual advert is just as clear re the sale being on trade terms only then you should be OK. I say ‘should’ as Trading Standards may still take an interest if they think they have evidence that you are selling to consumers but we successfully argue against Trading Standards in these sort of cases on a regular basis. As someone else said, TS are stretched these days, and so they need to concentrate on those traders who are blatantly ripping off consumers and putting them in unsafe cars rather than arguing over legal technicalities.

Thank you for this Lawjaw. Just to point out my trade sale invoices are provided by Lawgistics ! I usually advertise any trade sales as classifieds through my ebay pro account as it works out cheaper or else i would have to use a separate account for auction style listings as you cannot do these with ebay pro. I have not heard anything more (as yet) from the guy mentioned in my original post but i would like to know i am doing things right moving forward. I am trading out cheap cars usually less than £1000 that i do not want to bother retailing or no value in sending to physical auction.

Thanks for giving us a nudge on this one Dave, there are a lot of issues in this thread and therefore we will deal with some headlines and then put together a fuller response in one of our next legal updates. First off, if this is a regular practice of yours Max and you allow sales to consumers (which this person will no doubt now claim to be), then Trading Standards may well become interested and try and argue that you are attempting to get around consumer rights laws. To counteract this you need, as Umesh has highlighted, to hold some sort of evidence that each individual buyer is a trader as Section 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 puts the onus on you to prove that your buyer is not a consumer. I don’t know what is on your trade sale invoices but ours have in large bold font – Important – Notice For Trade Sale which underneath says “It is expressly agreed that the purchaser of the vehicle sold on this invoice is a business and is not dealing as a consumer for the purposes of the Consumer Rights Act 2015”. Further down it then states that “Implied terms as to satisfactory quality/fitness for purpose do not apply to this transaction”. And then above the buyer signature it contains the words “I confirm that I have purchased this vehicle as a Trader/Trade business”. If this sort of wording is in your advert, all the better. We had a similar case in court recently and we persuaded the judge that the advert was transparent leading him to remark that “nothing in the advert amounted to misrepresentation” – in other words the dealer had made the terms of the sale very clear meaning a claim for a full refund plus costs was reduced to a small repair (this was not on one of our invoices exempting satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose hence the repair award under Sale of Goods Act 1979 - which still applies to B2B sales unless specifically exempted). In short, if your advert is clear and your sales paperwork is clear then you are putting yourself in the best position to defend a claim against these buyers who want a trade price but not the trade risk. As an aside, you haven’t said if your ad was on ebay classifieds or ebay auction. If auction, then we believe there is room to argue that normal auction rules apply as ‘guv’ Jack Regan has suggested.

local gumtree we use for this kind of thing, whilst its owned by ebay it appears to attract the local price hunter in our area anyway

Did the v5 get registered directly to a person or was the trade section filled out ? in a previous role not related to cars I would regularly have customers threaten us with trading standards (well a couple per year) all I used to say is here is my number, email please pass it along with my details to trading standards and I will help them in any way I can. I only ever spoke to them once and trading standards were on our side. if you had a specific trade invoice, they filled out the yellow section (did they have trade plates or tax the car prior to taking it) then I don't see the issue, it was advertised as a trade sale although there are grey areas around that so you should be ok. Do you know if they were actually a trader ?

Bit of a minefield this, surprising how many dealers have conflicting views on this type of thing. It would help if there was something in black and white that says you can or cant do this. I get Gavins point about ebay not being a trade site but also as has been said there is no misleading in anyway, The cars are advertised as strictly trade sales to members of the motor trade so i really dont see how anyone could take this guy seriously if he did take matters further...time will tell. On another note, can anyone recommend a good place to outlet the trade stuff bearing in mind i am talking about bangers under a grand, somewhere that people will actually want to buy this type thing?

ring trading standards your self , explain what you've told us , I think they would be on your side.

Ebay isn't a trade only site. Trading standards take a dim view as it looks very much like someone trying to avoid there legal responsibilities whilst selling vehicles. Your inviting trouble trying to dispose of stock this way as you are advertising them for sale to the general public.

Consumer rights do not apply to trade sales.

This is what concerns me Umesh. But how far do you need to go here, You could ask for proof of insurance or trade plates or Vat number but at the end of the day if someone agrees to your T&Cs and signs a receipt which clearly states TRADE SALE INVOICE and asks for a BUSINESS name and address then surely that is enough. Its bad enough when the retail customers come back but when the traders come back its a piss take. I have never complained about any car i have bought either online or from auction, yes its a pain when you get a lemon but you just take it on the chin, part of the game.

Agree with SC. This guy sure as hell would not be complaining if the car had flown an MOT and it was sat on his driveway with £200 profit in it

Surely if you advertise it as a trade sale and he signs to confirm he is in the trade, then that is that? How much more can be expected of you? Is it really up to us to prove other people are in the trade or not? Haven't we got enough to do?

Max , Unless he's a bona fide trader you'll have problems, I know what the advert stated and he's put his name and home address , but you know what these laws are , regardless of him signing it to say its a trade sale the law will say you should have got proof of trade.! Good luck mate !

Lawgistics write warranties for self underwriters. Provide a nice glossy booklet that you fill in. I pay around £8 per book and then run a pot of £1000 for any repairs with a £500 claim limit. I sell the 12 mth for £350 and every time I do, I add it to the £1000 pot, after 12mths can drop it into profit? I originally set up with Warrantywise, however have heard horror stories about claims and also I dont want pictures of Quentin Wilson all over my unit!

Probably best just to self warrant. Put £100 from each sale into a separate account and do not touch it for anything other than "warranty" repairs. Remember whatever insurance based warranty you put on the car the customer can still bring the car back to you when the warranty company more than likely does not pay out !