Ebay Motors is now a thriving marketplace for buying and selling all manner of vehicles. The main reason is because you can find different types of vehicles in a short period of time and at the convenience of your home. The only issue with buying cars on eBay is that you have to pick up locally. This is off-putting to many customers who do not live in the local area. However, shipping a car across the country is no longer a big issue and by reading this guide you will be able to get the car you want on eBay and get safe delivery at your door step.

Is buying cars on eBay safe?

You are probably wondering whether it is safe to buy cars on eBay. The reality is for 99.9% of the time, it is safe. By following the advice in this guide you can hopefully spot an unscrupulous seller or listing and avoid any eBay related stress.

eBay seller feedback

eBay has a very useful feedback system which tells you who is a good seller and who isn’t. It is safest to buy from sellers with 100% positive feedback score. By doing so, you are unlikely to be cheated or let down. You might also want to have a closer look at what previous customers commented about the seller. Was shipping time as described? Did the seller describe the item correctly? If you are worried by the nature of past comments, walk away and look elsewhere.

Item condition

This dimension of the eBay process is often the most disconcerting because the customer is put off by the fact they cannot see the car in question. As you live away from the seller, it is important to have a clear understanding of the car condition before making the purchase.

Remember the old saying “too good to be true”! Pay extra attention to low priced cars as there might be issues with them. If the deal is too good to be true, it often isn’t! Find out whether the car is working and MOT’d. Many eBayers are lured by a low price, only to have to pay more than the difference in restoring the car to full working condition.

It is a good practice to ask the seller to send high resolution pictures of the car than relying on the eBay pictures. Many buyers do have these in place and are generally happy to send them over to you.

Review

Always do your research before bidding on a particular item. Take your time to consider your budget and what things you want in your next car. Does this car tick all the boxes? Is the seller reputable? Is the car in good nick? These main questions should be asked before proceeding with a payment.

Always, always, always do a HPI check on the car. This can be done easily and quickly online –only the car registration number is needed. Also, you can access a vehicle history report from eBay directly to put your mind at ease. Finally check to see whether the car is covered by eBay’s Vehicle Purchase Protection. Although these are necessary steps, they are not a 100% guarantee – you will still need to some research and enquiring of your own.

Making payment

If possible, use PayPal or an established escrow company (a third party that acts as a go-between yourself and the seller) to pay for your car. Only pay via bank transfer for cash if seller does not accept PayPal.

Transport

So you bought the car you ever wanted. Now to find a transporter, or as the French would say, transport voiture! Now it’s time to get it delivered to you. It is advised to choose a car transporter locally to you so they can deliver the car more quickly. Yellow Pages or Google are useful places to look for a car transporter.

Similar to checking the eBay seller’s reliability, make sure you choose a trustworthy car transport company to avoid unwanted incidents such as theft or damages to the car.

Next step

Ensure any damage is catalogued by both you and the seller. The car transport company will do the same, so make sure any damage is noted down and time stamped.

When the car is delivered, check it carefully. Ensure that there is no extra damage before signing the job off. In the case damages have been done en route, make sure the car delivery company acknowledges the damages and sign a document about that. If applicable, you must also inform your insurance company within 24 hours.

Everyone needs a quick convenient meal at times. They can be more nutritious than fast food and eaten at home. You can grab one of these meals when you have a busy schedule and feed you family an nutritious gourmet frozen meal.

Sometimes life gets so busy that we have no other choice than to grab a convenient meal from the grocery store. Some of these meals are very good but others are far from gourmet. Here is another option that you might enjoy, make your own gourmet freezer meal.

If you make your own meals and freeze them you are the chef, so you determine what goes into your family’s food. You can leave out those things your family does not enjoy and choose how spicy to make your food. Additionally, you can choose how much salt or sugar is added to the meals your family eats.

Most people find that it is best at first to choose recipes that your family already enjoys. Who wants to have a freezer filled with dinners that no one in your family likes. If you need some ideas, try these: Beef stew, chicken curry, corn chowder, vegetable soup or Broccoli Beef.

Pasta and rice do not do well in many of the freezer recipes. The double cooking of the meal tends to over cook these starches. If you are using recipes with these ingredients, freeze the sauces and cook the starch separately. A rice cooker is a quick easy way to cook rice and fresh pasta cooks in boiling water in only three minutes. You can find fresh pasta in the deli section of most grocery stores.

If you want to stock your freezer with gourmet meals, just start cooking two or three times your normal size meal. Remove excess food to the refrigerator as soon as the food finishes cooking so that you are not tempted to over eat and the quality of the food is preserved.

Another way to stock the freezer is to have a couple of days per month that are set aside for shopping or cooking. Shop the first day and cook the second. In a short amount of time, you can prepare several meals that have been doubled or tripled and fill the freezer.

Use a vacuum sealer to store your food. The bags are very heavy weight and prevent freezer burn. They can be used to heat food in the microwave or as a boil-in bag in a pot of water.

For those of you who aren’t up to this sort of planning and time, acclaimed chefs will actually prepare a gourmet frozen dinner or lunch for you.

Don’t count on your local grocer to carry truly wonderful food that you can love.  Instead, take a look online for a high quality gourmet dinner delivered to your door, frozen and ready to heat, serve and enjoy.

When live lobster for delivery shows up on your doorstep know you are in for a treat. Use care when picking up live lobsters and look to check that all claws have bands on them for your protection. Sometimes they may slip during transit. You do not want a loose claw to grab one of your fingers as it would snap it into like a twig. Only take the bands off claws when the lobster has died.

If you have fully cooked and frozen your lobster or lobster meats make sure you never defrost them. Instead take directly from the freezer and heat until they are warm not hot. This will give you delicious tender lobster that takes as fresh as the day you placed it in the freezer.

It is very simple to cook live lobsters and only takes about ten minutes a pound to boil. All you need is a very large pot for boiling them with salt added and crab or seafood boil if you want them to turn out with more of a Louisiana flavor. Place lobster head first into pot and cook until the shells turn a bright shade of red. This means they are ready to be moved from the pot.

Piercing the head with a hole allows the excess water from cooking to be drained once taken out of the cooking pot. This helps the meat inside stay tender and just ripe with flavor.

The water that you cook the lobsters in can be used as a base for seafood soups, pasta dishes and casseroles. All the flavors mingle together to provide your dishes with a surprising but tasty delight.

Healthy lobsters will put up a fight with you when you pick them up. Never cook a lobster whose tail is straight this means he died in transit or before cooking. You should always take a sniff of your lobsters before cooking to make sure they all smell of freshness. If there is a strange unrecognizable scent to them then never cook them as they could make you and your family sick. They are best cooked as soon as you receive them.

The harder shelled ones still taste great but are a little tougher and they take a longer amount of time when boiling. The softer shelled are considered to be the most tender of the two.

For the more health conscious of us lobsters also tastes wonderful when grilled. This is a lot less messy than the boiling too. Whole lobsters are placed onto a hot grill and then left on one side til it turns bright red then turned and left on opposite side until that is the same in color. Serve with delicious garlic butter and gumbo if you have it on hand.

You can also split live lobsters for delivery and grill this way. Start with the meat side down and turn once 3-4 minutes is up and when on the shell side cook about 6-8 minutes more until shell is bright red shade and meat is very tender. It is important to remember not to overcook.