Facebook Parts Vendors (Real or ?????)

Camshaft

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I am a member of a couple of Facebook groups relating to Mopar Convertibles, and continue to see advertisements and posts from "William Mopar Parts and Garage" ostensibly located in Buffalo Wyoming, with photos of vast arrays of parts, in huge buildings, and a yard with ton's of parts cars. I contacted them last week relating to a small part I would like to get, but the return posts are very vague. Is there any way to find out is this is a real operation? Wondering if anyone else has any experience with this?

CamShaft
 
GOOGLE their address, see if it matches anything. Better Business Bureau in that area as well?
 
Absolutely a fake group. Just the name alone sounds like it's fake. And to be honest, most generic Facebook part source businesses are fake these days. Several tips for spotting scammers and keeping safe:

-If a Facebook "business" doesn't have a real www.____ website to back up or compliment the Facebook presence, it's likely fake.
-If it's a Mopar "business" but shows photos of parts that are not all Mopar, such as Impala parts, it's likely fake.
-If their page is nothing but constant posts of parts/items for sale, it's probably fake.
-If their page/business title is anything along the lines of Auto Spare Parts and Accessories, Authentic Parts, Parts Garage, etc., it's probably fake.
-On their Facebook page, under the "About" tab, you can go to "Page Transparency" and click on "see all". It should show you when the page was created, the country of origin, and any name changes. A legitimate used parts supply business with a large inventory, will not be brand new - those kinds of businesses take years and decades to build.
-You can see who is following their page, who follows them, who likes their posts, etc. As soon as you see anything that indicates Nigeria, Cameroon, etc., run.
-If you suspect a scam, ask for more details and photos. Scammers pull photos from online, so they won't have them, or they will be a whole car photo that they try to crop, or something like that.
-Never let them convince you to pay in any electronic form except PayPal family/friends. Scammers will pressure you for a quick payment, usually quoting shipping without even asking where you live, and then give you a reason why payment cannot be sent as PayPal family/friends where you have buyer protection. A legitimate business also will likely accept checks or credit cards. Scammers usually want online payments because they are fast and do not require a legitimate address. They rely on quick scams before people catch on, start naming their business as fraudulent, and then start the whole scam over with a new business name.

Use Murray Park or one of the other legitimate, established c-body vendors whenever possible.
 
GOOGLE their address, see if it matches anything. Better Business Bureau in that area as well?
When you Google that address, THEN look on Google Maps to see what is really there.

Might also Google "(name of entity) buying experiences?" for good measure.

Seems that there are FAR too many FB groups, all things considered. Plus people that post to all of them. Not to forget the ones which are hi-jacked to sell t-shirts.

CBODY67
 
Even if they are real get some history on them. Last year I bought some parts from a guy that absolutely knows the cars and sells parts. However, he is a total flake and has delivered nothing. I did some snooping around after the fact and found that you need to deal with this person in person and exchange parts and cash at the same time.
Like on Miami Vice.
 
Williams mopar garage is a big flake, he copies ads from FABO FBBO and posts them word per word and the photos.

AVOID
 
One thing I look at is the pictures of the parts to see if they were taken in the same location. While not every part is going to be taken in the same spot, if you see palm trees in one shot and evergreens in another, chances are it's pictures stolen of the internet. Floors, driveways, cars in the background etc., There should be some similarities.
 
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