I wasn't born yesterday and it's not easy to pull a fast one on me with all those Craigslist scams, etc but I actually emailed this guy from Autotrader looking at a QX56 and this is his email back to me.

Has anyone here used such a thing or is this just another version of the scam?

here's the original link to the car for sale:

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...ngId=339639677

This is his info from the ad so that does match up.
AT Car ID: AT-143E7D7D
$37,070
Mileage: 9,570
303-423-3377

his email to me:

Hi,

The car is located in Colleyville, CO and I'm in Kent, WA right now so I can't arrange a viewing.
I'm currently signed up for Google Checkout services and I would like to close the deal through them.
If you are not aware of this program, you should know that it will allow you to test drive and inspect the car before paying me. You will have a 7-day inspection period to decide whether you want to keep the car or not before they release the funds to me.
If you are still interested and have cash just send me your Full Name, Phone Number, shipping address and I'll ask them to fill you in with the transaction details.
After Google Checkout confirms the transaction I will personally come and hand you the keys(this way I will not make the trip just to see that you don't have the money or any other reason...)
If you agree with my terms please let me know and I'll give you a call to discuss more about this transaction.

Best Regards!
David

You can read more about this service at http://www.googlecheckout-orders.com
The car has 9570 miles.

 

In 2010 eBay, which owns PayPal, added Google Checkout to its banned payment methods list, forbidding the use of Google Checkout to pay for eBay transactions.[sup][/sup]

Support
Google Checkout supported customers through multiple channels like Help Center, Help Forums, and email support. Google Checkout Buyers could find help at Google Checkout Buyer Help Center and Merchants could find help at Google Checkout Merchant Help Center and Google Checkout Merchant forum. This is now only available for Google Grants recipients, and only through March 31, 2012.

Replacement
Google Checkout was replaced by Google Wallet on September 19, 2011, which is seen as a better competitor to PayPal.

 

Like all the other scams, Google Checkout (dead as Raptor points out) doesn't involve itself with the actual transaction so any mention of "they will let you inspect the car before releasing funds" is bogus.

Also, Google likely wouldnt have a domain of "Googlecheckout-orders.com" (currently registered to some woman named Elizabeth Potter in Sunnyvale, CA) rather than something like they do now - i.e. wallet.google.com or mail.google.com, etc.

I say bogus.

 

I call bogus as well... I have used Google Wallet to pay through a vendor website before to buy some engine mounts. It was much like PayPal, but was linked to all my Google accounts (Gmail, etc). But like the others have said, Google Checkout doesn't exist anymore I don't think.

I don't know that I would ever send 37 grand over the internet for any reason... Tell him if he wants to sell his car, then get off his ass and meet you there with the car for a test drive, then you both can go to a bank and work the deal there.

 

thanks guys!

You guys are pretty good

I reported the listing on Autotrader, damn scammers getting so creative these days

 

I also found it interesting, upon closer inspection, that the fake googlecheckout page and all the subheadings are made up of JPG images, not text.
It's also hosted on Yahoo (yes, Google needs to host their pages with a competitor!)

Also so much on the pages are referring to auto sales, whereas the old REAL googlecheckout was, as CoolGuy says, like Paypal and used as a simplified way to check out with a multitude of online vendors for various products and I dont think I ever saw it used for auto transactions...EVER.