ebay possible scam, just to let others know

So I type in "Acer Ferrari" in Ebay and get like 4 listed starting bids at $200 this morning.

It stated "Please e-mail me first before you bid"

So I did.

I come back tonight and check my e-mail. He said

"Hello,

Would you be interested in buying this new item now ? My prices are
fair and I am willing to negotiate.
You can do that instead of all bidding process which takes time and
give you no reassurance you will win the item.

Let me know at your earliest convenience."

I am not listing e-mail, names, or links... but after I read this e-mail... all the auctions for these on ebay were cancelled.

So this is either a good marketing trick to get customers (if he was a real retailer, seller) or its just a scam.

I am not risking it, but just wanted to let others know, I had to post here.

It may not be a scam, but just a heed of warning.

yea. i thought so. because the current seller account had good ratings, like 250 rating. I looked at his history... it was all movie collectibles, then all of a sudden, he is selling a whole inventory of computer parts. hmm. figures.

Yes aamsel, leaving feedback is very good to do. I always leave feedback.

The point was before the transaction, and not after. Sellers try to get you to buy "not through ebay, but privately" which is kind of unsafe and unprotected.

To clarify, the response from the seller when he said "buy it now" was not the "buy it now function through ebay, which is perfectly safe" but buying it directly from him instead without a receipt and proof of transaction, which ebay provides."

Here is the response after I told him I was interested. $1420 sounds like a good deal for a brand new Acer Ferrari.

"Hello,

The final price including shipping and insurance will be 1420.00USD

We don't know each other so we need a safe way to conduct this transaction.
eBay offers purchase protection plans for these situations
They will decide how you pay me so you can be insured for the entire value of
this purchase.
In case you don't get what you are paying for, you get a full refund from eBay.
I have deposited $20,000 as purchase protection in an eBay managed account.
I am not able to withdraw any money from this account while there are any
possible
refund requests (60 days since the last transaction)I need you full name
and shipping address now I will contact eBay and they will get back to us when
the needed
verifications are done and you got the purchase protection.
This may take a few hours, so please be patient. You will be able to verify the
validity
of your purchase protection after you have qualified for it
They will give us a transaction number. Please keep it safe. Should a refund is
needed,
you e-mail them the payment proof and the transaction number in order to get
your money back.


Thanks in advance."

I typed the Item Number in The ebay Escrow link above, and it was invalid (check the first post and it was already removed really fast.)

I didn't know about the ebay Escrow process, which sounds interesting and effective, but for this one. I was just testing the seller. Still sounds like a scam to me. Not sure though. If you guys want to try it for the price, I would not mind giving you the sellers information.