Try buying a car

Someone is offering to sell me a car on eBay through a buyer's protection program and asking me to buy two $500 gift cards and one $200 gift card this is a scam yeah because I have the invoice number

soulon98

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Posted 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

8 comments

lakefor94

·1 year ago

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Used to see several of these posts every week. Perhaps has slowed down a tad.

For sure, scam.

krazzykats

·1 year ago

5712 View listings

Gift Cards: FAQs | eBay.com

krazzykats

·1 year ago

5712 View listings

Red Flags | eBay.com

fab_finds4u

·1 year ago

257 View listings

What is the item number? I'd like to look at the listing. I ask because I don't believe you found this car on eBay.

When you buy a car on eBay it's by bidding and winning the bid or by hitting the buy now button in the listing.

Then you hit the pay button after you win. You pay that way, on eBay, and not by emailing the redemption code.

You can only redeem up to $1000 in gift cards on any single purchase so that right there tells me it's a scam.

Forward their email to spoof@ebay.com and report the fraudulent ad on the site you found it on.

wastingtime101

·1 year ago

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Some of this has already been said, but some of it is new so I'm going to copy/paste my typical response here @soulon98 .

Any vehicle advertised on another marketplace that says eBay will contact you to handle the sale is a scam; eBay does not warehouse or ship vehicles. eBay transactions take place on eBay, not off site and not through email.

There is no vehicle (just stolen photos) and the scammer is likely overseas. If you send them money or gift card codes there will be no way to retrieve those funds. When the price looks too good to be true, it usually is.

Here's eBay's page about recognizing and avoiding vehicle scams: https://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/security/

Report the listing to the venue where you found the fraudulent ad using these links: Facebook Marketplace | Craigslist | OfferUp | Nextdoor

If you received any emails that pretend to be from eBay Motors, forward them to spoof@ebay.com

You can report the scammer to the email provider they used such as Google (Gmail), Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.

Facebook pages about Marketplace safety: Recognizing Scams | Avoiding Scams

eburtonlab

·1 year ago

5541 View listings

@soulon98

Beware scammers who advertise on other sites and tell you that the transaction will be handled through eBay.

That is not how eBay works. eBay does not rely on users finding ads on Facebook or other sites and sending contact information to a seller. Likely the seller will send a phony "invoice" that appears to be from eBay but is not, asking you to pay with gift cards to have the vehicle shipped to you for a free evaluation period.

eBay has no warehouse and does not ship vehicles. eBay does not handle such transactions or provide "vehicle protection orders". Scammers often promise those things, though. Any phone number you may receive on such an "invoice" does not connect to eBay, but to the scammer.

Anyone that asks you to purchase gift cards or to send card codes to them to complete a transaction is trying to take advantage of you. Anyone asking for a gift card is looking for a gift at your expense. Once anyone else knows the code, your money will be gone and you will have no recourse.

See here for some info about avoiding such scams (US link):

https://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/security/index.html

The only way to purchase a vehicle on eBay is to sign in to eBay, find the vehicle on eBay and complete the checkout process on eBay, so that the item appears in your Purchase History. Then you typically meet the seller to inspect the vehicle, pay the seller, and collect the keys, title and vehicle.

If you encountered an ad on another site, contact that site to have the ad removed. eBay is not involved with any ads listed on sites other than eBay itself.