Buying big items such as a motor home

[jjbkjk]

Is it a legit scame free. Has anyone ever bought something big and had to use ebay gift cards to complete the transaction. 

[tdumonde2014]

It's a scam. Anyone asking you to pay with gift cards is a scammer. Always inspect the vehicle and title before handing over any money. Be wary if anyone offering "too good to be true deals". Ebay has no involvement in cars, boats, trucks, RVs, motorcycles, space ships, etc. that were not found on eBay. They also do not have warehouses and they do not provide free shipping of the vehicle, boat, etc.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @jjbkjk 

No legitimate seller would ask a buyer to pay with gift cards.  Think about it.  Why would a seller prefer gift cards as payment where they only can use them in a single venue ... instead of being paid by a method that provides immediate cash that can be spent wherever and whenever the seller wants?

Only scammers want payment with gift cards ... or sometimes by wire transfer ... because the buyer will have no way of getting their money back once they realize they've been scammed.  

[eburtonlab]

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 links):

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

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes/online-vehicle-sale-fraud

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.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

If you believe that you or someone you know was scammed into buying eBay Gift Cards, visit our gift card page to contact customer service and find additional information related to gift card scams.

Thank you.