Buying a truck on EBay

[jogum-53]

How safe is it to purchase a vehicle on EBay??  The seller of this truck will only communicate with me through email, she asked for my name, address and # and said EBay would be contacting me soon and take me through the steps on purchasing this truck.  Still haven’t heard from EBay, feels suspicious to me!

[wesk_36]

Looks like they are setting you up for a scam.

Beware of scammers wanting to take everything off-ebay and asking for your personal information if you haven't even bought anything.

[mega-ma-roo]

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@jogum-53 wrote:

How safe is it to purchase a vehicle on EBay??  The seller of this truck will only communicate with me through email, she asked for my name, address and # and said EBay would be contacting me soon and take me through the steps on purchasing this truck.  Still haven’t heard from EBay, feels suspicious to me!

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You should be suspicious because this is a scam. If you send the information you will get an email that appears to come from eBay, but it is a fake. 

Was this a listing here on eBay or was it maybe on Craig's List or somewhere else? If it was on eBay, you should report the seller for attempting an off eBay sale.

[nkmipgolf]

Scammer sends a fake eBay invoice to be paid in gift cards.. The telephone they send you goes to a scammer not eBay motors. They say you are protected, another lie. Sale also comes with a sad story of reason for selling so cheap. Scammer lives in another Country.

[iowa_east_coast]

Next they will be asking for ebay gift cards as payment.

[wesk_36]

"Avoid communicating with sellers privately off of eBay. The record of your communications will provide helpful backup information in case you have problems with your purchase or payment later."

"Don’t share unnecessary personal information with buyers or sellers."

https://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/stay_safe.html#recognize_scams

[Anonymous]

100% scam, which is what your gut told you because you came here and asked.

You didn't find the truck on eBay, did you?  You found it on another site (craigslist, facebook marketplace, offerup, letgo, etc) and the scammer told you that the transaction would be handled by eBay.

There is no truck, only pictures the scammer lifted off the internet.

It is a super good price and shipping is even free.  And if you decide you don't want to keep it after your 5 day inspection period, return shipping is also free.

The scammer has told you she is selling the truck because she is widowed, divorced, the truck belonged to her son who died tragically, or she is being deployed and doesn't have time to sell the truck, but no worries, ebay is handling the transaction with the buyer protection program.

The scammer will then send you a fake invoice with ebay logos on it.  The phone number will be not ebay's but the scammers.

You will be instructed to purchase ebay gift cards in $200 increments and give the scammer the numbers but no worries, you will be told that ebay will not release the money until you are satisfied with truck.

The very moment the scammer get the card numbers, your money is gone forever and cannot be traced.

Have no further communication with the scammer and report it to the site where you found it.

The best of luck to you in finding a truck that actually exists.

[japan-treazures]

@jogum-53 

This is another one of the oldest scams here on eBay! Avoid this at all costs or it will end up costing you! So glad you didn't fall for this scam. Here is how it usually goes down. 

The scammer usually asks you to pay with gift cards, anyone asking for payment by gift cards is scamming you. It'a a militray person deloying, death of their child, etc. The sellers next step if you agree is to send you a dummy "invoice" that will really look like it came from eBay, asking you to pay with gift cards to have the vehicle/trailer shipped to you for a free evaluation period. The seller will take the numbers from them and cash out and you will not be able to get you money back! Then the seller disappears. 

The seller may even try to be more convincing by saying that eBay will send it from their warehouse. eBay has no warehouse and does not ship vehicles. eBay does not handle such transactions. So this statement is a lie. 

A vehicle/trailer should be sold through eBay and not a different site. When sold on eBay you will have some protection. Usually, what happens is that you have to pay a deposit. After the deposit, you then make arrangements to meet the seller to inspect the vehicle/trailer and if satisfied you will pay the seller the remaining amount. Never pay for the vehicle in full prior to your meeting no matter what.

I would advise that you report this ad to the site that you found it on to try and get it removed.

You can also report the ad to: 

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) www.ic3.gov

Here are eBay’s links to info on scams: 

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

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

Here is eBay’s link to report your gift card fraud:

https://pages.ebay.com/giftcard/terms_conditions.html

Hope this helps!

[needitlikea0inthehead]

I bought my RAV 4 off Ebay years ago and the vehicle and experience was wonderful.  I choose a seller in my city, read all their feedback and bought the vehicle sight unseen.  Still have my RAV 4 and in all these years one brake and tires are the only thing ever wrong with it.

[donsdetour]

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@needitlikea0inthehead wrote:

I bought my RAV 4 off Ebay years ago and the vehicle and experience was wonderful.  I choose a seller in my city, read all their feedback and bought the vehicle sight unseen.  Still have my RAV 4 and in all these years one brake and tires are the only thing ever wrong with it.

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Glad you had a good experience,

The original poster in this thread is being SCAMMED CONED and RIPPED OFF and would not have a good experience.

[vanman1029]

Don't forget the scam sob story, a relative died and the car, truck, motorcycle, boat, RV, jet ski reminds the seller of the dead relative so they are selling it cheap to get rid if it!

[rmon_us_bpyabp]

I have seen various sales like that.  They all have pictures of very good looking vehicles.  They are also asking for my name, address, phone number, and EBay would be contacting me soon.  I should get the truck & try it out for 5 days before she gets paid.  Also the price is cheap!  I have not dared to send my name or any info, although I have been tempted, because it is a good buy!  

[soh.maryl]

The original message about buying a truck is more than a year old now.  Hopefully, the OP figured out that that was very certainly a scam.

For your further information, however, let me enlighten you a little.  That original post was from a shopper who had seen a vehicle listed someplace OTHER THAN EBAY, perhaps Craig's List or Facebook Marketplace.  The vehicle was very nice with a ridiculously low price and, added bonus, the seller stated the sale would go through eBay for the buyer's protection.

THAT IS A COMMON SCAM.  eBay has nothing at all to do with any item purchased through another site.  Why would eBay advertise on another site, when they have their own?

Let me go further with that:  let's say the person bites and responds.  He will be told to buy eBay gift cards and give the seller the redemption numbers.  The seller claims he will not cash the cards til the buyer decides he wants the car, which, incidentally, will be shipped to him at the seller's expense for a trial period.

What do you figure that person will do with those card numbers the minute they are received, while some poor shmuck is busy cleaning out his garage awaiting the car of his dreams? 

[downunder-61]

 2 year old thread

[soh.maryl]

Missed the point here.  The original message was from someone who was contemplating a vehicle purchase from another site, NOT EBAY.