eBay

lilespi-92 · ‎06-08-2020

So basically, I was looking through my facebook marketplace and found a car so naturally I messaged her and she said to email her because she was at work. I email her and hours later she responds and sends me plenty of pictures of the car and tells me that she's moved back to her hometown and her husband just passed away, hence why she is selling the car. (2003, 50k miles $800)

Here is what she told me:

Hi again,
Thank you for your reply. As I explained in my previous email I was accepted for a new job and I moved to my hometown Billings, Montana. I am a regular eBay user and for this sale I decided to use their services. They won't give me any money until you receive and test the vehicle for 5 days. The vehicle is at the shipping company, ready to be delivered. We also benefit of free shipping, it will be delivered to your address within 2-3 days and you have a 5 days inspection period to test and inspect it. Please provide me your full name and address so I can register you as the buyer and after that eBay will send you an email with the terms and conditions, with no obligation on buying it and also they will confirm the fact that the transaction is conducted through them. Waiting for your email with the requested details.Thank you.

I cant tell if it's a scam or not

mtgraves7984 · ‎06-08-2020

@lilespi-92 "I cant tell if it's a scam or not"

I can tell you that it's a big ole SCAM. A rather tired one lately...

eburtonlab · ‎06-08-2020

That is not how eBay works. eBay does not rely on users finding ads on Facebook or Craigslist 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 such scams:

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.com, find the vehicle on eBay and complete the checkout process on eBay. You may have to pay a deposit. Then you typically meet the seller to inspect the vehicle and pay the seller.

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.

atikovi · ‎06-08-2020

@lilespi-92 wrote:
I cant tell if it's a scam or not

I showed that letter to LB's 93 year old mother and she could tell it was a scam right away. How old are you?

Anonymous · ‎06-08-2020

100% scam. Please have no further communication with the scammer.

No eBay transactions start on facebook marketplace, craigslist, letgo or any other site.

All genuine eBay transactions begin and end on eBay.

There is no free shipping.

There is no 5-day trial period.

There is no shipper holding the car, ready to ship it.

Any official looking eBay email you receive will be faked.

Any vehicle at a price too good to be true could be sold locally in a day. No need, if it's real, to put it on a website.

I hope you did not send money or get gift cards (which are untraceable). If you did, your money is gone.

I wish you the best.

hawkwind5454 · ‎06-11-2020

It's great that people are starting to catch on to these scams, before they get sucked in... But at this point it's tantamount to somebody asking:*If I touch the smooth metal ironing side of an iron that's been turned on for 10 minutes, am I going to get burned?* The more convoluted and the more seller communications read like a short story, justifying the reason and rationale for the liquidating of a vehicle, the greater the chances of it bein a big red flag for a scam.

pammar-94 · ‎06-11-2020

How do you report a scam to authorities on eBay? My friend sent me an invoice from eBay. It was her first purchase. Definitely a scam. They told her to pay using 7 eBay gift cards ... $200 each. It's for a quad in Kansas. My friend lives in Connecticut. The pricing did not include shipping. The invoice did not include the seller's eBay ID. I have sold and bought on eBay so I knew what to look for. The person cannot be tracked because the eBay ID is missing. Any help would be appreciated.