I just wanted to write a post to share my experience with scammers and hopefully save someone from letting this happen. I was lucky to not fall for the scam, but I know some people do just because they (the scammers) are so good at making them look real. So here it goes:
My family and I recently decided that if we could find a nice trailer for a good price, we would sell our current one and buy one with more room and maybe a living quarters. I started looking online, and found two nice trailers for really good prices, and weren't too far away. I emailed both asking a few questions, and telling them that I was interested.
The first person emailed me back the next day saying: "Hi, Thanks for being interested in buying my trailer! It's in perfect condition. The price is $2,700. Because of my divorce settlement, I own this trailer and as a woman without a driver's license I don't need it so i'm trying to get rid of it as soon as possible(thats why i'm selling it so cheap). We will use ebay's Vehicle Purchase Protection plan for our both safety, I want only legit transactions. Let me know where are you located and any other details you need about it. Here you can find more pictures with the trailer; (link to photobucket album with many pictures of a trailer). Have a great day!"
I replied to her saying "Hi, thank you for getting back with me. I am located close to ________ and I would like to come look at the trailer in person when you would be available to show it, and i would pay you cash in hand. Please let me know when you would be available and we can work out a time to come look. Thank you"
She then emailed me back saying: "Hi again, I am located in _______(which happened to many miles from where she originally had it listed) (the trailer is here with me) right now because I got a new job here, the thing is im very busy and i dont have time to stay and meet with all my potential buyers, that is why i gave to a shipping company that will ship it to the next owner (on my cost), so im trying to sell it online under ebay's protection. Here is how it works: The sale wiill be managed through ebay under their Vehicle Purchase Protection program since they offer the highest rate of safety and reliability during online transactions. They act as a neutral third party. 1. I will contact ebay and give all the info about this deal. 2. They will email us the forms which are needed for our deal(invoice, payment instructions, buyer's and seller's protection policy) 3. You will send the money to ebay and they will notify me to ship the trailer to your location. 4. After you will inspect the trailer and decide to keep it, ebay will forward the funds to me once you have approved them to do so. You will have 5 days to inspect it. Please reply with your complete name and shipping address in your next email and let me know if you are interested in knowing more details about this purchase so that i can open a trasaction at ebay and to move forward with this deal. After that they will contact you with all necessary information about this transaction (terms, buyer protection, payment instructions, invoice, etc). P.S. please dont forget to send me your full name and address."
I use ebay quite often, so I decided to get on there and check this out. On ebay it states that only items bought through ebay will be covered, and says to not believe someone saying that an item not bought through ebay will be covered for the ebay buyer protection program.
The second person replied to me saying "Hi, I am looking to sell the trailer because I am relocating. Tried to do that for 2 months and didn't have success so i dropped the price at $3,800.00 (the price is firm). Im currently workingin the UK (London) and I left the trailer to a warehouse in _____ before leaving to the UK. The trailer is very clean, clear title and no mechanical problems. I can ship it for free if you want to buy it. For more information and pictures follow this link: _____. The pics speak for themselves, you'll love the trailer, I can guarantee you that. Let me know if you are interested and we'll go from there. Thank you."
These are just some examples of the many scams out there. If you email about a trailer and get a reply similar to these please be cautious about them.
