The peril's of selling our van

[Steve L]

As some of you will recall, I had said some time ago that I was going to sell our caravan.
Well, that time has come and not without it's problems.
So, I thought I'd share the experience so that others won't fall into the trap !!!???
Having sold several items on flea bay, some for 4 figures without trouble, we thought that we would advertise the caravan.
I dutifully took loads of pictures and chose 12 for the advert, placed the add together with a write up (2 pages of A4).
I then made the first and biggest mistake, I put my Email address on the ad with a click link.
After a couple of days I got Emails from Aaron, Andrew, Valeria and another Aarrron. Coincidentally they were Jones or Smith !
All of whom gave an elaberate story of working on off shore and having little or no time on shore and only a few hours of computer access per week. Then there was the story of buying the caravan for a son as a suprise present. The majoirity of the mails were detailing a third party collecting the caravan. All of them wanted my Paypal details to process payment.

As anyone should know, if you bid/buy/sell through fea bay Paypal is requested to be set up using their facility. Therefore you do not need to give out your paypal details. Also paypal offer a link to your bank account so that you can use funding from there if your paypal account doesn't have sufficient funds.

Knowing all that and after looking carefully at the story, I was very suspicious as the wording didn't quite make plain english. Also after my first round of refering them to bidding via flea bay, I got Emails that then after clicking reply offered names of eastern european soundings or totally random letters to make the address. I then decided they were all scams. So I simply reiterated that they must bid via Flea bay. Then I got one reply just simply saying "just give us your paypal account"
So having learn't my lesson, I had to remove my Email and mobile number and insist that watchers used the message service to contact me. That dwindled the watchers from 400+ down to just 19. So from that I take it that I'd flushed out 381 scammers.
So the moral is think long and hard before placing the add and then treat everyone as robbers and thieves until they prove otherwise.
I thought I'd covered the usual bases like not letting folks know where the van is normally kept. I have to store my van elsewhere so it would have to be collected and parked outside my home for a viewing day, and then taken back to storage.

So there we have it! A certain plan of a way to give yourself a week of sleepless nights and neumerous trips to the cop shop.

 

[Damian]

Nothing new in that, its been happening for years.

 

[Steve L]

There may well be nothing new in that, but I thought it worthwhile sharing it with others.
Especially when some people not as sceptical or suspicious as as us might just get suckered in.
Remember the you tube clip of a caravan being stolen in under 10 mins in broad daylight with CCTV and all the security you normally have fitted to a muliti thousand pound van.

 

[Parksy]

I then made the first and biggest mistake, I put my Email address on the ad with a click link.

Something doesn't add up here Steve, I'm assuming that when you refer to 'flea bay' in your post you actually mean E-bay?

If this is the case then I'm sure that any experienced E-bay user (including myself) will tell you that the use of URL links in listings are strictly prohibited.
E-bay does not accept listings with email addresses, phone numbers, URL's etc and any advert containing these would never appear.
(a 'listing' is your description of your goods for sale or your 'advert' if you like)

This prohibition on email links, links to websites etc is made specifically to avoid the possibility of prospective buyers contacting the vendor direct thus allowing the transaction to be made whilst avoiding the selling fees from E-bay
Click Here to see E-bay rules and advice for those using their website to sell goods.

Of course anyone using a computer should guard their personal information including their email address very carefully and never allow it to appear in the public domain.

 

[Parksy]

P.S.
If I was being cynical and horrible I'd write that the post about E-bay and the 'email address which could never happen' was an attempt to let everybody know that there's a caravan for sale because we're not allowed to advertise on the forum, but no, that couldn't possibly be the case could it?
I wish you every success in selling your caravan Steve, you can't advertise it on this forum but you can advertise it free of charge on our stablemate caravan sales website
Click Here for details.
Our caravan sales website doesn't charge commission, you can post photos and even a diagram with your caravan layout on it and there's no time limit for your advert.
Why not advertise it on the Caravan Sales website or even in the back of Practical Caravan magazine which is also free advertising.

 

[ValA.]

We bought a caravan from ebay - and it's an absolute cracker! We saw it one evening, when it had just been listed, went to see it the next morning, did a 'Buy it Now' and at the weekend he had fifty-eight other people wanting to see it! Mind you, I'm not sure that Parksy is completely right, as we contacted the seller, both by email and by mobile phone number as we wanted to see the van on the Friday, before the weekend when we knew lots of people would be interested. The emails come into your normal email account - but through the link from ebay however anyone can email you this way - they don't have to have expressed a wish to buy or made a bid.
I obviously can't link to a caravan being advertised on ebay - but there is one just around the corner from me, listed as a Classified Advert, and I've had a look and their mobile and landline phone numbers are listed, and there is a link to email via ebay.

 

[Parksy]

Mind you, I'm not sure that Parksy is completely right, as we contacted the seller, both by email and by mobile phone number as we wanted to see the van on the Friday, before the weekend when we knew lots of people would be interested. The emails come into your normal email account - but through the link from ebay however anyone can email you this way - they don't have to have expressed a wish to buy or made a bid.
I obviously can't link to a caravan being advertised on ebay - but there is one just around the corner from me, listed as a Classified Advert, and I've had a look and their mobile and landline phone numbers are listed, and there is a link to email via ebay.

Hi Val
It's standard procedure to contact the seller via email, I've done it myself loads of times and had prospective buyers contact me when I've been selling goods on E-bay.
It's correct that the person making contact is under no obligation to buy or to make a bid, (I never said that they did have to make a bid) if you want to ask a question about the goods there is a section at the bottom of the listing. You ask the question and E-bay forward this to the sellers email address.
It's true that you could contact the seller directly after you made the initial contact via E-bay but I didn't see any reference to this in the OP.
Emails are always routed via E-bay, you never add your own email address to a listing via a url (or 'click link' as SiL called it) because the listing wouldn't be accepted.
E-bay rules do not allow click links to personal email addresses or personal websites to appear on their listings except under limited circumstances for recognised traders but not for private individuals and to state otherwise is misleading.

Unless I completely misread the original post Steve in Leo wrote that he put a click link to his email address on his listing which is the reason for my intervention:

I then made the first and biggest mistake, I put my Email address on the ad with a click link.

 

[DeliDave_]

I can verify what Steve Moderator says,I have just sold two awnings on the bay and when I tried to use my email address it said 'Email address deleted in line with Ebay policy' purely to prevent you arranging a deal and cutting them out.I'm sure there are ways round once you are aware but I would rather take Paypal,and know you are getting your price.I sold a car a few months ago and the buyer gave me £50 short and said its all Ive got relist it if you want.It is also very difficult to give bad feeedback on a private sale,there is no option now just a contact ebay box. so dont beleive all you read on there

 

[Steve L]

Now wether or not it is in the Ebay rule book, one just has to view any Ebay advert and you will find a mobile number in 90+% of them and better than 50% will have an Email address.
I used what I call my common email address and not my personal one to keep my private life private as such. Even with mobile numbers we use my phone only in adds and keep my OH's number for family only.
I have never encountered any feed back from ebay on the issue of phone numbers or email addresses. Until recently it used to take days to get messages round using their service, hence the use of mobiles and emails. I have always sold or purchased through ebay using their systems so probably, they know what I do and so long as they get their wedge they're happy to let sleeping dogs lie.
I thought I'd share my experience so that people are more carefull when choosing contact media and passwords etc.
Another simple security breach in your home could be your broadband. I wonder how many folks turn off their router after use?
If I was unscrupulus, I could have free wifi where ever I go on most housing estates.

 

[Surfer]

I thought I'd share my experience so that people are more carefull when choosing contact media and passwords etc.
Another simple security breach in your home could be your broadband. I wonder how many folks turn off their router after use?
If I was unscrupulus, I could have free wifi where ever I go on most housing estates.

Not sure why you would need to turn off your router if it has a security key/password. If you don't set up a security key, then I guess you are asking for trouble.

 

[Dustydog]

Steve
I cannot believe anyone in their right mind would use an unsecure Broadband.
We have BT and can use "Openzone", where available, on another persons BT router free but are unable to access the owners own secure hub.