Every seller I message has an out of office reply

[pooky696]

I am looking to buy a campervan and have recently messaged around ten different sellers about going to view their vans.

Every single one has returned an out of office reply with another email address to contact. I have emailed a couple, believing they might be fraudulent, just to see what response I get - but I have had nothing back.

After messaging one final seller this morning  - who looked very kosher, the ad and the vehicle seemed very genuine - and getting the same 'standard' response about the message not coming though and being asked to email a random email address, I have become suspicious that my account has been hacked.

It seems every item I enquire about gives the same response. Is that possible?

[pooky696]

Thanks for all your help. I'm aware of a lot of the scams, such as Pay on delivery etc and I've bought several vehicles successfully on eBay before. I've already found one campervan on sale that didn't exist after a very small amount of digging around online.

It just seemed weird that every single one I looked at had a similar response. Maybe it is due to social distancing... I will focus my search on Auto Trader etc 👍

[pixiesen2012]

ebay really isn't the place to buy a campervan

the site is overrun with scams

find a safer place to buy your van

[rusticrye]

You can't view campervans due to social-distancing and the ban on non-essential journeys, which is no doubt why the sellers have set their accounts to Ebay's auto office reply. 

You will have to wait till things are back to some semblance of normality.

@pooky696 

[fargvs]

Beware when seeking to buy any Vehicle on eBay as there are many Scams about ... Promises abound and the Campervan/s usually do not exist ... Out of office / overseas / redirections to another email address / requests for deposits / payments by Bank Transfers / Escrow holds / offers of refunds if not satisfied within xx days / delivery to your address etc. are the alarm signals for the start of a Scam.

Only if you can view the vehicle and thoroughly examine for defects, check documentation/ HPI etc. should you then pay Cash on Collection (or arrange Secure Bank payment method).    You are not required to use PayPal for Vehicle purchases as there is No Buyer Protection offered by either eBay or PayPal.

[*vyolla*]

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@pooky696 wrote:

It seems every item I enquire about gives the same response. Is that possible?

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The out of office reply is going to be the same for each seller.

Many sellers are social distancing and unable to trade.