Autoyardsales ? Are they legit?

Colinthecamper

Im currently shopping for a T5 camper, with some inheritance that I got from my grandparents (thank you!)

I've found one on Gumtree, contacted the seller and they've told me it's being dealt with by autoyardsales.co.uk. I've viewed the listing on there, but I'm confused by the company! Seller says he's used them before, there's some reviews online (all of which are good) and I've found the company listing on companies House and the FCA. Can't find anything negative, but it seems that you pay for the vehicle blind, they deliver to you, then you have 7 days to inspect before the transaction goes to the seller. In those 7 days you can get a full refund if it doesn't match what you wanted.

Too good to be true? Or a genuine company / good idea?
Any help appreciated, I don't fancy losing all my inheritance on a fraud scam!

Thanks

Herzlos

It certainly sounds funny - if you'd contacted the seller direct, why would they push you through a company that takes a comission and takes 7 days to pay them, when they can do it direct.


This sounds like a take on the whole "Car is on Jersey, I'll ship it over with an escrow agent" that results in no car and no money.


If you want to pursue that van, tell him you'll pay cash on collection only, no 3rd parties. Though I bet you'll then get some story about how the van is in storage or something.


whois information says the website has only existed since 30th January, and via 'namecheaphosting.com'. How many cars is the seller dealing with to have had good feedback for a site that's only been in existence 2 months?


The website looks fairly professional though, and I can't verify the address (there is a business park).


Seems like a really odd business model for selling a camper though - the fees are pretty high and you'd need to deliver it to them first. If you were selling through a consignment store then why list it yourself too?


However, according to the site, the goods will be sold via the site and will have been delivered by the customer, so you should be able to contact them and go view it before you pay up.

mgfvvc

Colinthecamper wrote: »

Can't find anything negative, but it seems that you pay for the vehicle blind, they deliver to you, then you have 7 days to inspect before the transaction goes to the seller. In those 7 days you can get a full refund if it doesn't match what you wanted.

Never pay for a car in advance. You will never see the car and you won't get your money back.

Report it to gumtree as a scam.

facade

If they are in the UK, why have they spelled "cheque" as "check" on the main page?

shaun_from_Africa

Not only are they not legit, they aren't even very good as manipulating photographs.
According to their website:
https://autoyardsales.co.uk/location/
This is their office: (notice the badly photoshopped signs.)


In reality, this office actually belongs to an American franchise of "iSoldit.com"

dave.double.u

I answered the same Gumtree ad, VW T5 Campervan £8645. Don't do it, the whole thing stinks of SCAM!
That spec of VW T5 usually could go for £12-20k. I got a reply from the 'son' selling for his father, exhausted with calls and texts, despite the invalid phone number. The ad disappeared as soon as he'd referred me to his dad's email address for more details (and away from the safety of Gumtree).
Good research by Shaun from Africa above. Also, the vehicle reg and on-line history is real. The scammers have copied it from an old ad along with the photo's, but everything in the email correspondence with the 'Dad' felt like subtle phycological pulling techniques to gain my confidence. There's no way they own the vehicle or have any right to sell it. I'm not wasting my time or money on it.
P.S. There was also a couple on eBay today, similar con setup.

waamo

What's the old rule say? If you have to ask.....

AdrianC

dave.double.u wrote: »

I answered the same Gumtree ad, VW T5 Campervan £8645.
...
That spec of VW T5 usually could go for £12-20k.

Gumtree. Check.
Unusually low price. Check.
Sale "handled by" somebody else. Check.

What else do you need to know? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

George_Michael

This sort of attempted scam is so common and widely publicised that I'm surprised that some people still fall for it.
Even without knowing about it, someone purportedly selling a high price vehicle for well under the book value should always get alarm bells ringing.

foxy-stoat

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Not only are they not legit, they aren't even very good as manipulating photographs.
According to their website:
https://autoyardsales.co.uk/location/
This is their office: (notice the badly photoshopped signs.)


In reality, this office actually belongs to an American franchise of "iSoldit.com"

How the duck did you find out that !!

Good work Sir

shaun_from_Africa

foxy-stoat wrote: »

How the duck did you find out that !!

Good work Sir

It wasn't as hard as you would have thought.
I noticed that the wall sign at the top left had obviously been altered so I had a good look at the rest of the picture.
I saw the phrase "the easy way to sell on ebay"and as this appeared to be a company logo, a bit of Googling brought up
http://www.i-soldit.com/
and a quick look through Google Images for i-soldit.com locations revealed the original photo.

I was at work last night with not too much to do!