You are reading a story from an eBayer that has fallen for a "buy it now" Airstream trailer scam. Firstly, I was shocked to see so many guides written on this topic and I am wanting to share my story with other eBayers so they may not fall victim like I have done. The number of guides on this matter tells me there are people out there getting away with a scam that seems to continue. I admit I did not do my homework or even stop dealing with this person or persons when the warning flags kept coming up. Why? Well, first being caught up in a "deal too good to be true", plus trusting the eBay and Square Trade insignia on various correspondence even though it was coming to me via email and not on the eBay web site. Also I have a number of freinds who are very happy with the big ticket items they have purchased using eBay. I wanted to be one of them! Surfing one night on eBay Motors with a vintage Airstream in mind, I came across a late model "Bambi" unit with a very low buy it now price. Past purchases with eBay have been small ones for myself. Successful everytime, I felt I had enough knowledge to give a big ticket item a try. I wanted to know more about this trailer so I contacted the email address noted on the posting. First mistake! The fellow got back to me with a big story right away about him moving to Spain and leaving the trailer in an eBay storage yard in San Jose California. Two more "warning flags" right there! He couldn't get it to Spain and needed to get rid of it right away. He said he would ship it to me in Canada at his expense so I may inspect it, after I sent him a deposit via Western Union to SPAIN. In the mean time I started to get "official looking" Square Trade correspondence on my email with regards to a file started with them and that the details of this trans action were all stated on this claim plus a bogus page came showing an insurance policy has been started to cover any false transactions performed by this seller. It didn't seem to be negitive and frankly I knew nothing of Square Trade prior to attempting this sale. A quick phone call to a friend who is a successful big ticket item eBayer figured that if Square Trade was "monitoring" this transaction, I would have nothing to worry about. $5200.00 US total price for a 2003 Airstream trailer and the inspection story was enough for me! What a deal! I rushed to the bank, got half of the purchase price in cash, went to Western Union and promptly converted this money to Euros so it could be wired to a third party name. A person I was told over email from my seller said that an eBay/Square Trade representative would hold the money in trust until I was happy with my inspection. The warning flags continue. So I sent the money to this individual thinking that an eBay representative would be envolved and all would be good. Prior to sending my money, I also got an email from my seller requesting not to speak to anyone at the Western Union office about the transaction because he didn't want to get caught selling something while living in Spain due to tax reasons. What a sign to stop right there. Everything seemed to be fine until obviously the money was picked up in Spain. I got an email from my seller stating his wife figured I didn't have all the money to completely purchase this trailer so he would not send the trailer for my inspection unless I paid him in full. This was backed up by another bogus Square Trade form stating his change in plans. Finally at this point I knew I've been had. His final email to me was asking what to do next! His WIFE has changed his mind! Well I've filed complaints with eBay security, Square Trade security, Western Union security, even my local Police department. All replys have been basically the same. Great tips on how not to get scamed on internet transactions like this. Sadly, the whole thing has left a bad taste with me as an eBayer, and even a potential Airstreamer. Even though this has cost me thousands of dollars, it could have been worse, and education sometimes is expensive. But I am very, very disappointed when I look in eBay after an Airstream search and still see the start of the very same scam starting by listing a very low priced trailer that is just too good to be true. Take care out there.