Buying a caravan on Facebook Marketplace
See the van in person before you pay anything, and do the checks yourself.
Many private caravan sales in Australia start on Marketplace or in a buy, swap and sell group. Prices can be good, and nobody holds the money between you and the seller.
Updated . 12 min read • Buying Guide
It can be safe if you see the van before you pay anything and do the checks yourself.
Never pay a deposit on a van you have not stood next to, and inspect at the seller's home where you can.
- PPSR search - $2 (a search of the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR), run on the day you pay. The search shows whether money is still owing on the van.)
- Pay by - bank transfer, in person (with the account name matching the seller)
- Treat as phishing - any payment page, escrow service or buyer-protection link (a private sale has none of these)
Private sellers often list on Facebook first, and often nowhere else, because a listing costs nothing. Many vans sell through regional buy, swap and sell pages and never appear on a paid classifieds site.
A listing puts you in touch with the seller, and you pay the seller directly, usually by bank transfer or cash at handover. Nobody holds the money in between, so the checks you do before you pay are your protection.
Buyers lose money on a used van when they pay before they have seen it. That part is in your hands.
Our guide to where to buy a used caravan in Australia compares each place to buy on price and risk.
Reading a listing before you message
The green and red flags below show which listings are worth a message.
Green flags
- Lots of ordinary photos. Twenty ordinary phone shots that include the messy bits (the boot, the tyres, the underside) point to a real owner. A scammer working from stolen images has whatever they could grab.
- Details only an owner knows. Bearing service dates, when the tyres were replaced, which trips it has done, what annoys them about the layout.
- A named suburb. "Inspection welcome at Caboolture" beats "Located QLD".
- The compliance plate or VIN (vehicle identification number) visible in a photo, or offered as soon as you ask.
- A profile with history. Years of ordinary posts, other sales, local groups, friends in the area.
Red flags
- Priced well under every comparable van. Scam listings are cheap on purpose, because a bargain is what stops people asking questions. Scamwatch's plain wording for this is that an unbelievably low price is a warning sign.
- A reason the seller cannot meet you. The seller says they are working away, posted interstate or already moved, or that the van is in storage or "packed ready to go". Each excuse is there to stop you inspecting the van.
- A delivery offer from a third party. Some version of "I'm away, my transport company will bring it to you once payment clears" turns up on vehicle listings. The transport company is part of the scam.
- Brochure-perfect photos. Studio lighting, no clutter, a background that does not look Australian, or the same van in four listings with four different driveways.
- A brand-new profile. No profile photo, no history, or the same van posted into a dozen groups across several states at once.
- The conversation moving off Marketplace fast. A push to continue by text, email or WhatsApp within two messages gets you away from a profile that can be reported.
- A link to a payment, escrow or "buyer protection" page. Any page a seller sends you asking for card or banking details is a phishing page. Legitimate private sellers do not have one.
The two checks that take one minute
Reverse image search the photos. On a phone, press and hold the listing photo and save it. Then upload it to Google Images or run it through Google Lens. If the same van appears in an old interstate advert, or in three current listings, treat the listing as a scam.
Sanity-check the price against new. The fastest way to know if an asking price is fair is to know what that model cost new. Look it up on our browse pages, then read used caravan prices for the method that turns that new price into what this one is worth.
A price well under a fair used price is a common warning sign.
Before you drive out
Send the seller real questions, like the ones below, rather than "Is it still available?" A real owner can answer them from home, and anyone who has sold a van before will expect them.
What to ask
- • What is the address I would be inspecting at, and is that where the van is kept?
- • Is it currently registered, and what is the rego number and expiry?
- • Can you send a photo of the compliance plate?
- • Whose name is on the registration papers?
- • Is there any money owing on it?
- • When were the bearings and brakes last done, and do you have receipts?
- • How long have you owned it, and why are you selling?
Ask for a photo of the compliance plate
The compliance plate carries the VIN, the build date, the Tare and the ATM. Ask for a clear photo of it early. Someone working from stolen images generally cannot produce one where the VIN matches a real van at a real address.
If you want to be sure the person is standing next to the van, ask for something spontaneous on a video call. Point the camera at the compliance plate and read the VIN out, then open the second cupboard on the left. A scammer using old footage cannot do what you ask on the spot.
While you have the plate photo, check the ATM against what your car is rated to tow. Our tow check does that in about 30 seconds, so do it before you drive out. Our compliance plate guide explains how to read the plate.
A private seller's debt can follow the van to you
The Personal Property Securities Register is the federal government register of security interests over property, caravans included. A search tells you whether the van has money owing on it, has been reported stolen, or has been written off. If the seller still owes money on the van and you pay them for it, the finance company can legally repossess it from you.
Search by the VIN (seventeen characters, on the compliance plate) or by the chassis number on older vans. Go direct to ppsr.gov.au, where a search costs $2 and the certificate lands in your inbox straight away. Run it again on the day you pay, because a clear certificate only covers you for interests registered before the search.
The full detail on reading a PPSR result and handling a van with finance owing is in the used caravan buying guide. The PPSR check guide covers the search itself.
The inspection
Inspect a Marketplace van the same way as any other used van. Look for water damage first, because it hides inside the walls and can make a van a write-off.
Take the used guide's inspection section and the checklist for going to see a caravan with you, printed or on your phone.
Two Facebook-specific additions
Inspect at the seller's home, and check it against the papers. If the van is shown in a park, a servo carpark or a storage yard, you cannot match its address to the registration papers.
Sight the seller's licence and match the names. The names on the licence, the registration papers and the bank account you are paying should all match. Where they are not, stop and ask why before any money moves. Scamwatch lists a mismatched account holder as a warning sign in its own right.
If the van is dear, or interstate, a mobile caravan mechanic will do a pre-purchase inspection for a few hundred dollars. If the seller will not allow one, treat that as a warning sign.
Paying safely
How the deposit scam works
A common version runs like this. The van is priced well, the seller is friendly and quick to reply, and there is a soft reason they cannot show it this week. Then the seller asks for a deposit to hold the van, because someone else is interested.
The deposit is all the scammer is after. It is kept small enough to seem reasonable. Once you send it, the seller becomes hard to reach.
Pay nothing until you have seen the van.
That includes a deposit. Scamwatch puts it as not paying for big-ticket items before inspecting them in person, and it names cars, boats and caravans specifically.
Fake payment pages and PayID messages
If a seller sends you a link to a payment page, an escrow service or a "protection" portal, treat it as phishing. Do not enter anything. The same goes for any email that looks like it comes from a payment service. Treat it as phishing if it says a transfer is on hold until you upgrade an account or pay a release fee.
PayID is free, and PayID does not email you. There is no PayID business account you have to pay to unlock. The banks say so on their own security pages.
Bank transfer, PayID or cash
Bank transfer on the day, in person, is the practical answer. Do it standing at the van with the seller there, from your banking app. You get a record, the seller sees it arrive, and nobody drives home with a bag of notes.
Check the account name before you confirm. Both PayID and normal transfers show you the registered name of the account you are paying. If that name is not the seller's name, stop.
Cash leaves no record. It can suit a cheaper van. Carrying it is a risk, and if anything is disputed later you have no proof of payment.
Get a receipt either way. The receipt should show both names and addresses, the date, the price, the VIN and the words "sold with clear title". Make two copies and both sign them.
Every check on one screen
Before you message
- • Reverse image search the photos
- • Check the asking price against what the model cost new
- • Look at the profile: age, history, other listings, other states
Before you drive out
- • Ask for the inspection address, the rego number and a compliance plate photo
- • Confirm whose name is on the registration papers
- • Ask whether any money is owing
- • Check the ATM against what your car can tow
On the day
- • Inspect at the seller's home where possible
- • Sight the licence and match it to the rego papers
- • Run the $2 PPSR search at ppsr.gov.au on the day you pay
- • Work through the inspection checklist, water damage first
- • Test every system on both power and gas
When you pay
- • No deposit, ever, on a van you have not stood next to
- • No payment links, escrow pages or account upgrade fees
- • Bank transfer in person, with the account name matching the seller
- • Signed receipt with both names, the VIN and "sold with clear title"
Afterwards
- • Transfer the registration inside your state's window
- • Insurance active before you tow it home
- • Book bearings and brakes unless you have fresh receipts
If a listing fails any of the early checks, let it go. A good seller will be happy to answer every question on this page.