Buying and Selling Your Campervan on Vanlife Trader

Whether you’re looking to hit the road in your dream van or you’re ready to part with your current rig, we’ve got you covered. Our platform is all about making the process easy, secure, and tailored to the vanlife community. Let’s break it down step by step, so you know exactly how things work!

Buying a Van on Vanlife Trader

1. How do I get started with buying a van?

Getting started is super easy! Just create a free account on Vanlife Trader, and you’ll be able to browse hundreds of campervans listed by sellers all over North America. We pride ourselves on the filtering section of the site – you can filter your search by basic things like location, price, make/model, or you can get into the nitty gritty with things like battery type and power, toilet type, and aftermarket additions. If you’re not finding that perfect deal, you can save your searches and get notifications when new vans are listed or favorites change price.

2. What do I need to know before buying a van?

Before diving in, it’s always a good idea to take your time and do some research. Look through listings carefully, read the descriptions in detail, and do some comparisons to recently sold vans. Sellers typically provide a lot of info about their vans—things like mileage, condition, modifications, and any work done. But if anything is unclear, don’t hesitate to schedule calls or facetimes with the seller. The more details you have, the better equipped you’ll be to make a solid decision.

3. Can I contact the seller directly?

Absolutely! When you find a van that interests you, just reach out to the seller via the contact form on their listing. You can ask questions about the van’s condition, features, and schedule a viewing if you’re local. This helps you get a feel for the van and the seller, so you can make sure everything checks out before you make an offer. 

4. Are there any protections when buying?

While we connect buyers and sellers, Vanlife Trader does not facilitate the transaction. That means the security falls solely on the buyer and seller. This is why we recommend our partner KeySavvy for ensuring safe transactions. If you’re at all hesitant about the buying process and want to make sure everything is safe and secure, they are a great service for a great price. All you have to do is click “Buy Worry Free” within the listing (under the title) and it will pull in all the necessary information and start the lanes of communication for the escrow process with the seller. (You will still need to communicate directly with the seller and confirm they are good with using KeySavvy.)

5. Can I finance a van on Vanlife Trader?

We don’t directly offer financing, but you can filter listings by price to make it easier to stick to your budget. A lot of professional builders will offer financing and you can filter within our builder directory by “Offers Financing”. If you need financing for a used rig or a van being sold by a private seller, we partner with Lightstream who specializes in Class B loans. There are plenty of options out there to help you get the van of your dreams!

6. What is the builder directory?

We really, really love this industry and we’ve loved watching the professional van builder community grow and mature over the past few years. Which is why we upgraded our builder directory to help connect people wanting professional conversions to the builders who can make their dreams come true! A big part of the buying journey is the early decisions you have to make around buying vs. building your van. Our builder directory is there to help show you all of your options!

7. What about shopping in person?

Vanlife expos and events are great places to experience a van in person. There’s nothing like a real like walk through or test drive of a van you’re interested in. We have a full list of events we love in our resources!

Selling a Van on Vanlife Trader

1. How do I list my van for sale?

Once you’ve created your account, you can create a new listing with all the details about your van—things like the make, model, year, mileage, and all the cool features and customizations. Don’t forget to upload clear, high-quality photos of the van from all angles. 

We recommend putting aside at least 15 minutes for the listing process. Remember when we said we are proud of our filters? It’s up to the seller to ensure that all of the corresponding filters are selected so that buyers can accurately search! The more info you provide, the more likely you’ll attract interested buyers.

2. What are the different listing packages?

We offer three listing packages to give you the flexibility to choose what works best for your needs:

• Basic: This package lets you create a standard listing for your van that stays live for 30 days. It’s a simple option to get started.
• Premium: The Premium package gives your listing more visibility. Your van will be featured on the site at the start of the listing, helping it stand out to potential buyers.
• Epic: The Epic package is for sellers who want maximum exposure. It includes a premium listing, social media promotion, and other perks to help your van get noticed by even more people.

3. What is a “Boost”?

We offer four add-on boost options to get your rig in front of more potential buyers. These boosts are available for purchase in your dashboard at any time once you have a live listing. 

Social Media Boost ($150) – Includes a feed post on our Instagram and Facebook as well as a story post. Feed posts are up indefinitely and story posts are up for 24 hours and then saved to our Vans for Sale highlight. All social posts (including in the Epic listing) are promoted via Vanlife Trader’s Instagram advertising to encourage direct clicks to your listing link. So if you’re not seeing a million comments, don’t worry, people are still clicking!

Story Only Boost ($65) – Includes a story post on our Instagram and Facebook. They stay up for 24 hours and then are saved to our Vans for Sale highlight.

Homepage Feature ($50) – Our homepage feature gets your rig on the most trafficked page on the site for 24 hours.

Vans for Sale Feature ($35) – Your listing will be featured in the Vans for Sale section and search results for 3 days.

4. How long will my listing stay up?

The length of time your listing stays up depends on the package you choose. A Basic listing will stay active for 30 days, while Premium and Epic listings can stay live for longer periods. If your van doesn’t sell in the allotted time, no worries—you can always renew your listing or upgrade to a higher-tier package to give it another boost.

4. How do I handle inquiries and negotiations?

Once your van is listed, buyers will reach out via the form on your listing page. These inquiries go directly to the email addressed used to create the listing. It’s best to whitelist our email: [email protected] – to be sure that you’re receiving all correspondence. It’s always a good idea to do a couple of tests once your listing is live to ensure you’re receiving those messages.

You can also track all inquiries in your dashboard and respond to people via email or phone from there.

Be sure to respond as quickly as possible to keep things moving. If a buyer is interested, you can negotiate the price or any other details like repairs or modifications. We encourage our sellers to use KeySavvy to make the transaction process safe and secure. 

If you receive any suspicious inquiries, please send them to us at [email protected].

5. What should I do before meeting with a potential buyer?

Before meeting up with a buyer, make sure your van is clean and presentable. Gather any paperwork related to the van, such as maintenance records, upgrades, or receipts. It’s also a good idea to have the van inspected by a mechanic if possible. This can give buyers extra confidence that your van is in great condition and help speed up the process.

6. How do I finalize the sale?

Once you’ve found a buyer, you’ll finalize the sale outside of Vanlife Trader. We recommend using a secure payment method, like KeySavvy, to make sure both you and the buyer are protected during the transaction. 

7. What about your for sale lot? Can I sell my van in person?

In 2025 we kicked of the Vanlife Trader Roundup! After spending the past few years hosting used van for sale lots, we’ve fine tuned how these activations can best serve our sellers. There are four partner events we’ll be at this year, so if you’re interested, get those tickets before they’re gone! 

Why Use Vanlife Trader?

We created Vanlife Trader specifically for the vanlife community. We’re vanlifers and have been buying and selling campervans for 15 years, so we know it can be a challenge on both sides. A big reason we charge for listings is to create a trust between seller and buyer. With our lowest cost listing starting at only $39, spending what is a small fraction of a sale price will show a buyer that you’re not a scammer or a flake.

Speaking of scammers, security is a top priority for us, and unlike some free platforms, we have moderation and reporting tools in place to help keep our community safe. We also are humans behind these screens that genuinely care about your van selling journey – and we think that human touch makes what can be an overwhelming process, a bit more fun.

Whether you’re looking to buy or sell, we’ve created an easy-to-use platform where you can connect with other vanlifers, find your dream van, and then find it a new home when the time comes.