Buying a Tiny Home from Amazon, eBay, or The Home Depot
There’s a big difference between products needed for tiny living and actual tiny homes.
I am an affiliate for Amazon.com, eBay, and The Home Depot. As you can see, there many ads on my website for products you will need as a tiny house builder and owner.
I feel confident suggesting these products to you because:
- They are commonly used and well known to do the job.
- Produced by reputable companies for the consumer market.
- Have dozens, if not thousands, of positive customer reviews.
HOWEVER: WHEN IT COMES TO BUYING AN ACTUAL HOME OR KIT, BUYER BEWARE!
On this page I’ll be waving the red flag. Read on for specific details on what to look for, who you can probably trust (if you do your homework), and the Never-Ever buy a tiny home from these companies.
Buying Plumbing Parts and Purchasing a Tiny Home are Very Different Events
Recently I bought some plumbing parts to repair my RV from Amazon.com. The company they came from is RecPro. One faucet was possibly defective. I tapped the “Return or Replace” button, answered the questions, and the next day was contacted by representatives from RecPro via e-mail and phone eager to rectify the situation. A replacement faucet was soon on the way to my house. That’s a good company right there.
Buying a tiny home from Amazon.com is a pretty dicey deal
The cabin kit displayed at the top of the page is described as a Lakeview Log Cabin Kit made by BZBCabins.com. Before you jump at the chance to buy a 209 sq. ft. log cabin for $12,500.00, read every word of the ad closely. You’ll notice details like “wall width 1 3/4” and it does not include roofing material or a foundation. It could never be used as a hunting or a fishing cabin but might be OK for the suggested garden cabin, a pool house, a home office, an artist’s studio.
I’ve never heard of BZBCabins but their website indicates they are located in New Jersey. From their website I see they list Estonia as the address and that’s as specific as they get.
Digging deeper I found this disclaimer: We strive to provide you the best possible information on BZBCabinsandOutdoors.com. We gather this information from a variety of sources, and while we consider this information reliable, we cannot guarantee its accuracy. Model information, including availability, dimensions, foot prints, floor covering areas and other information, are all subject to change without notice or obligation. Square footage and other dimensions are suggestions and approximations.
Red flags are popping up like fireworks. The only customer review looks suspiciously like a sell-up ad from someone named Dug.
The return policy from their website states that, yes, they accept returns within seven days as long as it includes all of the packaging. If you’ve ever tried getting anything like a lamp or a lawnmower back into it’s original box you know an entire house isn’t going to go back in the box.
Notice that there is a 15% restock fee and if packaging is missing that’s another 10% fee. Oh, and you’ll need to pay return shipping and additional fees for any damaged or missing parts.
Reasons Not to Buy a Tiny House from Amazon.com
This structure looks like a shipping container but it’s not. The ad says, “Each part of the house is made of hot galvanized light steel frame, it’s very safety.” Currently Unavailable.
- You’re not buying from Amazon.com. They are just the “publisher” of the website. Who is the company you are buying from? Could you find them if you had a disagreement? Amazon will not help you with any dispute that might arise. In the case of the shipping container structure shown here, you’re not buying from the manufacturer either.
- Buying a house, even a tiny one, is a huge investment. I would want to at least meet my builder or vendor and know who you are dealing with.
- You are not really buying a house. You might be buying a wooden structure but I guarantee you’ll never get a certificate of occupancy. Your local building inspectors…they’ll just laugh.
- You can’t see what you are buying before you buy it. No showroom. One Facebook® acquaintance made a purchase and received a picture of the structure. Neglecting to pay attention to every word of the ad he had purchased the picture only.
One example of an Amazon listing
This one purports to be an actual shipping container. Built by a company in Mineral Point, Wisconsin but sold by a different company for $38.5K plus about $4K shipping. You should be able to build one yourself for half that.
The company gets stellar Google reviews like this:
“This company is run by a thief. He stole my $106,000 down payment and I took him to court. I got a judgment against him saying he must return $106,000 because he never built the units I had purchased, but he has not repaid a single dollar. I spent over $33,000 in legal fees trying to get at least some of my money back.”
It’s “Currently Unavailable.”
Buying a Tiny Home from eBay
Everyone knows eBay is pretty much just a classified listing website. There’s no expectation that you are buying from EBay. I actually recommend eBay as a good source to find a new or used THOW to buy.
Like buying any vehicle, you need to be savvy and remember “buyer beware.” However, eBay offers a Buyer Protection Plan and Vehicle Protection Plan for transactions completed on their website. These assurances can offer solid piece-of-mind and real protection from getting ripped off.
See more about buying a tiny home from eBay on this page of this website.
EBay Motors is also a great place to find used RVs, travel trailers, school buses, and motor coaches.
Buying a Tiny Home from The Home Depot
The Home Depot is a brick and mortar store with an online presence. They sell TuffSheds®. They offer an online design tool so you can customize them anyway you like.
The Home Depot does sell many pre-fab buildings.
The Gustav J44A 19 ft. 6 in. x 19 ft. 6 in. multi room Log cabin kit, shown here, is an excellent design to provide a large amount of open space also includes two 9 ft. x 6 ft. 3 in. rooms and a 19 ft. x 6 ft. bunk to area This building offers 456 sq. ft. of total interior space. The building includes a half wrap around front terrace which offers over 300 sq. ft. of relaxing space.
The Home Depot provides financing too.
The Home Depot is a building materials center
I would have faith in their ability to supply a building kit that matches what they advertised and meets your expectations.
They offer kits from companies like Allwood, Best Barns, Tuff Shed, and others.
You alone are responsible for choosing a structure that has a chance of getting approved by your local building inspectors.
Many of these building kits can only be approved for a garden shed, pool house, home office, or an artist’s studio. Building inspectors might let you add electrical, but not plumbing. I could not find any Tiny Home type structure (THOW) available from The Home Depot.
For more information about DIY building kits from The Home Depot, visit this page: Prefab Tiny Home from Home Depot.
My answer to the question, “Would you buy a tiny house from Amazon?”
I don’t think that buying a tiny home from Amazon is a good idea. There are too many ways you could lose your money and not get what was advertised. You’d have little or no recourse to get your money back.
EBay is actually a good option to find several types of tiny homes as long as you are aware of what you are buying. From the get-go, eBay is not a store. It’s a online, classified ad system. There are some built-in buyer protections.
The Home Depot could be a good option for some of you. I think the transaction would be a safe bet. If it wasn’t to your liking, you could definitely find someone to grab by the throat and demand satisfaction. However, they don’t actually offer what we define as a tiny house on wheels, sometimes called a moveable tiny house.
How about you? What do you think about buying a tiny home from Amazon?
Wouldn’t you rather build your tiny home yourself?
There are so many tiny house builders these days you should be able to find one you’d enjoy working closely with as you design your dream tiny home.
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
More Pages Of The Tiny Life Consulting Website You’ll Be Interested In
Prefab Tiny Home from Home Depot
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