Buying on e-bay

[binsted]

Having discovered this market place it does seem to have a good few secondhand bikes at good prices. My biggest worry is buying a stolen bike so as an e-bay virgin what precautions and checks should I make when bidding on a bike. I am sure a good few of you must be experts so any other tips would be appreciated.

[geomannie]

I would say, as a frequent ebay buyer, that its not always easy to tell, though touch wood I have not bought anything stolen. All I would suggest is carefully read the description of the article (particularly reason for sale) and look at the seller's history. If they are a new seller with little or no feed-back, then be cautious. I would say that you would be unlucky to buy a stolen item but it could happen. One of the guys I ride with bought some STI shifters which turned out to be stolen. He had the unpleasant experience of the police on his door-step and had them impounded.

[eileithyia]

+1, also ask seller questions, if he knows little about the bikes history why it has a scrape on the paintwork etc., be suspicious, genuine owners will readily swap tales of rides/bike history etc.
If they do not sound plausible avoid!

[Hemipode]

+1 to both the above.
Messaging the seller & asking questions to gauge the answers is probably the best way to assess the seller. If they don't know details about what they are selling avoid them.
Ask about any damage to the bike. Are the seat post & stem free ? Any dents / scratches ? How worn is the drive chain / wheels? Is everything working well ? etc. Questions like these can save you a small fortune in 'unknown' repair bills & stop you buying a duff one.
If you do buy, try to pay cash on pick up if possible. This gives you the opportunity to walk away from a deal if the bike has damage that was not described.
Don't be put off by my reply. As long as you exercise some care Ebay is a good place to shop. I recently picked up a totally original 1981 Raleigh Record Ace which with a small extra outlay (which I knew I would need to spend after questioning the seller) looks as good as it did when it left the shop 31 years ago

[cycleruk]

I bought a bike that sounded "to good to be true".
So I asked for the original receipt and picked the bike up from the sellers house.
Turned out O.K. but if unsure then walk away.
The guy had to sell due to medical problems.

Before actually purchasing of Ebay, check the "proper" price say by Googling the item.
Quite often Ebay prices go beyond shop prices, especially with postage on top.

[Vaya]

All of the above is correct, ask questions, many items are genuine.

Brooks saddles seem to harder to find, lots are listed in London, postage only and the sellers have quite a few going...

[binsted]

Thanks all, mostly common sense I guess when its explained like that but I was a bit put off at first by all the doom mongers suggesting its mostly stolen gear that appears.

[Tonyf33]

Ebay is a relatively safe place to shop, certainly it is harder to be scammed than in days gone by, there are also many other experienced buyers out there who can sniff when something isn't right and will report it. It's probably safer than buying stuff at a car boot in terms of legit/non stolen.
Obvious things:
Check out previous feeback
Make sure if paying via Paypal you're covered by the purchase protection scheme (99.9% time you are)
Ask obvious questions but not stupid ones,so unless you're buying something substantial like a rare/very expensive item then the likelihood is it might be 2nd/3rd/4th hand though sellers will say if they've had it from new/bike strip/box of parts find (some don't and don't need to give its entire history)

People sell stuff for others, they might not be into bikes, often they'll state this and ask you to ask them Q, they might not be able to answer them or get the answer before auction end, that doesn't make it wrong/dodgy. Some people are just lazy and want rid of stuff. I bought a mint condition Raleigh Titanium with full Dura Ace 9 speed off a CAT1 rider (more money than sense as it turned out), cost me £350..no picture, one line description and just a buy it now price

If collecting in person it is your perogative to walk away from the sale if you think things aren't right, don't get into an arguement/conversation, just say sorry but you don't feel it is right and walk away report to ebay to cancel the sale stating why and the police if need be in such cases. You may well get reported yourself don't forget 99.999% of sellers are legit, same with buyers...
If bike is postage only then that comes under paypal protection unless you somehow want to send a bank transfer/cheque of a substantial amount to a stranger which would be unwise for a newbie.
Always keep a record of the people you are dealing with, name, address, telephone numbers. Ebay have these details on file which they'll give you on demand, this means your details are sent to the seller equally.
If you're suspicious about anything listed for whatever reason (gut feeling etc) then walk away/dont bid, they'll be another one along shortly..honest .

Fewer and fewer decent bikes go under the radar than say even 4-5 years ago, usually because they are badly listed/no pic or wont post and they live at the ends of the earth.
A no name frame with non descript parts shouldn't go for much but you do get anomolies were cheapo old Raleigh's that were average at best and made by the tens of thousands will go for silly money.

[Vaya]

Just a warning about the ebay/paypal protectment scheme...

http://codenerdz.com/blog/2012/12/03/think-of-selling-on-ebay-using-paypal-think-again/

[andymiller]

You can try checking databases like bikeregister.com (obviously you'd need to ask the seller for the frame number).

You could always ask if the buyer can produce a receipt, but plenty of genuine people lose their receipts - especially if it's an old bike.

If I were selling an old bike I might well say something like 'it belonged to my dead husband. I don't know anything about bikes. Sorry'.

Beyond that always buy with PayPal.

BTW the Met Police have monthly auctions of orphan bikes. Presumably other forces do the same thing. I've never been to one but it might be a better prospect than trawling eBay for a bargain.

Just a warning about the ebay/paypal protectment scheme...

http://codenerdz.com/blog/2012/12/03/think-of-selling-on-ebay-using-paypal-think-again/

That's actually a warning about selling on eBay - people selling on ebay often complain that the payPal protection scheme is unfairly weighted in favour of the buyer.

His shipping address was to General Delivery at a Post Office in a small town in Ohio

At risk of sounding hard-hearted, surely an eBay purchaser without a fixed address should have immediately set the 'scam' alarm bells ringing? (Although he has a genuine beef with PayPal security department - how can someone get/keep an account without a proper mailing address?).

[[XAP]Bob]

There is also the 45 day trick, say delivery is 30 days after sending - don't ship for 3 weeks, then apologise profusely to the buyer - promise you;ve done a 2 week delivery to make up for the delay.

That's 45 days gone - the buyer can't claim any more.

[pstallwood]

I have been looking at eBay as a possible source for a bike. One thing has struck me is that a lot of people buy bikes and then suddenly develop a bad back or knee. One particular make of bike comes to mind that can be bought at the well known car bits chain seems to be a precursor for ill health.

It appears to me that a lot of these bikes may have been bought on the Cycle to Work Scheme and are being disposed of for cash and a spurious reason is being for selling in order to try and allay any suspicions. As I read the scheme the bike belongs to the employer for a period of time and can then be bought by the employee under certain conditions. Unless the employee has bought the bike before the end of the contract then it could be that they are disposing of something that dosen't actually belong to them.

One bike I was interested in was said to have been bought by the company but the seller had a receipt in his name. When questioned it was confirmed that the bike had been bought under the CTW scheme so I didn't bid.

What would be the position if I bought a bike that was a couple of weeks old with a receipt in the name of the seller but was actually owned by a company under the CTW scheme (assuming that I hadn't queried the ownership)? Could I get good title?

Peter S

[pete75]

Only thing I have to add to the above is if buying something over £100 and paying via paypal use a credit not a debit card - you then get something called section 75 protection - details here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shoppi ... hases#what

[Tonyf33]

What would be the position if I bought a bike that was a couple of weeks old with a receipt in the name of the seller but was actually owned by a company under the CTW scheme (assuming that I hadn't queried the ownership)? Could I get good title?

Peter S

Why on earth would you even think about entering into buying a bike from someone who does not have clear title of the goods? That's got disaster written all over it!

[BeeKeeper]

What would be the position if I bought a bike that was a couple of weeks old with a receipt in the name of the seller but was actually owned by a company under the CTW scheme (assuming that I hadn't queried the ownership)? Could I get good title?
Peter S

In almost every case if you buy something which is stolen, which I think would include the situation you have described, you will lose out (i.e. goods removed and no compensation) although in certain exceptional cases I have heard of the buyer being allowed to keep the goods - but this is very rare and I am not clear what the grounds were. Perhaps if the buyer was able to prove they had taken every possible measure to check if the goods were stolen before purchase that might be enough.

However, again quoting your case, you would have to ask why someone is selling a bike only 2 weeks old?

I guess you need to ask the seller for proof of purchase in their name - assuming you know their real name of course!

I also think in most cases you will not get any help from either PayPal or EBay as by the time everything came to light it is likely their 45 day dispute limit would have been exceeded. If you paid the seller directly with a credit card you may be covered but this does not work if you use PayPal as an intermediary.