Paying for a bike in cash - why?

[meic]

Another understandable but not entirely moral reason not to give an address is even if you think it most likely the bike you are buying is totally legit. On the small, off chance, that it has previously been stolen the original owners cant claim it back if they dont know where it is after the thief or fence is caught.

[ChrisF]

I thought I'd better provide the followup to my original post.
The buyer did provide an address when I asked a second time; I said that I was uncomfortable going ahead with both the cash element and the lack of address. So we arranged to meet (at the motorway services) and it all went well. No haggling on price.
Next morning I went into the bank to deposit £1200; no problems. Five minutes later I got a phone call from the bank. My heart dropped - had they identified the notes as forged, or stolen?
No, I'd dropped my debit card on the floor. Could I return to the bank and collect it?
All's well that ends well. Still don't know why he deals in cash though; his utility bills (usually required as proof of address), are all e-bills, no paper ones to show me, so clearly not just someone who doesn't like modern transactions. Dirty money of some kind? I'll never know.

[Bonefishblues]

Because laundering?

[mercalia]

But why do (legit) peopele want to pay large amounts in cash these days?

Because they dont trust banks, they remember 2008, the interest rate sucks and they dont want the bank to profit from their money without sharing.
Because the "electronic money" doesnt actually exist. The cash at least does exist.
The £10,000 that somebody has in their bank account may only have as little as £900 existing in real money that everybody could go and get if they wanted it at the same time, like for example "The Great Brexit Disaster" that is foretold.

+1
maybe also self employed and paid cash in hand?

only one thought is the bike stolen? there is no redress with cash?

[thirdcrank]

I fancy anybody worried about a banking crisis keeps their wealth in gold sovereigns and the like. If we have a real run on the banks, the paper money in your hand won't keep its value any more than the imaginary money in the bank will. Wheelbarrows will be hard to find.

[pete75]

only 15 years ago paying in cash was not unusual. I bought a car from a car supermarket and they insisted on either cash or a bank draft. As you had to pay for a bank draft most transactions were for cash. I withdrew £8 grand from my bank account and took it with me, with the mrs as a bodyguard .
They were all geared for counting it with machines which counted it in seconds.

Yep didi similar when we bought a car for £8200 from the BCA auction in Peterborough. Back in 1992 they didn't do electronic and we hadn't realised we had to pay that afternoon. Only registered dealers could pay by cheque. My wife phoned her office and got the cashier to fetch the money from the bank as a petty cash transaction then just reduced her drawings by that amount for the year. Job security and high earnings are not the only advantages of self employment be it on your own or in a partnership as she was at the time.