Stolen Bike so close to recovery yet so far

[jumpinjamez]

Hello,

Quick background had my bike stolen from Solihull last November

https://stolen-bikes.co.uk/stolen-bikes ... -cdf-2014/

I found it on Gumtree last week for sale in Shewsbury . I told the police who went round and the said the bike was gone and nothing they could do. No bike no evidence. ~X( ~X( ~X(

They have taken parts off but still have the pedals , tires and long valve inner tubes i put on.

Its so frustrating it is defo my bike and i have since also found they tried to sell it on ebay a few times and got negative rep because of the dent i put in it


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genesis-Cdf-/ ... 7675.l2557

Has anyone had an experience like this or know what else i can do? Or if anyone lives in Shewsbury keep an eye out for it please.

[ljamesbee]

So you are sure that ebay seller is the thief? Do you want their name and address? Do you think they sold it? Or do you think that perhaps they were just storing it somewhere else so when the police went round, it was not there?

Which do you consider to be more important to you - recovering the bike, or getting the thief prosecuted?

[williampiper]

If you can see the transaction that means you know who bought it, so you can find where the bike has gone. The seller has not sold with good title because the bike was stolen from you, whether they were the thief or not, so can't the police help with that? I should think eBay might be able to help too, and certainly need to know that the goods in this transaction were stolen.

[ljamesbee]

If you can see the transaction that means you know who bought it, so you can find where the bike has gone. The seller has not sold with good title because the bike was stolen from you, whether they were the thief or not, so can't the police help with that? I should think eBay might be able to help too, and certainly need to know that the goods in this transaction were stolen.

The bike sold twice on eBay, but it looks like both times it sold, the buyer got a refund and the bike was returned/not taken. If the bike was sold, it was probably sold through gumtree or something.

[jumpinjamez]

So you are sure that ebay seller is the thief? Do you want their name and address? Do you think they sold it? Or do you think that perhaps they were just storing it somewhere else so when the police went round, it was not there?

Which do you consider to be more important to you - recovering the bike, or getting the thief prosecuted?

The eBay seller is now saying the bike was returned and then stolen from them and police say with no bike nothing they can do . The eBay seller may not be the original theif and my main focus is the return of the bike not the prosecution of anyone.

[jumpinjamez]

If you can see the transaction that means you know who bought it, so you can find where the bike has gone. The seller has not sold with good title because the bike was stolen from you, whether they were the thief or not, so can't the police help with that? I should think eBay might be able to help too, and certainly need to know that the goods in this transaction were stolen.

The bike sold twice on eBay, but it looks like both times it sold, the buyer got a refund and the bike was returned/not taken. If the bike was sold, it was probably sold through gumtree or something.

I cannot seem to get to details eBay buyer who returned it does anyone know how to do this ? They may have helpful Info.

[ljamesbee]

The eBay seller is now saying the bike was returned and then stolen from them and police say with no bike nothing they can do . The eBay seller may not be the original theif and my main focus is the return of the bike not the prosecution of anyone.

So their story is that they bought the bike (not knowing it was stolen), and then it just happened to get stolen from them at exactly the time the police went looking for it? How convenient.

Did they say where they got it from?

[ljamesbee]

I cannot seem to get to details eBay buyer who returned it does anyone know how to do this ? They may have helpful Info.

eBay has no feature inbuilt to let you do this - for privacy reasons.

There is one way to do it though. You need to go through the sellers 'feedback left for others' section. Search through all the feedback profiles of everyone they left feedback for between now and when the bike sale occurred. If the thief/saller left feedback for the bike buyer, the bike buyer's negative feedback (left for the thief/seller) will be visible on their 'feedback left for others' section.

Only problem is that if the seller/thief did not leave feedback for either of the buyers, this won't work.

So you want the bike back. I think first you need to decide on what you think has actually happened to the bike. There are 3 possibilities as far as I can tell.

The seller is telling the truth: the bike was stolen from them and they are also a victim. You could use the following to decide how likely this option is.

-If this is true, they should be very cooperative, be willing to give police statements, tell the police exactly where the bike was stored/stolen from and what date and time.
-They should also be willing to give a statement to the police regarding where they bought the bike.
-From speaking to the police, do you get this impression? Do the police sound like they are suspicious, but simply do not have the evidence. Was the person known to the police? Any idea if they have a criminal record?
-Looking at the sellers history, the account holder is most likely female, but they did sell a mens shirt at some point (boyfriend, husband, brother). Just from crime statistics, I'd say it's unlikely that the original bike thief is the account holder. Perhaps someone in the same house though. You may be able to track down the other names of people living at the same address (if you know their address).
-Is it likely that the account holder would have bought this type of bike? it's a men's bike and 54cm. Too large for most women I think.
-They already lied in their eBay advert. They said there were a couple of light marks and scratches from 'where it fell in the shed'. The truth is that you put the marks on the bike. No reason they wouldn't lie again.

The seller is lying: They knew the bike was stolen, and successfully sold it locally.

-Gumtree messages are sent through the gumtree servers in order to hide buyer and seller email addresses from each other. If the bike was sold through gumtree, and gumtree messages were used to communicate, they should have a record of any messages sent or received by the seller. If you have the details of the advert (date, time, phone number or name on advert), then they may be able to share this info with the police.
-If you have their mobile number (possibly included on gumtree advert, or find from eBay details), I would suggest that you do a search on google for the phone number. Usually you can find old copies of other gumtree adverts linked with this number. You may find that the same phone number is linked with other suspicious gumtree ads (usually they'll use different names on different ads which is a good sign).
-You could perhaps offer a reward for its return + put up some local adverts and an ad on gumtree
-Unfortunately the buyer may not come forward as they know they'll lose the bike.
-Found this preloved ad from the 12th August. Ad is no longer available, so this is a 'cached copy'. Also has a name on the ad. It's possible this was the advert which led to the sale of the bike, so maybe preloved can help.

The seller is lying: They knew the bike was stolen, and were storing it somewhere else, or got spooked then moved it or dumped it. As a result the police did not find it when they went round.

-The seller still has it somewhere and may try to sell it again, or pass it to someone else to sell. Just keep looking as you have been already.
-Offer a reward, and the thief may turn up to claim it . If you hear from someone who has the bike and wants the reward, be very happy and try to arrange to meet them. Try to gauge from your conversation/messages whether you think they are a good samaritan or potentially the thief. If the latter, agree to meet them and have the police come along too .

One last thing is that the last negative feedback they received said 'had to claim money back'. Does not necessarily mean the bike was returned. Maybe it was a partial refund so that ebay member may have the bike still. eBay should be willing to send a message to the buyer if this is the case.

Anyways, a lot of stuff. Just hope some of it is useful!

[jumpinjamez]

Thank you so much for all this it is very useful. And has given me some things to follow up .
I wish I could get more from the police but I was told by a officer from one force who was dealing with others from another force they were quick to respond and go round however they seemed to think the seller was innocent but didn't say how they got the bike in the first place and they did not seen keen to follow anything up after that.
Ill get you updated.

[jumpinjamez]

I cannot seem to get to details eBay buyer who returned it does anyone know how to do this ? They may have helpful Info.

eBay has no feature inbuilt to let you do this - for privacy reasons.

There is one way to do it though. You need to go through the sellers 'feedback left for others' section. Search through all the feedback profiles of everyone they left feedback for between now and when the bike sale occurred. If the thief/saller left feedback for the bike buyer, the bike buyer's negative feedback (left for the thief/seller) will be visible on their 'feedback left for others' section.

Only problem is that if the seller/thief did not leave feedback for either of the buyers, this won't work.

So you want the bike back. I think first you need to decide on what you think has actually happened to the bike. There are 3 possibilities as far as I can tell.

The seller is telling the truth: the bike was stolen from them and they are also a victim. You could use the following to decide how likely this option is.

-If this is true, they should be very cooperative, be willing to give police statements, tell the police exactly where the bike was stored/stolen from and what date and time.
-They should also be willing to give a statement to the police regarding where they bought the bike.
-From speaking to the police, do you get this impression? Do the police sound like they are suspicious, but simply do not have the evidence. Was the person known to the police? Any idea if they have a criminal record?
-Looking at the sellers history, the account holder is most likely female, but they did sell a mens shirt at some point (boyfriend, husband, brother). Just from crime statistics, I'd say it's unlikely that the original bike thief is the account holder. Perhaps someone in the same house though. You may be able to track down the other names of people living at the same address (if you know their address).
-Is it likely that the account holder would have bought this type of bike? it's a men's bike and 54cm. Too large for most women I think.
-They already lied in their eBay advert. They said there were a couple of light marks and scratches from 'where it fell in the shed'. The truth is that you put the marks on the bike. No reason they wouldn't lie again.

The seller is lying: They knew the bike was stolen, and successfully sold it locally.

-Gumtree messages are sent through the gumtree servers in order to hide buyer and seller email addresses from each other. If the bike was sold through gumtree, and gumtree messages were used to communicate, they should have a record of any messages sent or received by the seller. If you have the details of the advert (date, time, phone number or name on advert), then they may be able to share this info with the police.
-If you have their mobile number (possibly included on gumtree advert, or find from eBay details), I would suggest that you do a search on google for the phone number. Usually you can find old copies of other gumtree adverts linked with this number. You may find that the same phone number is linked with other suspicious gumtree ads (usually they'll use different names on different ads which is a good sign).
-You could perhaps offer a reward for its return + put up some local adverts and an ad on gumtree
-Unfortunately the buyer may not come forward as they know they'll lose the bike.
-Found this preloved ad from the 12th August. Ad is no longer available, so this is a 'cached copy'. Also has a name on the ad. It's possible this was the advert which led to the sale of the bike, so maybe preloved can help.

The seller is lying: They knew the bike was stolen, and were storing it somewhere else, or got spooked then moved it or dumped it. As a result the police did not find it when they went round.

-The seller still has it somewhere and may try to sell it again, or pass it to someone else to sell. Just keep looking as you have been already.
-Offer a reward, and the thief may turn up to claim it . If you hear from someone who has the bike and wants the reward, be very happy and try to arrange to meet them. Try to gauge from your conversation/messages whether you think they are a good samaritan or potentially the thief. If the latter, agree to meet them and have the police come along too .

One last thing is that the last negative feedback they received said 'had to claim money back'. Does not necessarily mean the bike was returned. Maybe it was a partial refund so that ebay member may have the bike still. eBay should be willing to send a message to the buyer if this is the case.

Anyways, a lot of stuff. Just hope some of it is useful!

Now luck getting in touch with the eBay buyer , police and eBay do not want to know so its in the wind again I guess.