Affordable road bike?

[qska]

Do you eBay buyers worry about unwittingly purchasing stolen goods?

How do sellers approach questions about serial numbers etc?

[13aines]

I exchanged quite a few messages with the guy. He had good feedback, was in his 50s, lived in a very nice area, and didn’t have a receipt but I believed his story. Met him in person and everything stacked up and it was exactly as described.

[AlmostUseful]

qska said:

Do you eBay buyers worry about unwittingly purchasing stolen goods?

How do sellers approach questions about serial numbers etc?

I once bought a stolen bike, an Orange Five. Travelled to the New Forest, big house on a large plot, well spoken guy, new 330i on the driveway. He had a matching 224 DH Bike, and knew the Bike inside out. I changed a few bits and sold it on a few months later, guy I sold it to cracked it and rang Orange - they confirmed it was stolen in 2011 - strange considering I had bought and sold it as a 2013 model! And then I had a call from a West Mercia police. They had no issues with me, and expected about 4 people to have had it between the guy that stole it and the guy I bought it off.

The original owner had long since been provided with something new so my buyer kept the bike and it all went away - i’d Have been mortified if my buyer had lost it but what could I do? There’s not many ways I’m aware of to check legalities if second hand purchases. I didn’t even get it for much of a bargain!

[idiotgap]

I'm really looking for the bike that was bought as a New Year resolution or whatever and never really got ridden in anger. There seem to be enough of them about and a genuine seller is usually more than happy to tell their story, show original invoices etc. If you use bike forum classifieds rather than ebay or gumtree you can usually see vendor's posts and get a feel for their nature - if you go that route you're likely to get a better maintained but more used machine.

[13aines]

idiotgap said:

I'm really looking for the bike that was bought as a New Year resolution or whatever and never really got ridden in anger. There seem to be enough of them about and a genuine seller is usually more than happy to tell their story, show original invoices etc. If you use bike forum classifieds rather than ebay or gumtree you can usually see vendor's posts and get a feel for their nature - if you go that route you're likely to get a better maintained but more used machine.

Good advice.

My Giant Contend was only being sold because the guy had bought it then developed a heart condition and couldn't ride it any more. Had only ridden it home from the shop, and that was evident in the condition.