Buying from eBay

[colin86]

As above anyone bought there bike from here . Saw a bike in there a have interest in it’s a private sale. A tried to message seller with some questions but for some reason it says message failed try again later any ideas ?

[DuraAce]

Yes, I have.

Do not buy it via auction without viewing it first. Don't pay by PayPal, western union or any of that rubbish (especially if your budget is high)... Visit and view in person, do the deal that way.
Don't agree to have it delivered by an agent! (I assume I will get scammed and think of it that the seller has to convince me otherwise, view at home address, check V5 details match etc etc)

As to why you cannot message him, who knows?! Try again, use a different pc, get a friend to try etc etc.

[Gavia]

colin86 said:

As above anyone bought there bike from here . Saw a bike in there a have interest in it’s a private sale. A tried to message seller with some questions but for some reason it says message failed try again later any ideas ?

There’s nothing wrong with buying from there as long as you do your due diligence. Go and view the bike, give it a good going over and then try to agree a price like you would on any advert. If it’s an auction, you should still view it and give it a good check as before. Set a price that you won’t go above and leave it at that.

Sorry, but I’ve got to flag this up too. The singular first person pronoun is “I” not “a”. Such as “saw a bike on there I (not a) have an interest in” or “I tried to message seller....”

I won’t bother with the rest, just misspelling I is quite impressive.

[MotorsportTom]

I've bought a few bikes through/from ebay.

Personally, get a phone number through messages and call has gotten me the best results. Ask lots of questions about the condition etc and providing the listing is accurate along with their information supplied, and the price is right for it then you are fine.

ebay gives buyer protection so if you buy it and you aren't happy, then the seller gets funny, you have ebay on your side.

Most expensive was £7.5k and had no issues.

[Danm1les]

I've bought a bike and am currently trying to sell 2 on there at the moment. Buying wise i've never had a problem, its not different to a car, always check it before hand if its an auction or if its a classified ad its not different to autotrader.

[Jazoli]

MotorsportTom said:

Personally, get a phone number through messages

Good luck with that one on an auction these days, you can't communicate with the buyer until after you have won, fking eBay

[Rubin215]

I have bought and sold both bikes and cars over ebay, sometimes travelling a long way to collect them or deliver them.

Best advice is already given above; get a phone number and call for a long chat first.
People trying to rip you off are either evasive or profuse; either not enough info or far too much.
A genuine seller will tell you a bit about it, answer your questions but still occasionally be stumped for an answer.

Don't worry about paying it all in one go by Paypal; you will always get your money back if you're ripped off.
Never pay in advance by bank transfer; once the money has gone it's never coming back.
Western Union? Pahahahahahahaha...!

If you're travelling to collect always have a plan B in case it is a heap; I went from Edinburgh to Blackburn to pick up a car only to find out it had multiple issues including cylinder head gasket blown. The return train journey, booked on the day, was twice as much as the ticket to get there in the first place and there was no way of getting the seller to compensate me.

I also travelled from Edinburgh to Wales to collect a Triumph Tiger 800 only to have the seller tell me he didn't actually have the luggage for the bike stored in the same place as the bike so he would have to courier it to me!
I withheld £1000 until the luggage arrived, only to discover that his "full luggage" description actually meant he only had panniers (not the topbox) and the rack was for the wrong model of bike, hence the reason for it not being fitted when I went to collect it!
I gave him £500 for the panniers and rack.

If you're paying cash on collection let the seller know you will need him to take you to a bank to get the money there; don't let him think you're turning up with £5k in used banknotes or he might be meeting you with a baseball bat and a ski-mask on...

Make sure you have insurance etc in place before you drive off and make sure you have a signed and dated receipt; it would be just your luck to get stopped on the way home and have it impounded...

Whatever you do, go into it with your eyes open; there are some total rip-off merchants out there, but there are far more decent people just trying to sell.

[cbmotorsport]

I've bought bikes from Ebay. Some even unseen via auction. I'll never hand over money until I collect it though.

My theory is that if the seller hasn't described the bike accurately, and it's not what I was expecting from the ad, I just walk away and tell them why. You can usually tell from the quality of the photos, quality of advert and feedback if this is likely to happen.