Ebay - Buying a bike from Ebay

[surgtech1956]

What the general opinion on buying a bike off of Ebay?

[Batbike]

a couple of years ago i bought a frame off of ebay --- had no problems. got exactly what i ordered and enjoyed the frame!

[maillotpois]

My husband just bought a very nice frame from eBay. The seller works in a bike store and the frame was barely used. Got it for 1/2 price.

[mimitabby]

check the feedback.
most people on ebay are very good. The bike i bought was misrepresented.
they said it was lightly used. NO WAY.

but it was a great bike and the repairs weren't too costly (wheels trued
and front hub rebuilt) and a great price too.
I would do it again.

[FreshNewbie]

I bought my bike on Ebay (brand new 2005 Specialized Vita) for nearly half off. Like Mimi said, check feedback, generally it's just people like us trying to resell their old bikes to invest in new ones.

[songlady]

I purchased a bike on ebay. When it arrived there were a few problems with wear and tear that were not mentioned (the seller claimed it was all in like new condition), but she and I eventually worked out a compromise that I was satisfied with. So although it did not go smoothly, I would still do it again.

[xeney]

Mixed. My husband had a really terrible experience with a seller who had 100 percent perfect feedback, but sold him a "like new" road bike, allegedly with less than 300 miles, that had clearly been rode hard and put away wet, so to speak. The mechanic who wrote up the estimate for my husband's PayPal claim thought the bike had several thousand hard miles on it and at least one wreck. It had been carefully photographed to hide things like serious paint damage and a broken brake lever, and other stuff like braking wear on the rims wouldn't have shown up in the photos, anyway. The seller was also a jerk of the highest order ... and eventually relisted the bike under a different user name, so it's not like having PayPal rule in my husband's favor really did the guy any harm. My husband had to pay to ship it back, too.

We've also had good luck, though. The frame I just bought is nicer than it was described or looked online; my husband bought a like-new Bianchi frame that is, in fact, brand new. He also bought an old steel Allez that was much nicer cosmetically than the description led him to believe, but had a couple of mechanical issues that weren't reported -- he considers that one a win, because they were issues that a casual rider might not have noticed or understood, and they were fixable. I bought one old mixte that was damaged and junky when it arrived, but the seller offered to take it back and was apologetic and not a jerk. (I wound up keeping it because it was so cheap that it wasn't worth the hassle.)

In general, don't rely only on feedback unless the person sells a lot of bikes. Always pay with PayPal and don't pay more than PayPal will cover with its buyer protection. When in doubt, ask for more photos. If the seller balks, walk away.

[Blueberry]

I've had a pretty good experience - but it was from a bike shop. I called and talked to them before I bid.

The bike did come with about $100 worth of stuff my LBS needed/wanted to fix - bad adjustments (could be shipping damage), wrong cable components (brake straddles), etc. They wanted to make it perfect because they love the bike, so I let them (and they are almost always right, and take *really* good care of me usually). But, the light that came with the bike was just recalled by Peter White because it can blow at high speeds. The seller is now (2 + months later) working with Peter to make sure I can get a replacement light even though I wasn't an "original purchaser."

I've had terrible experiences with other things (like a laptop in "excellent" condition with a cracked case). That guy wouldn't give us money back unless we agreed to leave positive feedback. Jerk.