Bikes and Ebay

[kev98]

Has anyone brought a bike off ebay? Was it succesful? Worth doing?
Cheers

[Kickstart]

Hi

Bought one. Took a risk on the pictures and description on Ebay as the price was not bad.

I knew it had been dropped lightly (no other reasons to put stickers there......) and was not worried about that.

However getting it home I found an oil leak a day later, which led me to find some damage to the cylinder head. To be honest even if I had gone to look at to buy normally the chances are I would not have spotted it.

On the other hand a good head from Ebay cost £25 plus delivery so it did not cost me that much to sort it out. Add the other stuff I replaced and it just became an OK deal, nothing too bad but nothing too good.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[zephyrgirl]

[cc123]

^^^ LOL !!!!
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[Bendy]

When buying on ebay, I put a fair amount of faith in the stuff written by the seller - you can generally get a decent impression of whether they're talking bollocks or not from the advert.

If they've put a phone number in and are happy for you to ring with more questions, bonus.

The usual 'go and see if' stuff applies but to be honest I wouldn't worry too much about winning an auction and then backing out if it doesn't meet the description - the seller can't really argue with that one if they were lying.

I think a fair number of vehicle sales on ebay do end early though, cos someone makes an offer off-site and the auction is ended.

Haven't bought a bike off there, but would happily consider it. My last 3 cars have come from ebay - 2 good, one not quite as described but I'd come so far that I bought it anyway.

[Keith]

I bought an oldish CG125 off ebay a few months back. From the pictures and the description the seller gave, it didnt appear to be a bad buy. The seller said it would require little work as it has been in 'storage' for a year.

Well, I got it home and I was just shocked at its condition! The whole thing was just a heap and barely even ran. 80% of the bike was covered in rust and it needed a lot of work to get through MOT.

I figured I wouldnt get my money back trying to sell the bike on and ended up spending around £200 getting it road worthy for the winter. After much work and cash, its not looking too sorry for itself and it runs a lot better, but had I known it was in the condition it was, I would of avoided like the devil.

If you want to buy something off ebay, make sure you go see the bike or at least get detailed pictures of it. Buying that CG has made me think twice about parting with money without seeing the machine other than 2 low resolution pictures on the advert.

Just make sure you are certain that its a good buy and you'll have yourself a bargain.
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Aprilia RSV Mille R Edwards Replica - Aprilia RS250 - Suzuki GSXR600 Supersport Race Bike

[Mr.Everready]

I sold my last bike on Ebay. My current bike was advertised on there but didn't buy from ebay, done it privately.

The only thing I can say is don't be affraid to walk away from a bike auction that you won. -1 feedback is better than buying a lemon.
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the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

[dodsi]

On the contary to what keith said I got a smashing deal on ebay!

I bidded on the bike and won it for £1000 on ebay

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=9807&item=4507407198

Went to check if everything was kosher on the saturday and then had a week to sell my other bike to source the funds (thanks to BCF I found a buyer)

On the following sunday went to pick the bike up and had no trouble with it so far!

If you bid on it and it is not as described, the advice I was given from people on here was DO NOT BUY IT. If it is as described

you have the right bike for you!!!!

[Mr.Everready]

Ham (Instigator) also got an ER5 on Ebay. Didn't even view it

Looks like he's happy with a great buy.
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the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

[Will87]

Hand two bikes from ebay, both haven't really been in that bad condition.

The CG125 was bought for £170 and had to spend £250 replacing bits but it is much better now.

The CB250RS was bought for £210 and sofar only spend abouy £50-60 to get it road worthy, going to need to spend a little bit more to rebuild the engine but that isn't really much.

[Gazdaman]

I found my bike on ebay, but didn't use the ebay bidding system.

When it didn't reach reserve I emailed him and organised a private viewing.

If you've won the auction, you're legally bound to buy the bike. So you've got little get-out if you don't like it. Unless the description isn't accurate.

Gaz

[Ric]

i waited till my zxr had sold on ebay, said if it falls thru let me know

the winner had 0 feedbac so was a good bet

[kasandrich]

A friend of mine bought a pair of bikes to do up, theory was put one on the road, and sell the other on to pay for the pair, but when he got there they were absolute dogs, not as described and the pictures didn't show them in their true light, I can't believe the pictures were taken withing the last 5 years!

He bit the bullet and bought them, I told him he should have rejected them as "not as described"
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Richard

CBR1000FM

[TiN]

I've bought one bike and sold two on Ebay. Generally no problems, and to be honest, I prepared myself for any possible problems anyway.

In terms of buying - ask every and all questions that you can before even considering bidding. And be up front with them. Ask questions to protect yourself - i.e. "Is there any damage?" "Does the engine run properly" etc...you can then have their answers on record if anything goes wrong.

I personally hate it when people try to sell something for several grand, but only have a 2-line description. I hate it even more when the seller is up their own arse, i.e. emphasising that you cannot even breathe on the bike until you have handed over the cash and signed the documents; being wary and protective is one thing, but being a blatant twat is quite another.

Another thing to bear in mind is location of the seller, and how you will get the bike home. There are plenty of motorcycle couriers now, so that shouldn't be a problem, but it often adds about another £150 to the price.

And of course, if something sounds too good to be true - i.e. a brand new Fireblade for £2500 BUY-IT-NOW, or even a Kawasaki that isn't green - then avoid
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TiN
dotgems.net

[Danny]

I bought my current bike off ebay. Nevertheless I had the bike checked over and test ridden before handing over the money.

The actually payment wasn't through ebay so the seller wouldn't have to pay the fees.

[izzi81]

I bought my Kawasaki zx6r on ebay last year. Buyer had 100% feedback, and I exchanged several emails with him to confirm the condition of the bike and have some kind of hard copy proof that he guaranteed the condition of the bike was as he said it was. I also didn't pay any money straight away, and I met the guy to pick up the bike and only paid him once we'd looked the bike over.

had the bike nearly a year, it's given me no problems at all (apart from when I came off it myself!) so I'd recommend ebay, as long as you research and don't pay until you've checked over the bike in person!
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Age doesn't matter unless you're a cheese
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[mario]

I've bought all my bikes on ebay and so has my dad (2each) I bought a Gilera DNA50, Sachs XTC125 and my dad bought Laverda Formula 650 and Suzuki GXW750.
All deals were worth doing and had no problems at all, for the Sachs i contacted the seller and got more pics to make sure it was a good deal. Turns out the prices i got the bikes for were brilliant prices and i wouldn't be worried about using it again. Just check description well and rating is good and should be fine!

Mark

[dodsi]

[hugo-a-gogo]

i bought mine, €3010, a year and a half ago

it was local so i went to see it first and had a quick shot
bargain
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"There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them - but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one. That is why they are dangerous."
Hunter S Thompson
clicky 4 bikey

[Jrod]

Got my bike off E-bay. AMAZING buy and even got money off what it ended for.

[yambabe]

I bought my ZL400 off ebay a few months ago. It was almost exactly as described, but I'd phoned & spoken to the guy and exchanged a couple of emails before my final bid.

The only thing that was different to what he'd said in his text was that the bike actually does run - he wasn't sure as he'd not tried it for a while!
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Sod falling in love, I wanna fall in chocolate.

[bsquiggle]

I bought my CB250rs on ebay just a few weeks ago. I paid what I believe to be a fair price (£150) in the knowledge that it needed a new head gasket (20-ish) and front tyre (40-ish) but also that i had nearly two months of MOT left. I have since discovered it will soon need a new cam chain (45-ish), but given it's age that is no great surprise. I had spoken to guy on phone, even asked why he was selling it, and was confident enough to hire a van rather than drive the car to look at it. So, for less than £300 I will have a decent enough bike for at least another year. It's still less than a year's insurance on the car. I wouldn't do it without seeing the bike though, or without speaking on the phone before committing. I think it's easier to tell if there's problems on the phone (for women anyway!)

[MarJay]

I bought my TT600 through an 'early ended' auction on ebay.

I got a bargain IMO.

I was straight up with the seller that I couldn't give him all of the money straight away, but I went to see the bike and he ended the auction there and then. He waited the two weeks it took me to get the cash together and I paid £2800 for a 2002 TT600 with 1400 miles on the clock.

Was a good transaction!
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Mr.Everready]

Well this ones been dragged up from the depths.
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the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

[Dom_]

Bought my rs50 off ebay without viewing it or anything. Was exactly as described, except he put 6000miles, when infact it was kms! I got a bargain at the time.

I've sold 2 bikes on ebay, first one came the day after the auction. Second one had to relist 3 times due to none-paying bidders, eventually sold it though.