first bike buying

Motorcycling
1

my 16 year old daughter " fishface" has been scouring ebay and the likes for a moderately priced 125 recently ,
in anticipation of her 17th birthday in april.
its a good time of year for a bargain , so when she came across a suzuki en 125 which looked promising ,it seemed that about £750 - £800 would be a reasonable price. Depending of course on an inspection of the bike

The bike in question is only two yrs old , and looks in good condition from the photos .
However despite various emails to the seller , we had no response and therefore could not see the bike.
Also there was a very brief and vaque desription ,with no close up photos.

Now normally i would never commit myself in such circumstances , but she didnt want to miss an opportunity as bidding was at £750 , with 1 hour to go .
So she decided to bid £800 , which turned out to be the reserve , and she won the bidding .
As she no feedback on ebay to protect it seemed to be a calculated gamble .

So today we went to see the bike , as arranged
oh dear , oh dear …
the lad selling the bike wasnt there , although his dad was .
and the bike had obviously been stood out in the rain , untouched for some time
it had a thin layer of rust and corrosion over every metal part and various more substantial rust patches .
Numerous scratches and small damages , including a missing mirror , broken oil filler cap and red brick dust still ingrained into the leavers , exhaust and other areas .
It had rusty fork stantions , a seized chain and knackered sprockets , corroded shocks and was generally filthy.
To cap it all off the bike wouldnt even start, due to a flat battery .

Of course the £800 is staying firmly in victorias pocket , and i guess she wont incur the wrath of ebay , due to not going ahead with the purchase seeing as the bike wouldnt even start .
However the sad thing is that some unsuspecting kid without any on hand advise , will come along and buy that bike .

New buyers beware

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320211198485&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

2

You done the right thing IMO :wink:

Cash on collection, if it don’t meet the description walk away :satisfied: Worth risking a negative for 800 quid :cool:

I’ve seen -1 before on feedback but you’d open a new name :wink:

I see it said reliable, economic good runner :hehe:

3

oh well , back to looking

4

oops i posted that comment above, but on my dads username

5

personally i wouldn’t buy anything over a couple of hundred pounds on ebay, it is ok to buy some ball pen refills, books, or even a dog house on ebay.

6

What’s the difference from any other advert? :unsure:

7

As long as you use your loaf there is nowt wrong with fleabay.

I’ve bought and sold several cars and bikes from there.

You can always walk away from it and its better to view before bidding:cool:

8

it is just that i cannot trust individual sellers on ebay as i trust big companies, i have no problems buying air tickets, holidays, furnitures, bed on-line. again, big companies can screw customers in big ways. so you pose a good question, we should be cautious on on-line purchase, whether the sellers are individuals or companies

9

That’s why I do cash on collection :wink: I’m not really buying online :cool:

10

Not as silly as you look mate;):smiley:

11

My brothers, uncles, cousin is a Prince & has much money for you :stuck_out_tongue:

12

good job you didnt buy it!!Ebay can be good, my cousin has picked up a few scooters off of ebay, teh last one was a gilera runner125 for only £400, all legit, ad in good nick too.

my mate dhofty picked up a mito 125 off there for his missus, again not lot wrong with it at all, just have a good lok at the bike before commiting to anything, sounds too me like you know what your doing anyway;)

fishface must be annoyed! get your hopes up that its gonna be a clean reasonable bike…and is not its a bit crap!. :frowning:

13

ebay is alright if you use your noodle…

I would recommend viewing bike/car before bidding tho…

Iv’e bought and sold loads of stuff on there… Just put my Kwak ER5 on there. At least I know that it will start and has been looked after… I suppose if it was something older then I would be wary… Buyer Beware I think!

14

Very wise to walk away Im with you grim in that I only go for the cash option that way the dosh is firmly in your pocket and sod the negative feedback, sounds like it didnt match the description so they got no comeback, be patient and you will soon get a bike :slight_smile:

15

the leason here is, don’t buy the first thing you see. View a few, think it over and don’t be too impatient. You’ll get a good one, but it might take a bit of time.