Any One Ever Buy A Bike Off Ebay ? Beware of scam.

[andyfoxgs500]

im not sure how much differant us ebay is but i have bought 13 cars on ebay and never had a problem spent in total about 15,000 on ebay never any probs

[The Buddha]

The stupid - They check on all parts prices and realise cam shafts are 200 bucks a piece ... valves are 24 a piece, cam chain is 400 bucks and the whole freaking motor they simply take apart into every single component, nut and bolt ... that crap just rots on ebay ... no one has the time, $$ or patience to buy the crap KZ250 1 part at a time and put it together. These also are the non bikers usually ...


Cool.
Buddha.

I'd venture to say that this group is also the group that steals and parts out vehicles.   

i was burned on ebay in a turntable (DJ setup) deal.  any large purchase i make on there will be face to face.   small purchases i've done alright but most have been through sellers with 1,000's of feedbacks. 

I prefer to use ebay as a stop gap measure only ... I been told bad stuff as good ... and surprisingly ... some stuff that was good as bad ... Messed up my plan when it turned out to be useable ... like freaked me out.
I prefer buying everything face to face, but use ebay to discuss prices etc with the sellers in case they are being dicks.
Cool.
Buddha.

[jt_234]

I've bought 2 cars, 2 trucks and my GS off of Ebay.  I got good deals on all of them.  I dealt local except for one of the trucks, I prefer to deal locally.  I don't deal with anyone without a near perfect rating and who don't ask for deposits bigger than I'm willing to gamble on the deal.  I've never had a problem.  Just put in your due diligence...Seller feedback, Carfax, ask lots of questions.  You can ferret out the frauds and bad deals easily enough.

[craftierod]

ebay is ok ,you just have to watch who you buy from ,oh sorry i spell your name wrong buddha craftierod 

[yamahonkawazuki]

Moral of the story:
Don't look at any post on craigslist that is out of state with no phone number. Its a SCAM!

Far more effective - don't look at any ad on craiglist that does not give a specific location that is within the area served by the list in question - they are all scams, or nearly so. Flag them as such and move on. Posts with no location listed or a location == the name of the list are almost always dirtbag scams. The good thing about craigslist is that it's local and face to face. You can't tell if it's local unless there's a specific location. QED.

THE MUCH BIGGER moral is to AVOID PHISHING ATTACKS by NEVER "clicking on a link in an email" to get to a site. If you had gone and typed in www.ebay.com yourself, and then gone from there to ebaymotors, and then looked for the guy's ad, you would have found out it was a scam right from the get go. All those emails that have a critical message from your bank (any bank, most of which won't be your bank, but at some point they will happen to pick a bank you use), your credit card company, your mortgage company, etc - are all just trying to get you, or someone stupider than you, to put in enough identifying information (to some fake scam site) that your money can be stolen or your identity can be stolen, or both.

If you don't know what phishing is, and you're on the internet, that's like not knowing what AIDS is and going to a whorehouse in Africa. Educate yourself, and any old folks you know that use computers and might be gullible.

Yeah i know i find out ive got 15 bank accounts i didnt know i had, and ill be damned if all tehir security is compromsied and i need to verify my information. plus shaZam! i win thte lottery 4 times a day, adn seem to eb a viagra/cialis magnet as well as fake rolex's etc. welcome to the world of losers who are too lazy for a real job

[bill14224]

I've been buying various things on eBay for 10 years, but I've been using PayPal merchants mostly so I haven't been burned yet.  But would I buy a used vehicle on eBay?  Not on your life!  To buy used bikes and cars, go to criagslist.org.  Be smart.  Buy vehicles locally unless you want to take a vacation trip anyway!  Some dealers and people who put bikes on eBay also advertise on Craigslist.  Just be smart and ignore them and deal locally.  I would NEVER buy a bike I didn't ride first unless it was a parts bike or a project bike I could buy for a song.. with a clear title!!! 

[jeremy_nash]

I recently bought a 86 ninja 1000 off craigslist.  had it listed for $1000.  went to guys house, he rode it down the street while I  followed on the gs, went back to his house, I rode his down the street, came back, and he had talked himself down to $600!   I was like hell yeah, and counted him out the money.  sometimes the deal that sounds too good realy isn't, but that's the exception.

[bosozoku]

Complaints should go to his domain registrar: do a whois on his domain and see who's registering it.  He may also have been stupid enough to register it with his own home address and phone nr as the contact, in which case, let the abuse begin.

I wouldn't buy any vehicle off of EBay unless I was:
(a) paying cash
(b) flying or driving out to pick it up, and only paying after seeing a titled vehicle that matches the description in the auction

-b.

[xhyperxshogunx]

i love ebay!! i bought a 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST off ebay for 1200 (threw rod), i replace the shortblock, sold the car for 5000 that following month .

[shuluke]

Haha.. that fake site probably brings more money in than you know. He might not even be really selling anything, but just wants you to load his website and he will add a cookie to your computer so when you ever buy anything from ebay, it will look like they are the ones who told you to go to ebay, and therefore, they make a percentage of what you bought. its like a recommendation cut. Many people do this for easy money. Hell people have figured out how to do it on a ebay listing! Just think.. if I go to his website and get his cookie, then I go to ebay and buy a car for 10k. he will make like 100 bucks off me, and he didnt even see me or talk to me, or do anything.. free money.  Even big companies do this, like for example if they ask you to install a yahoo or google toolbar.. yahoo and google pay out good money for anyone who can get people to install their stuff.. and if you think, someone like adobe who has 100's of installs a day.. to have someone install a toolbar is easy and they pocket from it.

Shuluke

[platinum_black]

i bought a pair of 89 clip ons from ebay the left one was in fantastic condition but the right one was crap, the description said fantastic condition ready just to bolt on to your gs but when i got it out the pack half of it was heavily rusted and would need a lot of sanding to get shiny and the thread on the end for plugs was also rusted to hell so i cant fit end plugs to it. got shafted

[LucPro]

Ok, so I totally know where you all are coming from cuz I have been on both sides, selling and buying.  I suggest you do not buy something you cant see first, period! All you say that you would only buy from people with high feedback.  You can actually buy e-bay accounts with high ratings that someone else already built up, a couple bucks.  This would be a nominal fee if I was gonna scam someone for a couple grand.  Like I said, you want to see the machine first if you are buying anything that is expensive.

I sold cars on e-bay for a company and please.  See before you bid!  Everyone abuses you when you are the seller.  Especially if they back out.  It was costing our company 3-4k because we had to foot the bill on everyone's back-outs.

[rah]

I bought my 98 Turbo-Diesel Benz from ebay and flew out on points to pick it up (from Seattle to Chicago). No problems, no hassles, great deal - especially when I was on a Ford Focus budget.

The key for me was to run a Carfax, and then pay someone to test drive it and run some basic checks - including a compression test, electrics check, and take a whole new set of pictures for me of the vehicle (pointing out where the issues were). The cost of this service (about $100) was well worth it, and I purchased with confidence after speaking with the reps at the car dealership, as well as speaking with the car evaluation service. 

I have almost been burned on ebay, however, when I purchased a Sony PS2 (ok, that was a while ago)... but I purchased through Paypal, and the vendor was investigated when I did not get what I was supposed to receive. Paypal refunded my money no questions asked, as they had received similar complaints from other purchasers.

[scottpA_GS]

I bought 2 Cars, 1 Truck and 2 Motorcycles on eBay... Some I went over 1500 Miles to pick up 

When buying a vehicle I ask for a copy of the title, VIN or copy of VIN Rubbing, 1-2 phone numbers, address etc...

So far every vehicle I have bought on eBay turned out GREAT! Just be careful.

last week I just picked up my Shaow 750 ACE about 500 miles away, I just knew for te price even if it didnt start it was worth it.. Well.. It runs FANTASTIC! and I just got done polising chrome for about 5 hours.... CHROME SUCKS!



Will post shiny pics after a nap

[97dime]

i bought my GS on ebay. bought it 2 yrs ago.  its an '04 and had 3700 miles.  drove 300 miles to pick it up.  paid $2500 with only a couple minor cratches on it.  it now has just over 9000 miles and haven't had a problem yet.  thats the biggest purchase i've made.  since then i've probably spent close to $4000 on ebay(mostly home electronics and atv parts) and haven't gotten burnt once.  maybe i'm just lucky.  if i cant find it local then ebay is my next choice.

[ben2go]

I bought 2 of my GS'es off ebay.No issues.Gotta look at their feedback and how much they have sold.

[kincaire]

Just recently bought my own GS500 off Ebay as well; it does have a few minor issues (needs a new handbrake switch, new sparkplugs), but all the repairs together still barely comes to 3/4 the price I would've paid new. I spent a LOT of time checking out as many options as I could find. My advice is to look for sellers who are upfront about damage to the bike. If it seems too good to be true, as always, it probably is. I think if they give a reason for selling the bike, that's always a plus too. And ask the seller lots of questions before you make any decisions.

[yooblonder]

Me too!  Got my GS via ebay.  I had the seller's number before ebay deleted his sale (contravention of rules).  Reason for sale was genuine.

My family rearranged a holiday by 200 miles for me to be nearer to pick up the bike.

Caution, awareness and common sense is the key.  I would do it again.

[Andy13186]

I bought my car off ebay with 75k miles on it.  2003 mustang gt,  it was from an auto brokerage though and i traded my old car in to them.  Ive driven it 15 miles with absolute 0 problems.

I also bought my GS500 off craigslist, got a great deal!

[jbrowner1000cc]

I bought my GS500e from Ebay for £600 or was it £800 nevertheless, just make sure you view before you buy.