-
Has anyone here bought a bike from a private seller in Europe sight-unseen?
I've done this for bikes in Northern Ireland. My main piece of advice would be buy the seller not what they're selling. If you're bank transferring for something you haven't seen then it's always dodgy, but haven't been burnt yet. I've asked sellers to sign a very basic contract/receipt as some insurance but doubt it would hold any legal currency. Couriers can also help as an intermediary but some are more accommodating that others. If it's not a rare bike then possibly worth questioning if the risks are worth it. Best of luck.
jambon-
Good point on the courier... there's a guy in Ireland who's really well known and regarded for bike collections in Europe and I suspect he would actually be quite helpful in that regard...
I'm not entirely fixed on wanting a specific bike to be honest, more that I just want a cheap bike that's not absolute scrap and the thing is a <€3k bike in Ireland is likely to have lived outside year round, not taken good care of and hooned... seems like the same bike in Germany will have been garaged and TÜV tested so likely to be in much better condition!
Nahguavkire
Has anyone here bought a bike from a private seller in Europe sight-unseen?
I'm still planning to pick up a super cheap (€3,000 max incl. shipping) 750 or 1000 sports bike for summer fun and I've been ogling bikes for sale in basically any part of Europe within shouting distance of a ferry from Ireland (predominantly France and Germany though). My logic being that Euro-bikers put their bikes away for the winter (and German's have TÜV) so by and large they should be in better condition than what's available in Ireland on the cheap end of the scale...
As appealing as it is to have a little roadtrip and pick it up myself, the way this summer is shaping up it's going to make more sense for me to have it curried home if I do buy one abroad... which means buying a bike that I haven't actually seen in person.
I do have a mate in Paris who's a biker so I could ask him to take a look if it happened to be a reasonable distance away but otherwise am I absolutely cracked to be considering it?
There is also the dealer abroad route which has a good few nice examples in budget too but I suppose I want to just discount private as a bad idea first before I commit to dealer only as the private seller bikes are (visually) in nicer condition for the price...
Par example...
€2600 in France