Does anyone take a deposit when selling a bike

are you sure? i bet they don't. what if you were considering buying a 1500 quid bike, but didn't have the money yet?

I think what they do ( this is what has happened to me in bike shops) is take a token payment of say, 0.01p on your card, then they have all the details in the system an could charge more to it if you didn't come back.

It was a couple of years back - but spitalfields branch took payment from me on CC of total price for a Spez Allez. Refunded it when I came back.....