Forum Buying/Selling/Paypal etiquette

ed will always buy it off you?

Or me, if I lived in London. Dutch shoppers ride like a dream!

Ask them to leave their wallet and phone with you. Or just wallet. Assure them it's only a safety precaution and nothing personal.

Ask them to leave their wallet and phone with you. Or just wallet. Assure them it's only a safety precaution and nothing personal.

But again, if I was buying I wouldn't leave all my personal information with a stranger, in return for possibly a stolen bike

Attach a small explosive charge to their genitals, and offer to remove it when they return the bike.

haha nice

Ask them for ID & deposit. Minimum. Also try and have a chat over the phone with the buyer. If he sounds like a biker & knows his stuff he's more likely to be legit. If they sound like a chav type, avoid.

Are there any second hand bike shops in London that'll buy bikes off you?

hey tibbly, what size is your bike as i might be interested :)

If it were me:

1. meet outside the local police station - gives you and the buyer confidence.
   
2. full money upfront, in your hand. no. 1 will give them confidence that you're not then going to tell them to fuck off if they don't want it.
   

Hey

I’ve just joined the forum and was lucky enough to get first dibs on this really nice Claud Butler frame yesterday. Anyway, as I’m new here I’m not exactly sure how the buying process should have played out so I wanted to get some feedback on what’s happened.

Okay, so after I said I wanted the frame, Seth81 contacted me and we exchanged e-mails trying to sort out a good time for me to buy. As I live in Brighton I said I could pick it up on Saturday afternoon. At which point he asked me if I would pay him the full amount via Paypal to secure it. I wasn’t exactly sure if this was normal (is it?) and as a result I offered to pay him half the cost as a compromise.

After waiting nearly a day for a response he got back to me saying that he’d wait til Saturday but he didn’t give me any Paypal instructions. A couple of hours later I received an e-mail asking if I’d also buy a seatpost from him along with the frame. I thanked him for the offer but said I was happy with just the frame.

A couple of hours after that I get another email saying he’s gonna offer the frame to the second dibber as he’ll buy the seatpost and he lives in London. I obviously replied saying that if I have to buy the seatpost because it’s a dealbreaker then I will as I really like the frame.

Anyway, he’s just got back to me saying that the deals off.

Sooooooooooo...I basically just wanted to put the feelers out and see if this kinda behaviour is typical or whether I just got unlucky as there is generally a forum etiquette when it comes to buying/selling? If so it would be good to know for future dealings.

Thanks in advance.

this definitely isnt normal.
i think you've had an unlucky first buy.
obviously you cant make him sell it to you.
i've had the same thing happen to me.

also I would always prefer cash on collection, it's just a lot easier. seems you've had a pretty unlucky first encounter, i have hardly had any problems dealing with people on the forum.

yeah, i refuse to use paypal, i dont have an account as i cant and its just so much easier with cash.

I wouldn't have pre-paid for something on paypal that I was going to collect myself unless I knew the seller. I probably wouldn't even pay for something like that if it were to be posted unless the seller has been a member for a while and has sold things on here before without a problem. That whole part of the deal sounds very dodgey to me and the fact that the deal was subsequently called off raises yet more alarm bells.

The basic rule of thumb for the forum is caveat emptor.

P.S. Generally the seller sets the rules for the sale. Many have dibs followed by a Personal Message and that sets up the order of selling (if 1st guy dibbing&PM'ing can't reach a deal, it goes to 2nd guy..). Some people looking for a quick sale will do it on a first to get cash in hand.

Thanks for the replies. I was feeling pretty gutted about missing out on the frame but it looks like it was probably for the best.

Dont worry, if theres one thing this forum is never short of its nice frames for sale.

and puns

sounds like a lucky escape.