Buying from E-bay

[WARainMan]

Less than one month to go before my MSF class. I am really trying to be patient. I have been looking at the deals available at my local dealer, Craigslist, etc. I have also discovered some seemingly good deals on E-bay Motors. However, I am concerned about making such a purchase. Is it worth looking for deals on E-bay when I can't fly around the country to test ride them?

Has anyone bought on E-bay?

[sharpmagna]

personally, I'd be very very aprehensive buying anything that cost as much as a bike without being able to "kick the tires"

[Kal]

There are only two ways to buy Bikes off eBay with any degree of safety

Go and view the Bike before bidding on it or buy it as a non-runnihg basketcase, spending no more than you would on a non-running basket case.

[ofblong]

I bought my bike on E-Bay but I looked for bikes within 100 miles of my home. This way I could go out and actually test ride/see/hear the bike. I wouldnt just buy one based on pictures because pictures dont always tell 1000 words.

[Flting Duck]

1) Check the seller's feedback. IF they don't have lots of feedback and/or it's less than 99%, walk away.

2) Call the seller and talk to them. If they don't list their number or their listing doesn't offer test rides, walk away. IF you have common sense, you should be able to get a good read on them from having a nice long discussion.

3) Bid accordingly. Like an earlier post said, if you don't know very much or the seller has little feecback, then just assume that you're buying a bike with lots of "issues" and bid accordingly.

4) Ebay is a crap shoot unless you're looking at local bikes that you can see and ride before bidding.

I haven't bought a bike off of ebay but I have bought a bike in another state from an Internet ad. Before committing the money and sending the seller a deposit, I spent about an hour talking to him on the phone until I felt that he was on the up and up and repesenting the bike fairly.

And don't buy a bike from the wife of the late oil minister from Nigeria.

[KarateChick]

I wouldn't buy a bike that I'm not able to check out myself.

[WARainMan]

Yeah, I never thought I would seriously consider E-bay, but I was curious if anyone had any experience,

Thanks to all

[MrGompers]

Lots of scams on ebay for bikes. Like 2 yr old hayabusas for $3,000
I wouldn't purchase anything on ebay worth more than $50.

Craigslist is a whole different story tho. I bought my bike from a guy on craigslist and I checked it out in person before handing over the cash.

[ofblong]

Lots of scams on ebay for bikes. Like 2 yr old hayabusas for $3,000
I wouldn't purchase anything on ebay worth more than $50.

Craigslist is a whole different story tho. I bought my bike from a guy on craigslist and I checked it out in person before handing over the cash.

its only a scam if you make it a scam. If your not bright enough to at least phone the person/meet the person and the object being sold then you deserve to be scammed. Like I said about my ebay purchase with my bike. I paid about $1000 less than blue book for my bike and I went to go see it. On top of that I sent quit a few e-mails about the bike as well as talk to the guy on the phone.

[storysunfolding]

If you go check the bike out it's not a problem. I've sold bikes on ebay and the only time I had a problem was when a guy overbid everyone without coming to see it. Showed up, told me it wasn't worth the price and then demanded I come down in price. I told him that if he wanted the bike I would be nice enough to drop it down to the second highest bid of a guy who did think it was worth that much or he could go play a game of hide and go... right. He didn't take the bike. I kept the $600 deposit and I offered it to the second highest bidder and got $1,400.... ended up being $2000 for a bike I got for free.

It was a 1978 gs 750- upgraded to electronic ignition, progressive suspension and drag bar