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If any of this info has already been posted in a different thread, would someone be so kind as to reply with the link? If not, here are my questions.

I've been having some fun on Ebay lately watching some Ninja 250's and 500's. They look like they're in great shape, some have very low mileage, and I can get what I think is a really great deal (under 3000 for most). I can buy a new 500 for only 5000, so I'm not going to spend over 3000 for a used one (unless it's basically brand new). I can even have some shipped to my door for a good price.

Has anyone bought a bike off Ebay? Is it good? I've never purchased anything on Ebay before, especially not something like this. I hear people say they got one from Craigslist, but I haven't heard anyone really talk about Ebay.

Second question concerns mileage. If the bike has been well taken care of, about how many miles will it last? I've seen some used bikes with 12,000 or so miles on them. I don't know if that's high, low, or just right. Do they last as long as a car typically? Longer? Shorter?

Thanks again for any help.

road foreman wrote:Second question concerns mileage. If the bike has been well taken care of, about how many miles will it last? I've seen some used bikes with 12,000 or so miles on them. I don't know if that's high, low, or just right. Do they last as long as a car typically? Longer? Shorter?

I expect 80-100k miles from my bikes with reasonable care. Got 80k from a CB750K, 98k from a CM400A, 80k from a GS500E, and have 59k on my present GS500 and it still runs good as new.

The idea with spending $3,000 on a used Ninja 250 is that it's a great learner bike and you'll be able to resell it for almost the exact amount of money you bought it for.

When I was looking at used bikes my upper limit on mileage was about 15K miles. Depending on the age of the bike I don't think 12,000 is unreasonable. And +1 to what gsJack said. If you can get 80K or even 100K from a bike you probably got your money's worth out of it. I would consider anything in the 40-50k range as high mileage for a bike.

Check the feedback on the Ebay seller and make sure they have lots of positive comments. Beware of sellers who only take Western Union money orders. That's a red flag that you're probably dealing with a thief. Ask the seller what the retun policy is if it's not shown in the ad and get it in writing. Try to use Paypal if you can.
Good luck!

For what it's worth, I just bought a bike off of EBay. It is a 1982 Honda CM450A, with 16K miles on it. The seller had 15+ pictures of the bike, at every conceivable angle posted with the auction listing. The sellers rating was nearing the thousands (a power seller), with a high successful rating (98+%). I called him directly, and he answered all of my questions over the phone. He accepted Paypal for the entire purchase, and he offered a "Buy it now" option, which I was grateful for; having lost a few auctions on bikes I really wanted. I bought it with the buy-it-now, and the seller even worked with my shipper, who picked up the bike at his door within days.

Make sure your seller has a high rating and a high seller count. Make sure that the seller will work with the shipper of your choosing, and protect yourself buy asking if he/she will allow fund transfer through Paypal to protect your dollars.

My own experience buyng on EBay has been good so far; the bike is in-route.

Debbie

I bought my bike off ebay. However it was a local seller. I just dont like the idea of spending that much money and possibly never recieving the item. I dont care HOW good a sellers feedback is they can easily turn bad in an instant.