Road Cycling - bianchi bike question

purchased bianchi bike on ebay for $380.00. was listed as used one year, and had shimano 600/ultega components, with a tange prestige superlite frame. seller said original price of bike was $1700.00. i thought i was buying a 1 year old bike. 4 days after i recieve bike seller tells me bike's original cost was only $1250.00 and the bike was 8 years old, a 1994 model. seller won't take back bike or offer any compensation. filed fraud case with ebay. bike looks to be in excellent condition, my qusetion is was this a really bad deal? as you can tell, i new to biking. thanks for any help.

Originally posted by markevans999
purchased bianchi bike on ebay for $380.00. was listed as used one year, and had shimano 600/ultega components, with a tange prestige superlite frame. seller said original price of bike was $1700.00. i thought i was buying a 1 year old bike. 4 days after i recieve bike seller tells me bike's original cost was only $1250.00 and the bike was 8 years old, a 1994 model. seller won't take back bike or offer any compensation. filed fraud case with ebay. bike looks to be in excellent condition, my qusetion is was this a really bad deal? as you can tell, i new to biking. thanks for any help. Look man....wasn't there a picture? One can tell old ultegra from new.The desciption is also a tipoff,and shimano 600 is pre ultegra meaning pre 97.tubing is a tipoff-no longer available. If he only said it had been 'used' one year,that is not really fraud.It's buyer beware and YOU have to ask the right questions.Ebay is no place for the novice or underinformed.....It's not that bad a deal if it is relatively unused.Good brand,good tubing and good parts.Consider it a learning experience that could have been alot worse.

it's not that bad of a deal, Bianchi is a good frame, and the parts are fairly decent (even though they are old) but the seller should refund the money if he was being misleading (although we are hearing 1 side of the story here...) I'd just cut my losses and ride the bike, it might be a few years older but it's better then nothing

i would certainly think inflating the price from $1250 to $1700 to be fraud. i know that is against ebay rules. as for questions, i emailed several times and asked original price, was it ever crashed, and what model. he emailed back, before bidding closed, and said bike was never crashed, original price $1700 and bike in mint condition. after i recieved bike was when he changed the price and said it was a 1994 model. what questions should i have asked? thanks

If the components were good, and the frame in my size, I might've bid $300 on it. Of course, you always bid low on eBay, because nuthin' is ever quite what they say it is......

Originally posted by markevans999
i would certainly think inflating the price from $1250 to $1700 to be fraud. i know that is against ebay rules. as for questions, i emailed several times and asked original price, was it ever crashed, and what model. he emailed back, before bidding closed, and said bike was never crashed, original price $1700 and bike in mint condition. after i recieved bike was when he changed the price and said it was a 1994 model. what questions should i have asked? thanks Original price is meaningless,and maye he forgot. Original price is one of the most often misquoted, or more likely inflated things. Maybe you should have asked exactly what model year it was. Maybe you could have asked some questions here ,before,rather than after.Too many times I see...'hey was this a good deal?' Too late after the deal is done.Did you eally think you were getting a 1 year old mint ultegra bike for that price?,considering what new quality stuff goes for? It could happen,but it ain't the norm.

I am very sorry to hear that you have been rip off, as they say"pick up the pieces and move on" filing a case against the person you will probably lose more, minimize the losses and learn from past mistakes,
oscar

caveat emptor

Originally posted by tivoli_mike
caveat emptor

I'm afraid tivoli_mike is correct.

What was the sellers handle? I've shopped E-Bay a few times and would like to avoid this crook.

Well he said that it was used for one year not that it was one year old. You should have asked the model year. Of course, the description was misleading and perhaps intentionally so.

A 1994 bike is a bit obsolescent in components and stuff. But it is perfectly functional and it is highly serviceable. That bike should give you good performance.

Pokey is right, however many people cannot tell.

Welcome to buying EBay where almost everyone gets ripped off. You can claim all you want and give all negatiive feedback. It does no good.

Either way for $400 you got a good deal. You got a nice bike with nice steel tubeset and nice parts.

I don't think you did too badly. If you were paid $380.00 for the bike, someone else was probably willing to pay $370.00.

You got a nice bike, a little retro maybe, but nice. Do use the eBay feedback process. I always check feedback before I buy anything on eBay. If the seller did, indeed, misrepresent the original value of the bike, eBay should be notified. Good luck. Enjoy your new bike!

thank you for your comments. i feel better about the bike now. it is in mint condition, no scratches on any components, and the frame has only a couple of small paint chips on the chain stays. it did come with a new selle titanium flite seat and a new titanium seatpost. i did a small test on ebay over the last couple of days. i emailed about 10 bike sellers for information about the bikes up for bid. i asked about original price, age, and if they had the original reciept as proof of this info. not one person that reponded had a reciept or offered any proof. i thought that was kinda interesting. thanks again.