Classic & Vintage - An Ebay Sale Dilemma, What Would You Do?

Here's a story for you. I sell a few bikes on Ebay mainly to finance other ongoing bike projects. I'm pretty careful about descriptions but I've recently made a sale thats causing a few issues.

I sold a 30 year old Falcon Eddy Merckx Golden Eagle, which was in excellent condition. Nice chrome and paint and bought from an elderly gentleman who had owned it from new. I didn't describe it as serviced, and I would expect any vintage bike buyer to expect an element of ongoing maintenance.

I listed it for collection, no returns, and it made a good price on Ebay £161, more than I was expecting. As it turned out the winning bidder was a long distance away. He said he had been watching several bikes and in his eagerness to place the winning bid, didn't realise it was listed for collection.

As it happened, I had a spare bike box and agreed to post it at cost. I heard nothing for 6 weeks after the sale, but then got a message saying he had been away, and had only just got round to sorting the bike out, but it needed some repairs, He had taken it to his local bike shop and been quoted £60 and therefore wanted £60 refunding.

This £60 is for rear wheel bearings, headset bearings and 2 innertubes. I'd stated the tyres were original and degrading, so he was happy to cover the cost of replacing those.

Now I have the typical Ebay situation of not wanting to get a negative rating, so I made him an offer of £30 to cover the cost of his replacement parts. However he's insisted he needs to cover his total bike shop repair costs.

So, I have a guy that buys a bike but can't collect, does nothing with it for 6 weeks, and then asks for a £60 refund. We've had very good communication, but I'm slightly suspicious. I've now asked him for the name and address of the Bike Shop that's quoted him £60. Just to verify everything is genuine before I refund £60.

He's given me a name and street in London, which despite endless googling, doesn't turn up any bike shop with that name. I've now told him I will agree to the £60 refund but have to confirm the Bike Shop's info.

This is the latest stage. Obviously, I don't want a disappointed buyer but I'm also thinking something doesn't add up. I'm aware that if I can't tie up the Bike Shop details, its probably going to turn a bit unpleasant.

What would you do in these circumstances?

What's the bike shop in London? Can you do a Google Street View to see if there's even a shop there?

Obviously this is your feedback rating on the line but I can't help thinking that doing nothing for six weeks and then expecting a refund is taking the proverbial. Most commercial suppliers I use insist you inform them of damage or shortfall within 5 days (and often less than that). Otherwise how do you know he hasn't been thrashing the guts out of it for six weeks and knackered the whell along the way?

Asking you to fund innertubes is ridiculous, if you said the tyres were "original and degrading" why does he think he'll get two pristine innertubes?

I would tell him that it's too late, and that you sold him an original bike. What is the statute of limitations on eBay feedback anyway.

I wouldn't send him a dime, or farthing, or ounce, or whatever you people in England call them.

That's a bummer. While I buy stuff on eBay all the time, I have never sold anything on eBay because I fear situations like this occurring.

I would challenge the buyer to a wrestling match to settle the dispute. ;)

What's the bike shop in London? Can you do a Google Street View to see if there's even a shop there?

Obviously this is your feedback rating on the line but I can't help thinking that doing nothing for six weeks and then expecting a refund is taking the proverbial. Most commercial suppliers I use insist you inform them of damage or shortfall within 5 days (and often less than that). Otherwise how do you know he hasn't been thrashing the guts out of it for six weeks and knackered the whell along the way?

Asking you to fund innertubes is ridiculous, if you said the tyres were "original and degrading" why does he think he'll get two pristine innertubes?


I would tell him that it's too late, and that you sold him an original bike. What is the statute of limitations on eBay feedback anyway.

I wouldn't send him a dime, or farthing, or ounce, or whatever you people in England call them.

I'm starting to think this is taking the proverbial! I've tried google street view, can't find anything. This is supposed to a shop called either Cut Cycles or Cut Bikes on The Cut in London SE1. There's plenty of web info on businesses including The London Bicycle Repair Shop and three Evans cycles.

The tyres were holding air when I had the bike, but according to this Bike Shop the valves have gone!

I've now had another reply and the buyer now seems unwilling or unable to confirm the bike shop details. No details, no refund I think.

Yeah. It would be easy enough to confirm and document his evidence, if the bike shop actually existed. Keep all your correspondence from the buyer, you're going to need it. Sounds like you're being scammed. File a complaint with ebay before he does.
Sellers are at a disadvantage on ebay for this kind of stuff, but you might prevail, especially if you can prove he lied about a fictitious bike shop.

You don't owe him a cent. You weren't even obligated to ship it to him and could simply have kept the bike and his money.

Best of luck!

I no longer pay attention to Ebay feedback, which is all bull, as far as I am concerned. Who cares if you have 100% or 98%? As for a refund...

Did you say, no refunds? If so, you are off of the hook. If the buyer cannot produce proof, you are off the hook. But only with yourself - not Ebay. Those people will side with the buyer unless he has 666 tattooed on his, or her, forehead.

So, inform the buyer that no refund is forthcoming. Explain why and then wait for his reaction. Chances are he will drop the whole thing, if it is a scam. If he does pursue the issue, things will be, pretty much, out of your hands, unless you can prove to an uncaring Ebay agent that you are on the up and up. And that does not even work, sometimes.

That is, of course, an opinion, and based on dealing with the Ebay refund deity who is, apparently, without a brain or the freedom to use it if he, or she, does have a brain.

Personal rant but, these days, I do not give a good rodent's rear end about how Ebay feels.

I believe that eBay (at least in the USA) won't help the buyer if more than 45 days has elapsed since the auction closed. I was burned that way, when a project I'd bought and didn't get around to for a couple months turned out to have a serious problem that the seller had not disclosed.

Nope, he gets nothing. He bought a used bike that was not listed as having been serviced so it's his risk.

You do have the ability to contest bad feedback and to respond to it on your feedback page, it's nothing short of blackmail if you ask me.

I basically went through this situation with a seller after selling my Sports Tourer. He inquired about the listing within the last ten minutes and started bombarding me with questions. Then has the nerve to tell me how much it would cost to ship it in a specific sized box and to ship it in two seperate boxes. Not to mention I already has shipping completely setup as the bike was already disassembled and boxed up ready to ship out. So buyers just had to put in their zip and it gave them the actual price. Then guess who wins... So not having to deal with hassle. I went through with pulling everything back out, running to the bike shop and getting a wheel set box to ship them separately and chopping down the original box to try to get it to "his" size. Then the guy still filed a dispute with eBay cause the shipping was still not what "he" calcuated. He left me a negative but eBay saw it my way and I didn't have to refund him for what he calculated for "his" shipping price over mine. There sure are some dandies out there is all I have to say.

Used sales are as is. I'd tell him to pound sand. The negative rating will go away after time.

Tell him to take a hike....on occasion you come across an idiot, in those instances there's nothing you can do. I'll take the occasional negative feedback before I succumb to feedback extortion.

This is a drag, sorry you're having to deal with this. I'd ask him for a phone number for the bike shop, so you can speak directly to the mechanic who's handling the bike. If he can't provide a phone number, you've made a good-faith effort and you're off the hook.

Best of luck.

You supplied an item as described. The only thing I would have done different is to give the buyer a chance to cancel his bid when it became clear he wasn't going to collect it. If a buyer is allow not to play by the rules once, he is most likely to try to cheat a second time.
I had two bidders cancel lately (on the same item!), one stating he was drunk when placing his bid, the other claiming he didn't have money. I just cancelled the bids as not to get into trouble with them should they have won the auction.

As most of the others have said, this is hardly a dilemma. Good luck anyway.

Customer sounds like a grifter. Also, 60 quid for "bearings"? Did the shop have to forge the wrenches before disassembling the hubs? Even with new cones/bearings, that's just too steep to be real, unless the pound has really inflated since I lived there!

No, I wouldn't refund the guy maintenance. If your auction said as is where is, that should be enough. I ate the cost of repairing a defective wheel bought from a guy who didn't know it was defective-- caveat emptor-- but I felt that I could afford to whereas he probably could not.

Another typical eBay story, when the fun begins long after a completed, cut and dried transaction.

You're done with him. Let him send feedback, and respond to it. I look at feedback, but if it's not positive, I always read up on it, ignore what I think is baloney, and like Randy says, most of it is.

I'm with everyone else. That guy is just looking to get the bike for a lot cheaper. When you buy a used bike it's an AS IS transaction. The buyer is responsible for getting the bike up to spec to ride it.

The fact that he can't provide the name or contact info of the bike shop is evidence enough that you shouldn't send him anything.

People don't judge you because of one negative feedback. You can't please everyone.

agree that 60 quid for bearings is ridiculous.
and seriously who expects the hub and headset bearings on a 30 year old
bike to not require repacking?
Take all the info and summarize it for ebay, as stated above before he
leaves negative feedback.

Marty

When I had some stuff up for sale on $Bay I always checked the buyer's feedback as well. Beyond the rating there are the words, and one can do creative wonders with words regardless of the rating.
"Buyer wanted refund of 60 for bearings worth 5 from a shop with no apparent existence, sellers beware" behind a neutral rating left in the buyer's feedback.

Thanks for the advice. Seems everyone is thinking what I was thinking anyway.

I forgot to mention the chain, something else he's expecting the cost of replacement for. I priced everything up off Ebay and came out at £26, so I thought £30 was a fair offer. I've also spoken to 'Agent Ebay', they are pretty non-committal, the expected 'try and resolve it out of Ebay'. Apparently though, if he raises 'an item not as described' case, the worst case scenario is that he has to return it at his own cost for a full refund.

Like was said above, basically its blackmail. Its almost easier to take the hit, I'm still in profit even minus a £60 refund but its the principal of being scammed that annoys me.

When I had some stuff up for sale on $Bay I always checked the buyer's feedback as well. Beyond the rating there are the words, and one can do creative wonders with words regardless of the rating.
"Buyer wanted refund of 60 for bearings worth 5 from a shop with no apparent existence, sellers beware" behind a neutral rating left in the buyer's feedback.

This, it will go a long way and will have far more bearing (hah) on him in future than you.

I think 6 weeks is a totally unreasonable period between the purchase and complaint, but I also think I'd be very clear in saying a bike like that might need some work. I didn't read your ad, and maybe you did make that clear, but I don't think I'd assume a buyer would understand the bike needed work beyond minor maintenance. The tubes are ridiculous...if the tires are degraded I'd assume that new tubes are required as well.

The shipping issue has nothing to do with your problem, since you agreed to his parameters. Your time to address that was immediately after the sale when he mentioned the issue. Overall I think both parties share responsibility (depending on your ad) and the 30 offer was reasonable. Not everyone is reasonable. If it were me, I'd play hardball after a reasonable offer. I'd say something to the effect of, I acknowledge I should have been more explicit desacribing this, but I think you share responsibility based on the length of time between purchase and complaint, and your assumption it was ready to ride. I'd say look, I'll refund the 30...but I'd rather have it back then refund 60. I'd push the issue and tell him to ship it back for a refund and let him know should he go down that road, you'd open an ebay dispute and fight it out based on the 6 week complaint time.

+ 1 to owing him nothing, unless your listing misrepresented the item. As a buyer, I would always assume that a bike of that age would require an overhaul unless the ad specifically stated something like 'recently completely overhauled with all bearings re-packed.'

How long do Ebay listings remain up after an auction closes? And does anyone know whether Ebay then archives them for dispute resolution, and if so, for how long? I'm not in the habit of making a copy of my listings, but this sad tale tells me it's probably a good practice.

Personally, if its already close, i'd do what you can to do nothing until 60 days have passed, then tell him in a pc manner the item was listed and sold as-is.

Ebay UK:

the seller has 45 days to put in a dispute:

If the seller hasn't made things right, contact us (http://contact.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactUsNextGen) so that we can help. You can open a case 3 days after the estimated delivery date of an item or 7 days after of making payment if you weren't given an estimated delivery date. A case has to be submitted within 45 days from the date of payment.

the seller and buyer have 60 days to give feedback:

You have 60 days in which to leave Feedback from the date on which the listing ended or the buyer clicked Buy It Now. You should wait until the transaction is complete before leaving Feedback, ie after the seller has received payment and the buyer has received the item.

I think 6 weeks is a totally unreasonable period between the purchase and complaint, but I also think I'd be very clear in saying a bike like that might need some work. I didn't read your ad, and maybe you did make that clear, but I don't think I'd assume a buyer would understand the bike needed work beyond minor maintenance. The tubes are ridiculous...if the tires are degraded I'd assume that new tubes are required as well.

The shipping issue has nothing to do with your problem, since you agreed to his parameters. Your time to address that was immediately after the sale when he mentioned the issue. Overall I think both parties share responsibility (depending on your ad) and the 30 offer was reasonable. Not everyone is reasonable. If it were me, I'd play hardball after a reasonable offer. I'd say something to the effect of, I acknowledge I should have been more explicit desacribing this, but I think you share responsibility based on the length of time between purchase and complaint, and your assumption it was ready to ride. I'd say look, I'll refund the 30...but I'd rather have it back then refund 60. I'd push the issue and tell him to ship it back for a refund and let him know should he go down that road, you'd open an ebay dispute and fight it out based on the 6 week complaint time.

+1
don't send a penny. If you do, shame on you.

Personally, if its already close, i'd do what you can to do nothing until 60 days have passed, then tell him in a pc manner the item was listed and sold as-is.

Ebay UK:

the seller has 45 days to put in a dispute:

If the seller hasn't made things right, contact us (http://contact.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactUsNextGen) so that we can help. You can open a case 3 days after the estimated delivery date of an item or 7 days after of making payment if you weren't given an estimated delivery date. A case has to be submitted within 45 days from the date of payment.

the seller and buyer have 60 days to give feedback:

You have 60 days in which to leave Feedback from the date on which the listing ended or the buyer clicked Buy It Now. You should wait until the transaction is complete before leaving Feedback, ie after the seller has received payment and the buyer has received the item.

That's really not a bad strategy...if you can delay this past feedback, there's really no need to deal with him. I'd still offer back 30 as I think that's fair and right. I think it's also wrong to say we'd assume an old bike needs work - we aren't the average consumer. I think what happened here is the guy bought the bike thinking it'll work, took it to a shop who gave him the "like to haves" and he's treating them as must haves. To me, the way to deal with that is by explaining what was and wasn't done to a bike during the sale.

Examples:

All bearings overhauled, rides perfectly.
Not sure when last overhauled, seems smooth, but might need basic work to be perfect.
Bike will need to be overhauled.

I think the above strategy removes confusion about condition and situations like these.

I'd tell him to pound sand. .

This sounds about right

Listed it for collection, I love the way you Brits talk. That so so much better than local pick up only.

The buyer should have taken you first offer when you were feeling generous. He got too greedy and you called him on it.

I'm starting to think this is taking the proverbial! I've tried google street view, can't find anything. This is supposed to a shop called either Cut Cycles or Cut Bikes on The Cut in London SE1. There's plenty of web info on businesses including The London Bicycle Repair Shop and three Evans cycles.

The tyres were holding air when I had the bike, but according to this Bike Shop the valves have gone!

I've now had another reply and the buyer now seems unwilling or unable to confirm the bike shop details. No details, no refund I think.

I just took a look in Street View and likewise couldn't see any sign that such a company exists. There's a big Evans on The Cut so I'd be surprised if a smaller bike shop could survive so close to them. I'm wondering if he's pulling a fast one figuring you'll just send him the £60 and he'll get some free money. Maybe he wishes he hadn't bid quite so much and is trying to claw some back.

Either way I think the moment he tries giving you "quotes" from a company that doesn't appear to exist he loses credibility. Make sure you keep those emails because it makes it easier to demonstrate to ebay that he's pulling a fast one, if it comes to an ebay dispute.

Listed it for collection, I love the way you Brits talk. That so so much better than local pick up only.

The buyer should have taken you first offer when you were feeling generous. He got too greedy and you called him on it.

That's because local pick up in the USA probably covers an area the size of the UK lol

I just took a look in Street View and likewise couldn't see any sign that such a company exists. There's a big Evans on The Cut so I'd be surprised if a smaller bike shop could survive so close to them. I'm wondering if he's pulling a fast one figuring you'll just send him the £60 and he'll get some free money. Maybe he wishes he hadn't bid quite so much and is trying to claw some back.

Either way I think the moment he tries giving you "quotes" from a company that doesn't appear to exist he loses credibility. Make sure you keep those emails because it makes it easier to demonstrate to ebay that he's pulling a fast one, if it comes to an ebay dispute.

My thoughts exactly. To be totally honest, I wouldn't have paid £160 for it, but that's Ebay for you!

My thoughts exactly. To be totally honest, I wouldn't have paid £160 for it, but that's Ebay for you!

That's why they say one man's trash is another man's treasure, I guess.

used. as is. no refund. and you even were kind enough to pay shipping.
don't do any favor for the buyer, seriously.
negative feedback? what's that worth? mutual negative feedbacks among bunch of the positives, just easy to sort out the story. pls don't worry. you are toooo nice. :)

I agree it's unreasonable, but with eBay you are NOT off the hook as the seller. Take my word for it from a similar situation: regardless of all the high resolution photos and descriptions and time involved, if the buyer wants to jack with you, eBay will side with them. Then they will tell you to refund the money and if you disagree, they will simply deduct it from your PayPal account. (Which is still a practice that seems to me to be illegal as heck.) I dealt with plenty of great buyers on eBay but after this last experience (100% feedback to no account in one movement) you can keep the flakes. I've never been hosed by the folks on this forum, btw, but I feel that you may not have the same luck in this situation. Hoping for the best for you.

That's because local pick up in the USA probably covers an area the size of the UK lol

I drove something like 100 miles a few weekends back to pick up a bike ;)

That's because local pick up in the USA probably covers an area the size of the UK lolPretty much. Wasn't there a thread how far you'd drive to get a bike? There was, but I don't remember where it was. Especially if some guy want's to charge $160 (101.15 GBP) to pack and ship a bike, think: "Well, I could drive about 1600 miles on that much gas in my current vehicle, so. . . if he was only 400 miles away I come out $80 ahead"

When selling a bike, I always make it clear that pictures of the packaged item and sealed box are taken prior to leaving it with the shipper, so that any claims of poor packaging or boxing are moot.

In similar situations, what I do is immediately respond with "Send it back in as-shipped condition, insured and delivery confirmation, and take pictures of your packing and boxing job prior to shipping. When the item is received and inspected to ensure that it has not been damaged by shipping or while in your possession, I will refund the entire amount included shipping both ways."

NEVER had anyone take me up on the offer, and eBay/PayPal will side with you if such an offer is made by the seller but not accepted by the buyer. My assumption is that the kind of person who would pull this stunt either would also have disassembled/messed with/resold or otherwise screwed around with the purchase so they cannot return it, or just can't get their act together to do so.

That's really not a bad strategy...if you can delay this past feedback, there's really no need to deal with him. I'd still offer back 30 as I think that's fair and right. I think it's also wrong to say we'd assume an old bike needs work - we aren't the average consumer. I think what happened here is the guy bought the bike thinking it'll work, took it to a shop who gave him the "like to haves" and he's treating them as must haves. To me, the way to deal with that is by explaining what was and wasn't done to a bike during the sale.

Examples:

All bearings overhauled, rides perfectly.
Not sure when last overhauled, seems smooth, but might need basic work to be perfect.
Bike will need to be overhauled.

I think the above strategy removes confusion about condition and situations like these.

If this is true, I think it has more to do with Ebay shopping experience than with bike expertise. I know very little about cars but if I bought a vintage used one on Ebay I wouldn't be asking for a refund if I discovered that it needed some routine maintenance.

The strategy of making the listing as crystal clear as possible makes a lot of sense in any event.

I think it becomes definitional and subjective on what routine maintenance is and what is expected. If someone who doesn't know much about bikes buys one, goes to a shop and they sell him on a total overhaul, he might very well think that the post overhaul status is expected. The tubes thing is la la land...if the tires are bad, you don't assume the tubes are good...and they're so cheap anyway!

Most people are buying a bike and expecting it to work as is. They don't want to overhaul bearings, they don't want to change the saddle...they just want it to work. This guy brought it to a shop (probably for the tires) and they sold him on the overhaul - he's trying to pass on that expense. While it's not what I'd do (and I'd ask more questions on the front end), I could see a reasonable buyer doing that. What's unreasonable was turning down the 30 offer...that was fair.

I no longer pay attention to Ebay feedback, which is all bull, as far as I am concerned. Who cares if you have 100% or 98%? As for a refund...

Here's the other side of protecting your feedback. If you can maintain "top rated" seller status, you get a 20% discount on all ebay fees, and something like 25% off postage!! Now, its pretty damn hard to maintain, its not about the feedback score, but instead the detailed seller ratings (DSRs, the 1 to 5 scale used to qualitatively rate sellers). In my case, just 3 unhappy buyers in a year (out of 500 transactions), and I lose the top rated status until it clears. All it takes is a couple of whiners to slam you, and it is gone.

Right now, I sit with two unhappy buyers, one more, and the discount is toast...... Feedback score? 100%..... Now if you don't sell very often on ebay, the discount is not important, and you won't qualify anyway (you have to be a "Power Seller" first, before becoming a "top rated" seller). In my case, the discount really adds up.

Bronze power seller = $3000 per year and at least 100 transactions. Thats the lowest power seller level.

used. as is. no refund. and you even were kind enough to pay shipping.
don't do any favor for the buyer, seriously.
negative feedback? what's that worth? mutual negative feedbacks among bunch of the positives, just easy to sort out the story. pls don't worry. you are toooo nice. :)

Sellers can't give negative feedback. Welcome to fleecebay where sellers are dogmeat.

Sellers can't give negative feedback. Welcome to fleecebay where sellers are dogmeat.

Those were the good old days. When a seller could leave negative feedback for an azzhat buyer. I can understand ebay's moves to help protect buyers. Buyers sure needed it what with all the scoundrel sellers, who ruin it for everyone. But ebay didn't have to go quite so far and make us dogmeat. Dogs.

Its a technique cheep buyers use to scam ebay sellers. Complain about the item enough to get a partial refund. I have had this BS happen to me.

Another typical eBay story, when the fun begins long after a completed, cut and dried transaction.

You're done with him. Let him send feedback, and respond to it. I look at feedback, but if it's not positive, I always read up on it, ignore what I think is baloney, and like Randy says, most of it is.

That is a very good point. As somewhat of a 'whale' of a buyer on eBay, with over a decade of experience there, I always look very closely at sellers' feedback before bidding (if I don't already know them). I usually look at each and every negative, and then decide if it was warranted or not (some are, some aren't - and it's usually pretty obvious which ones are or are not valid). If I decide that it wasn't warranted, I ignore that particular negative feedback, and 're-calculate' his/her percentage in my head. Then I only deal with sellers that are at least 99.5% positive (by my calculations). Sometimes, you have to look at not just the seller's feedback, but the other feedback of the complaining buyers, and even the feedback of those who transacted with the complaining buyers.

Also, how a seller responds to a negative is almost more important than the negative itself. Plus, feedback left by sellers is very important (so I look at all of it, if needed). If someone has 1% negatives, but leaves negatives 5% of the time, that's a huge red flag for me.

The bottom line is that there are 'one-percenters' in every part of life. The one percent that causes 99% of the significant problems just has to have a hassle in almost every transaction that they undertake with other human beings, sadly. Our job is to root out the 'one-percenters' and block or ignore them.

When I had some stuff up for sale on $Bay I always checked the buyer's feedback as well. Beyond the rating there are the words, and one can do creative wonders with words regardless of the rating.
"Buyer wanted refund of 60 for bearings worth 5 from a shop with no apparent existence, sellers beware" behind a neutral rating left in the buyer's feedback.

Sellers can only leave positive feedback now on eBay (or none).
If you leave a positive, but the words are negative, eBay will remove that feedback if the buyer requests. So stay factual....

Those were the good old days. When a seller could leave negative feedback for an azzhat buyer. I can understand ebay's moves to help protect buyers. Buyers sure needed it what with all the scoundrel sellers, who ruin it for everyone. But ebay didn't have to go quite so far and make us dogmeat. Dogs.

All they did was restore some balance. The system was way, way, way out of whack in favor of sellers. Now it isn't. US sales were falling because of the way buyers were being scammed. They had to do something to stop the bleeding, since ALL eBay cares about is more money for eBay. Nothing else, ever. Period. Full-stop.

That is a very good point. As somewhat of a 'whale' of a buyer on eBay, with over a decade of experience there, I always look very closely at sellers' feedback before bidding (if I don't already know them). I usually look at each and every negative, and then decide if it was warranted or not (some are, some aren't - and it's usually pretty obvious which ones are or are not valid). If I decide that it wasn't warranted, I ignore that particular negative feedback, and 're-calculate' his/her percentage in my head. Then I only deal with sellers that are at least 99.5% positive (by my calculations). Sometimes, you have to look at not just the seller's feedback, but the other feedback of the complaining buyers, and even the feedback of those who transacted with the complaining buyers.

Also, how a seller responds to a negative is almost more important than the negative itself. Plus, feedback left by sellers is very important (so I look at all of it, if needed). If someone has 1% negatives, but leaves negatives 5% of the time, that's a huge red flag for me.

The bottom line is that there are 'one-percenters' in every part of life. The one percent that causes 99% of the significant problems just has to have a hassle in almost every transaction that they undertake with other human beings, sadly. Our job is to root out the 'one-percenters' and block or ignore them.


I agree with you on this, when I buy on Ebay I look back at any negative feedback the seller has had and make a judgement. So far with the bikes I've sold, I've had nothing but a positive experience and met some really nice fellow cyclists.

I go to great lengths to describe any bike I sell 'as it is'. As most vintage bike people know, its the condition that is important and basically what you pay for.

If I bought a bike described as 'excellent', I may still expect to have to clean and re-grease or renew some components.

I'm going to put this one down to the learning experience, I'm still well in profit even minus his refund. A negative feedback stating a bike wasn't as described has every chance of damaging future sales. If I was buying a bike off Ebay and saw the seller had a negative for item description, that would be a big negative in my book. From now on I will carefully point out that you may or may not need to carry out routine maintenance on any vintage bike. Its the age old problem of having to accommodate 1% of moron's!

I think part of the problem is when you look at, and buy a fair amount of vintage bikes. We all know there's a lot of rubbish out there, and we can become pretty enthusiastic when we find a nice original bike. The bike I sold to this guy was a 30 year old Falcon Eddy Merckx Golden Eagle, fairly low range but one owner from new, and even had the original screw on plastic covers that protect the wheel axle ends. Most people would appreciate the originality and be pleased with a good find and would not be moaning about the innertube valves leaking! I know it was a good find, but one man's good find can be wasted on the next. Pearls before swine.