I have been a buyer last few months and scouring ebay and Cl pretty good. I have to say that I have been out of cycling for awhile, grew up with it in 80's but had to get back up to date on many brands, components etc. Basically it all came back in short order, but man I really get tired of established Sellers on ebay etc giving BS or half ass unclear descriptions of bikes and components actual condition. When they know better! I mean really as potencial buyers we all know what we want to hear(see below) and I understand that the photos are part of the description as well. But I am getting really put off by Sellers who know better and either don't describe thier item as the condition it actually is in or use rosy sounding tag words like "Great condition" "Nice Shape" "Great shape" etc.What does "great condtion" mean?? to me it sounds close to Excellent cond but that is not always the case. (Some also try to say as little as possible and say check pictures thats what your getting) and I'm thinking just tell me WTF the actual condition is and I apperciate some good photos fine as well and then I will come to my own conclusions. I already bought a few items that wern't described correctly, and well luckely so far they wern't big ticket purchases. Some Sellers on ebay and especially CL don't go into too much depth because they aren't as knowledgable, so ok then maybe there is a deal to be had or not and they don't know as much, fine I will take that. However established dealers that know exactely what they are selling et,c just give me a real authentic description with the STANDARD CONDITION DESCRIPTION that everyone is familar with. I understand everyone gets stuck with something sometimes and all but I don't want your headache and I want to know exactely what I am getting. Fine make it sound appealing in your own salesmanship way but don't BS me please.

This ebay Seller describes condition the way we all know it should be described and I apprecate it. His prices are a little high on stuff but whatever, thanks for describing items in the proper format. I wish everyone would just describe within these peramiters. (whats going on with spell check on this BF editer btw)

This is from ebay Seller cycleguyjack66. It doesn't have to to be complicated just give me the real condition 411. I also have bought from V*V* Velo out of Netherlands because he describes accuratly short and sweet.

Woody’s Objective Rating System

NIB (new in box) – NEW and NOT used item unblemished in original packaging, zero or close to zero defects
NOS (new old stock) - item is new and NOT used –but- may have shop wear and/or blemishes from age which in no way affect performance.
Excellent - used but in close to new condition, more than 85% service life left
Very Good - used with some blemishes but more than half of it’s service life left – in many cases this can be greatly improved with cleaning/polishing
Good - used with some/many blemishes but more than half of it’s service life left – in many cases this can be improved with cleaning/polishing
Fair - used with many blemishes with less than half of it’s service life left; considered “rider” equipment, NOT concour or resto worthy
Used - no collector value, but viable for “rider” with zero emphasis on appearance
Parts value only- good for small parts, may be broken or completely unusable, but good for salvage.
Woody’s additional Rating System (Plus +) and (Minus -)

All ratings - Excellent/Good/Fair have subjective plus or minus condition:

Excellent ++, Excellent+, Excellent –, Excellent-

Good++, Good +, Good—, Good-

Fair++, Fair+, Fair—, Fair -