Stolen bikes on ebay, your thoughts?
This was in the current RoadBikeRider.com newsletter. Do you think the estimate of % of stolen bikes listed on ebay is accurate or even close. If so there are 1,175 stolen road bikes listed on ebay right now.
3. UNCLE AL: The Liars Club
I've warily watched the explosive growth of eBay. You've heard of this online auction house (who hasn't?) and may have even used it.
The concept is brilliant, but for those of us in the bike biz eBay has become a haven for thieves, liars and ne'er-do-wells in and out of the cycling industry.
Consider this: Current guesstimates say 60-65% of new bicycles and cycling products offered on eBay are stolen.
Bike shop employees have been busted in Colorado and California. Their thievery totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars. In these cases, shop managers of big stores were in cahoots with an "outside" man that received the hot stuff in the alley. That evening it would be posted on eBay. Hollywood couldn't come up with a slicker heist.
Another troubling aspect of the eBay phenomenon is how used bikes and products are represented.
"Ridden only by grandma on Sundays. Perfect condition!" Who'd believe that? A lot of people, it seems.
The old saying that "one man's ceiling is another man's floor" couldn't be truer when it comes to the junk bikes local people have bought on eBay and then brought into my shop. Not once have I seen a bike that matched the seller's description.
I've seen "barely ridden" bikes that could not be revived. I've also seen bikes that looked fine but had handling problems that only riding them would reveal.
My question is this: Why would a serious cyclist buy a bike on eBay, new or used, that they haven't ridden, no matter how great the deal?
The risk is disappointment and tons of hassles trying to return a bike that isn't right. And if it's been stolen, good luck. The thief will have vanished just like the bike did from the store.
Yeah, I'm a shop owner. So you know where I'm coming from. Do what you like, but keep a couple of things in mind:
---Most companies strictly prohibit internet sales of their new bikes. If a shop owner violates that part of the dealer agreement and gets caught by the web watchdogs these companies employ, he'll be looking for another brand pronto. So if the bike you see on eBay is brand new you can almost be certain something's fishy.
---Buying used bike equipment is a crap shoot at best. When your "barely used" bike shows up in a beat-up cardboard box, upside down, without any packing material and parts missing because they fell through the holes, remember your Unc told you so.
In a world with lots of stress and strain, do you want to impose more of it on yourself? The purpose of this rant is to help you on the way to a great cycling experience. Nothing sounds better than a bike customer telling me, "This was the best investment I ever made. It changed my life."
That's priceless. For everything else there's PayPal.