cudak888 

Full disclaimer: This is a rant - but not a rant for flipping on OfferUp (that's a completely different rant on its own). This is for buying. You'd think spending gobs and gobs of money would be easy on lugged steel would be easy, but these sellers certainly make sure it's impossible.

First up to bat is the beat up - but reasonably complete - Dave Kozlowski frame from two weeks ago. One reply from the seller...since then, two weeks, nada. What am I really thinking? "Screw you, lady, it's overpriced as it is - but I'd appreciate a reply. By the way, here's a top tip for you - 'bicycle' is not spelled 'Byccle.'" So tempted to tell her that...just to see how quickly an insult will get a reply over money. Bet it'll get action. After all, who can resist an argument when someone tells you you are wrong on the internet? Sometimes it's just worth it to rile them up in exchange for them dangling a carrot in front of you for two stinking weeks.

Then there's the possibly overpriced (but not likely) Marnati. Oh, boy, is it a Marnati, and it has the price tag to go with those Delta brakes. Yea, they ignored my messages for the last 5 days...but they did see them! Gotta love that double checkmark, it's like a double middle finger salute, 21st-century style. And what is this? Yes! It's another schmuck who can't spell or create coherent descriptions, two in a row! The entire description is "Dr special edition." Can I please not have some of what you're smoking, sir? I just want the bike. Or an acknowledgement that I exist as a human being that will actually drive 30 miles to you and put WAY too much money in your hands in exchange for removing 20 pounds of steel out of what looks to be a very messy laundry room, while I hope and pray the inside of this thing hasn't rusted from the humidity?

And then there's the Somec. The purple Somec that's missing all it's fancy decals, all of it's charm, and the once-beautiful Campagnolo Athena RD has somehow lost all of its silkscreening. There may be a dent on the seatstay. And, of course, the idiot selling this scratched-up vestige of its former self calls it a "designed bicycle." Cute, I bet it comes with a few ill-fitting Armani suits from Goodwill too. So yes, I'll bite, since it took me 30 minutes to ID the frame as a Somec: "Who's the framebuilder?" (Well, it's 'designed,' ain't it?) And of course, radio silence from the Designed District. EDIT: They responded! And they might as well have a Free Spirit, because..."it's a gift I do not know." Hoo boy. What about that potential dent? "Original paint. Good price." Well, I'll be the judge of that, sir. Just get me pictures of that chainstay before I have to criss-cross Florida more than Flagler did 100 years ago. "This is very good deal," he replies. You know what's a good deal? If I close this conversation box and give up. Saves me money.

Finally, to wrap it all up...the Specialized. This is the only bike here with a sane price tag, and it's still overpriced. Nevertheless...is it worth it to do the drive just in case it may be a Rensho? Well, the chances of that are slim to none, but the chances of the seller responding...slimmer still. After all, when you're selling an older racing bicycle and the best thing you can say about it is that it has a "generator headlight" and that there's a can of HALT! spray attached to the downtube, chances are you don't know what the "Reply" button means either.

RANT OUT.

-Kurt

fleslider 

I agree

I usually check it for bikes also, ran across this one for a Centurion Accordo, hmm its a Seafoam green one like what i have.. Ohh wait it is a stolen off the internet picture of my bike.. apparently its to difficult to take pics with the app. The seller is in my town, was tempted to ride the Accordo over there to look at the bike and "Mistake which one was for sale since my bike looked like the picture" But thats only if she responded in the first place.

cheffyjay

offerup is exquisitely frustrating. Most sellers never respond. Ads stay up forever. Occasionally I have a successful transaction but most are impossible.

Bad Lag

Why bother at all?

I'm still riding the same bike I put together 45 years ago. I still love it.

Find one you like and stick with it.

wrk101

I was surprised how many really old ads (over a year) are still up. They have some work to do on that program.

FlMTNdude

Sounds as bad as LetGo

cudak888 

Funny idea. Hitting the report button might help, send it in as an "other."

If OfferUp doesn't do anything about it (most likely) and you feel particularly upset about it, you can always file a DMCA on that pic. That'll get it removed forcibly.

You win for the "Describe OfferUp in four sentences" award.

N+1=N. If you haven't figured that out yet, you're in the wrong forum.

It's funny how the few sellers who do respond on year-old ads are also vicious about the slightest offer. Kinda explains why they've had them up for a year.

LetGo's organization is so terrible that I don't even bother with it.

-Kurt

johnnyace 

I respectfully disagree. His bike is at least 45 years old, so C&V would be the right forum. I think it's okay to have just one bike (I'm working that way again, really I am!), and membership to BF is not qualified by number of bikes owned.

johnnyace 

I haven't tried Offerup, probably because it came across to me as a potentially more frustrating experience than craigslist, and apparently, my instincts were good!

tiger1964 

Never heard of it, I just checked the site now. For bikes, it seems most of the stuff is one step away from the seller calling 1-800-GOT-JUNK to have it hauled off. YMMV.

eja_ bottecchia

OfferUp and LetGo...two places to look if your property has been stolen.

mstateglfr 

Why bother?...because for many in this hobby, finding something new is part of the fun. And refurbishing is part of the fun. And learning about the history of different brands is part of the fun. And trying out different components as well as geometry is part of the fun.

markwesti

I was trying Offerup for a while , I was responding to fresh ads never did get one email back . And I was not asking first off for a ridiculous price drop , just wanted to come and look/talk . I gave up I thought maybe I was not responding correctly , I was logged in Is there I'm missing ?

vintagerando

I actually had succes with an Offerup ad that was months old. I paid around $100 for 10 speed ultegra STIs, ultegra cranks and extra set of those fancy expensive oval shaped chain rings. Except for the oval chainrings, the parts were take-offs from a bike years early and showed zero use. I sold the rings and cranks (maybe there was a third component like an RD), and essentially got the STIs for free. But I do find the ads are old and parts/bikes were sold long ago. But I did get ultegra 10 speed STIs for free with a little bit of hustle and time.

SurferRosa

Maybe he's trying to sell your bike. Did you think of that? In that case, he's perfectly right to use its picture.

fleslider 

LOL maybe he is.. hpoefully he gets alot for it. since its a "Rare 1988 Accordo" that was a Race bike.. (more over used words on the net..)

tricky 

Any platform where neither side has any skin in the game (i.e. pays for the service) will breed flakiness. Yes, it can be painful, but I have had just as many successful purchases as unsuccessful. I like the UI better than Craigslist at least. I do wish they would put the price on the item main tile that shows in the search or when you are browsing.

tricky 

Another thing... I rarely use the "offer" feature. It doesn't seem to be too successful. I just chat them up to get details and if the ad is pretty fresh I usually get a response. I also occasionally get replies to messages I sent a while ago. Seems like people aren't always paying attention to it.

Bikerider007

I've done well. There is some getting used to how to buy there, but I like better than craigslist. Check their profiles. Not just rating; but average response time, what and how much they have listed or sold for sale. Helps determine approach.

I also don't mind old ads, I ask and sometimes they respond, but I make sure they understand I am an actual buyer and ready to look at if I ask them about. Many get no shows, very low ball with no explanation of why etc. I've made good buys months after asking about something and passing due to this. Lot of window shoppers or dreamers out there. Cash and showing up talk.

Its offer up, when you get there you can still walk or see something that makes you not want that price, they may renegotiate or not. Vast majority will as they don't want to keep trying to sell stuff for a living.

One thing I hate, seeing all the flipper guys, they fill the page and put thing like "do not low ball or I will block!" , "I know what I have!". Wah wah, After they got from some poor sucker that had no idea what it is or lowball someone, they get afraid of being offered. I do let people know I'm not a flipper and share a bit about my bikes at times. I get not all are crazy flippers but again I look at profiles and how they place ads. I've tried to block them so I can eliminate seeing all the ebay priced bikes.

cudak888 

+1 to this. I wouldn't mind getting a nice Italian frameset again, hence the Marinati. Funny how Lag thinks his approach to ownership applies to everyone else...

Good catch. I haven't had bad luck entirely on OfferUp for other things, but I really hadn't gone bike shopping up there until about a month ago.

Don't get me wrong, I can deal with the tradeoff - I wouldn't pay a subscription of any kind for this sort of service, and I dare say few would.

You have hit it squarely on the head though - the UI makes it the best. Super simple and quick to list. Also probably why so many flakes show up on it.

That's the one thing they can do away with. That, and the canned questions. At least force the users into SOME sort of investment of effort, however minimal, to weed out flakes.

I've found 5-star profiles are an indication of a good seller (with exception to the space heater that was caked in dry cat pee on the inside!), but not a guarantee of a good buyer. I've had multiple 5-star sellers act like complete pricks (as buyers) in the message system.

Flipper guys as flippers are. I've met a few of the I'M GOING TO UPPER CAPS EVERYTHING AND CREATE A LAUNDRY LIST OF WHAT ANNOYS ME THINKING IT'LL MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE types in person, by chance. It has made me appreciate how comparatively innocuous their ads are in comparison to tolerating one of those babbling buffoons in person.

-Kurt

Bad Lag

That's fine, knock yourself out! It is supposed to be fun, though, right? Your post implies great dissatisfaction, so something must be wrong. If you don't like the web site, the solution is simple - don't go there.

P.S. - I have more than one bike. I have owned and ridden many. The last bike I bought about 5 years ago was purchased from a BikeForums member. The transaction was flawless. <--hint, hint

Last ride 76 

The term passive-aggressive comes to mind. Perhaps I'm not using it correctly...

PilotFishBob 

I did one OfferUp transaction for a Paramount that was posted in the "are you looking for" thread. It was time-consuming, the seller was clueless but nice and needed the money (her price was too low, I offered a little more to salve my conscience and to give her incentive). I had to walk her through every step as well as make arrangements with a local bike shop to act as an intermediary. Worse, she could only do Western Union which added new levels of complexity and risk.

Unlike a prior transaction for another Paramount via Craigslist that went pretty smoothly, I had heartburn at every stage of this one. Still, it worked out well in the end and I wound up with a beautiful bike in excellent condition for a very reasonable price. Would I go through that again? Absolutely not. I'm pretty done with OfferUp.

cudak888 

Heck of a story. I'd run a facilitator on something like that if at all possible. Easier for everyone.

By the way...pics?

-Kurt

StanSeven

Let’s keep the discussion here civil. No insults and personal accusations please. I also edited some posts to clean this thread up. Thanks.