ebay suspectish
 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...3499&rd=1&rd=1


is it just me or does this seller seem really shady? Sold recently in euro now canada? Just wanted you all awsome bike forums members to beware. If any one knows how to send in a questionableish ad to ebay...Do iit if so!

Holy crap! Look at that! I had no idea Gardin was capable of something like that. That is the sweetest Gardin I have ever seen (canadian company BTW, possibly some were built in italy). The only thing he has going for him is that all the bikes appear to have had there pics taken in the same place... who knows!?

I had my eyes on the lovely Gios he was selling till it went way outta my price range, not that I was surprised by that mind you! Tad too small for me anyhow! The pink Mercier with gold components would fit beautifully, but boy that is nasty looking!

where is this mercier, it sounds nice? Looks like he just opened for business, just moved maybe? Looks pretty legit, we'll see how some of his auctions go... boy I would love that gardin, I love the colours, brown and bronze... I would love to have a track bike in that motif... I bet the reserve is over $2000.

i don't understand.. what exactly did you find to be 'really shady' ?

look at his feedback. Guy was selling in europe and then pops up in canada selling mad hot bikes and crap like rare campy chain rings with only 8 feedback all at once.... Justs sounded to good to be true... and in a weaker category for this kind of stuff (its under transportation) where it might fly a little under the radar. Just thinking "be careful" not saying it isn't real.

+1?

Canada IS Europe! They've got their own money and everything!
Top
(and no offence to my friends in BC and Alberta!:D )

Well, if he's planning to clean out a half dozen folks of $1500 each and then running from interstate grand larceny charges...he's been planning it since '03. He seems to know what he's talking about and legit enough.

Nice Deltas!

Hopefully he is legit. I bought something from him the other day. I have no reason to believe it's not.

I just looked him up under Canada 411 and it lists a name, address and phone number.

Looks totally legit. The feedback is from sellers in Europe, not him selling stuff. If you want to see a true scam check out the 52cm Cinelli frame a guy is selling on a hijacked account, along with a ton of other bikes. This IS a scam.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Silver-Cinelli-S...QQcmdZViewItem

He's got some nice French parts, too. I just made him a favorite seller. I don't see anything that doesn't look legit.

""Cinelli frame a guy is selling on a hijacked account""

And he listed it in the bowling ball section....

I saw a Confente being sold in the same manner a few months ago.

The Cinelli is also located in the US according to the auction, but his buy it now price is in GBP.

I have a really strong suspicion the seller is Mike Barry - the fellow who makes Mariposa bicycles. I've had the pleasure of meeting him - he's a real class guy. His son races for T-Mobile now, after riding for Team Discovery for a few years.

To get a hold a bike like that you would definitely have to have a euro connection. That bike is definitely one of a kind. It is beautiful with some serious custom work done on it. The Gios is small but awesome. The rest of his store is indicitive of someone who specialized in high end bike racing from the 70s and 80s. There aren't many people who have pictures of this stuff let alone actually have there hands on it.

yup...definately a hijacked account. The clown doing this has been dodging ebay since late Nov./early Dec. Guess it shows how feeble ebay really is at solving this issue.

Mike's shop is 1/3 museum, 1/3 store and 1/3 factory. It's worth the visit if you're ever in Toronto - even though it is pretty challenging to find.

Here's a link to his own web site - the vintage area, and a link to one of the seller's bikes up for auction. Notice anything?

http://www.bikespecialties.com/vint.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Bianchi-...QQcmdZViewItem

This seller in the OP is legit. Bicycle Specialities is very well known here in Toronto and they have a great reputation for getting hard to find stuff as well as for having beautiful classic bikes.

On another note, just down the street from me is a little cafe that is owned by a classics guy, much like all of us in the forums, and he has a partnership with Bicycle Specialities to showcase their bikes. Every month or so he gets a "new" bike from them and hangs it on the wall of the cafe. I'd been meaning to mention it in the forum sometime, but never really had a way to bring it up. Right now, he has a gorgeous Marninoni touring bicycle with full Dura Ace and last month it was a 1965 Bianchi Specialissimo and before that was a 1971 Cinelli Super Corsa. Neat idea, I should take some photos sometime.

edit: I guess the Bianchi was not a 1965 model as it looks like he is selling it and it is listed as a 1968 <shrug>

To Little Ginseng and Otis. How can you tell that it is a hijacked account, other than the fact that noone is bidding on anything.

He is selling 228 items that vary from a higly sought after Cinelli Super Corsa to Mac Powerbooks to marince diesel generators and they are all listed under the "Bowling Balls" category.

Also: READ FIRST: I WILL ONLY SELL THROUGH BUY IT NOW, I WILL NOT SELL THROUGH THE BIDDING!!!

PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY AT agreatexx2@hotmail.com INSTEAD OF USING "ASK THE

SELLER A QUESTION" AS YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE!!

Buy It Now Price is 600 GBP

Because the same list of items keeps appearing under different sellers in different countries, and the obvious "not accepting bids: cash only" method of payment.

I bought some stuff from Mike Barry a few years back. I did not know anything about his past. He was great to deal with. 2 years ago I was watching a local time trial race with my pre WW11 track bike. A guy ( John Palmer)comes over and asks a few questions about it. He talked about his younger years racing bikes in England. He still has 1 of his original race bikes from the 50's. Last fall I had the pleasure of showing him my British bike collection. We also went for a ride on some of the old steel. Turns out he was the first partner with Mike Barry when they first started out in Toronto. Here is a link to the start of Mariposa bikes. http://www.mariposabicycles.com/1972...s-roubaix.html Last year John started to race bikes again. His first race was on his 1956 Gillot track bike. John Palmer comes from a long history of bike buiders. His grandfather built bikes in the 1890's. His father owned Palmer cycles before WW11 and also in the 50's. The Germans bombed the shop in WW11 and everything was destroyed. John worked for many bike companies as a salesman, CCM, Sekine, among others.
Some day I would like to meet Mike Barry and see his collection of bikes. I have a small collection of old English bikes and he grew up riding these. Maybe John Palmer, Mike and I could go for a ride.

Thanks for the ebay lesson. I will now be wary of these things.

When I was an active seller, I sold to people in Japan. That doesn't mean I live there.

That's exactly what you’re saying. You're being tactful about it, but that's still what you're saying. By even bringing the subject up you have cast suspicion on the seller. In a previous post they did a phone search and discovered his name and address. Another forum member even bought parts from him. So far, no problems have arisen.

Misinformation is spread at the speed of sound online. You should be more careful before you speak.

Tim

Oh yes Sir Captain!

Look the ad is crappy, low feed back and sweet bikes seems suspect to me that's all. The item location on the previous auctions was listed as europe. Sorry I didn't know they changed the item location to match the buyer. Seems like you enjoy being a jackass so keep it up!

Look, I think we all appreciate that you're trying to look out for others, but it is often a better course of action to ask what others think, rather than to assert something is so when you merely have a suspicion. I don't see someone as being a "jackass" because they called you on jumping to an incorrect conclusion. Yeah, he could have been more tactful about it, but then again, he's merely responding in-kind.

Peace,

Z

update: ebay has yanked this item.

You're still not getting it. Look on the feedback page at the FROM column. Note that all but one of the feedbacks is from SELLERs, and the one seller whose auctions are still active in the system and clickable happens to be located in France. No "item locations have changed to match the buyer", the buyer is in Canada and the seller is in France. Simple as that.

PKB