Ebay Seller - experiences?
 

Anyone bought anything or know this guy Fangjoe?

He's been selling on ebay for a long time. Gets some decent stuff once in awhile, but seems to be an illiterate and not big on details. Enough negative feedback and "bad positive" feedback to say, "yer takin' a chance here."

Reminds me of another So Cal ebay bike mill "twowheelhead" aka "buycycle911". They're in a prime location to pick up good bikes cheap. But they don't seem to really care about vintage stuff past the fact that it makes them money. Looks they use the same block wall for their photographs and love their "copy & paste" ad copy. "Fangjoe" used to sell some really rancid looking FG conversions as well.

That said, I have no personal experiance with 'em, and doubt I ever will.

Caveat emptor.

Example #1:
^
A beat set of mis-matched (one second gen C-Record [?], the other Nuovo Record) levers are "good condition?"


Example #2:
^
No dents, no cracks, just a suspicious wrinkle behind that headtube lug of which is curiously not explained...


Example #3:
^
How, might I ask, does it work well when it is missing the adjustable parallelogram stop?


Example #4:
^
Please explain to me how one can describe something as being in "great condition" and in "not working condition" simultaneously.

-Kurt

A careful look at his "positive" feedback shows several that could have easily been negative: item not as represented, cracked frame, no communications, etc. I would avoid him unless I could pick up in person and inspect the item.

Listen, this fellow also has a 151bcd Record crankset in a lot with a Super Record RD (cracked pulleys, but looks OK), a pair of decent Victory calipers, and three Super Record FD's for a relative bargain @ $198, Buy It Now.

I need the Super RD and the '61 Paramount would do nicely with the 151 Record crankset, replacing the 144 it has on it now. Am I bidding? No. I would snatch this up in a heartbeat, if the fellow was reputable, but I'm not sending my 200 clams his way - not to receive dubious merchandise which might end up to be a twisted RD and a bent crankset. (However, if anyone wants to try for me... :lol: )

-Kurt

I don't know anything about this guy, but I'm wondering what happened to the sultan of schwag. Haven't seem him and his green towel recently.

I was wondering where Sultan went, too.

Haven't seen the guy who always had the hot girl holding the bike for a while, either.
Top

you mean this one?

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/355091...Minogue.sm.jpg

here's around

http://cgi.ebay.com/Schwinn-Paramoun...QQcmdZViewItem

I heard that the Sultan parted himself out. His a..hole ended up in Washington. :roflmao2:

Awesome.

Yeah, a quick look at this F'joe seller set off all sorts of alarm bells: seemingly random prices ($888 for two totally different bikes), no mention of the cracked pulleys on that SR derailleur, etc. Gran Sport crankset for $100, then the Record collection for $200 - obviously has no clue what's going on.

You've all confirmed my initial instinct to stay away.

I bought a couple things from buycycle911 a couple years ago. Everything went smoothly and the seller did get a hold of some really interesting stuff. I got the sense he had a pretty close relationship with Gian Simonetti as a lot of his goods back then had something to do with Simo and was located close to the original Whittier shop. I might try feeling it out with something cheap and see how it goes.

I purchased my Greg Diamond from fangjoe. The packaging was just okay - everything was secured, with cardboard protecting the frame from the wheels, etc. However, he used packing tape to secure cardboard wrapped parts to the frame, some of which directly stuck to the paint. Luckily, no paint damage. Also, the box arrived with the corner ripped off (old box with hand holes). Also, no bracing on the front or rear dropouts. If it's an expensive bike, I'd suggest local pickup or having someone else pickup and ship the bike.

He doesn't really give much of a description, but takes lots of pics, so caveat emptor. The FD hanger on my frame was bent, but it's possible he didn't see it. One of the Dura Ace brake lever hoods was ripped, and the plastic body pried from the lever. The inside of the driveside DA crankarm was badly scored from a dropped chain. The left DT shifter's pins were stripped.

I was able to receive a $30 refund (a figure I set) after prodding for a couple weeks. That was what labor would cost to re-braze an FD hanger. I didn't pursue the other problems because he made no claims about their condition.

His communication is lacking, partly because of a language barrier I think. Before you buy anything, especially anything expensive on ebay, contact the seller. Their communication will tell you a lot about them. I took a risk on this bike, and knew I was taking a risk, because I really wanted the frame.

Oh, and I think his prices, with all the 8's, must be because he's Chinese-American. I believe 8 is a lucky number. I actually asked him to reduce his BIN price to a number with three 8's in it, and he did (although he never contacted me once during this bargaining process). :lol: