Another question for you folks!

Is ebay a good place to buy parts? I see some great prices, but i've had nothing but bad experiences with buying on the there.

Any input?

I have had nothing but good things from there.

I was just searching out a KCNC seatpost - found 2 bike shops who were selling it for $108 + shipping, found it on e-bay at a "buy it now" for $69.95 + 8.99 shipping - made an offer of $60, and got it.

Here's the thing about parts on e-bay - 1st, know exactly what you are looking for - types, size, weight, whatever. 2nd, do your research so you can figure out what a good price is (and don't forget the shipping!) I have found better deals locally or at on line stores than I have on e-bay. 3rd - Once you find what you're looking for at a price you like, read the ad carefully & send the seller an e-mail with any and all questions you might have about thier offering.

If you pay attention to what you're doing, and take the seller's history into consideration, you should have no problems with ebay.

I ebay and have had good results with it.

You do need to know what you are bidding on. From my experience, the sellers usually respond pretty quickly about any questions you have.

And you need to do it right! My first experience was when I was looking for a "ride around town" bike and went on ebay. Noticed several underprised Trek bikes and bid of FIVE of them. A week later I get this e-mail saying I was the winning bidder on one. With some bit of haste, I checked to make sure I wasn't going to have to explain to my wife I had just purchased five bikes. Turns out I was outbid on the others, and got a nice (probably never ridden) Trek XO-2, fully equipted for touring with racks, panniers, etc., for the minimum bid of $550. The panniers still had the sales tags on them. So it turned out very well.

I've only gotten burned once on an item that wasn't as described. I was able to sell it as it really was, so not much $$$ lost.

Nearing 100 transactions. Mostly bike parts lol.

I've bought about 70 items including 2 bikes. Only been stiffed once on an inexpensive item that the seller claims they never received payment on. Sent him a copy of receipt. It wasn't worth the cost of having a money order checked out to see who cashed it.. We both agreed on no feedback and forget about it. A couple of not as advertised items, but all in all OK. Make sure you check on the feedback and consider what the complaints if any are all about. Some folks were born to complain.

The last two items I got for my Merlin Racing Cycle were off the Bay.
One was a 40 hole Record rear hi-flange hub, from Milan Italy no less. Perfect transaction.
The harder to find item...
Super Record TRIPLE crankset in my fav, 172.5 length. I was sooo happy to have "won it",
even though they were in France.
After PayPaling immediately, I didn't hear from the seller for a couple of weeks. I email a couple of times and still no responce. I began to worry that I might NOT get the cranks I so dearly wanted.
Then came an email from the seller with a picture of the shipping forms. YAY! At least the cranks were supposed to be "on their way".

A week later, the postal person knocked on the door. "Sign here please."
"Is this from France?"
"Yes, it is."

OH, HAPPY DAY!!

And the cranks are BEAUTIFUL!!! Not a blem on them, in spite of NOT being NOS!
Total price with shipping, handling & insurance was $201.
One of my LBS's has just the triple arms, NOS in 170mm..........$329!!

eBay is my C&V "connection"! (and I have 100% + feedback,...so far)

Not only is ebay a good place to buy parts, it's a great way to unload stuff when you upgrade or change to a different size (see: stems).

I have had a few items arrive "not as advertised" but the sellers for the most part made it right.

I'm a fan.

Check out the seller's rep and you should be good. Make sure you know exactly what you want though. Don't trust them to help you because sometimes they have no idea what they are selling.

Those are often the best deals!

Yup!

I have always had great success with ebay although I've never bought a bike from there. In my experience searching the cost of shipping negated the discount on the sale price so make sure you read all the shipping costs and factor that in.

I had horrible experiences with Craigslist. People wouldn't call us back or email us back when we responded to their ads, their ads were entirely truthful (make sure you ask a lot of questions) and once we even went out to meet someone to look at a bike and the address was a vacant house- creepy!

N.

https://badhuman.wordpress.com

I have bought a couple dozen items on eBay. The big disadvantage is the shipping cost. I think eBay is best for buying specific unusual or rare used items that aren't easy to find in stores, but for new items I think it can end up being more expensive than ordinary stores after paying for shipping.

I wore out the shifter on my 9 speed ultegra. So I needed a new set of shifters and Shimano does not make the. The LBS could not get them. I did not want to buy a whole new 10 speed gruppo. So I went on Ebay and bought a slightly used one. It has worked fine lo these past 11,000 miles.

I've had very good luck finding parts on eBay. As some of the others have said, you have to know what you're looking for, you have to be patient, and you have to be willing to bid and then let it go.

Just some advice: don't buy any parts with bearings in used condition! Especially an MTB part (with non-replaceable cartridge bearings), they can get quite a bit of abuse. One dooshbag in his e-bay ad described his clipless pedals as still having ultra-smooth bearings. He had a very good rating, everything else was fine. I bought them and it turned out the bearings were worse than the ones I was replacing them with! The shipping too was way over priced. $10.00 to throw them in a cardboard bag. All other transactions worked out well though.

look at the user written guides section on bicycles.
there are many good articles on eBay bicycle seller frauds and how to avoid them.

Buying/Selling on ebay is a matter of experience. I have bought well over 100+ items without a bad transaction. Things to watch for.

If there is an auction with a very short expiration date,
any ad that requires you to contact seller,
any ad that has email address on it
ads w/cities in the US that don't exist
ads using manufacturers pics and not thier own,
copies of manufactureres ads,
If state of the art technology is on sale >50% below market.
Any item requiring a money order or western union.

Also, read the feedback. The number of good experiences is important, but remember, some people pirate others id's, check and see how many items of the same type and price point they have been involved with.

If someone who has only bought/sold 9-15 dollar items like knitting is selling several $4000 bikes all of a sudden, be careful.

If a deal is too good to be true, it is. Mostly ebay just pulls pricing to about the market or if you are lucky just below it.

I bid on an Orbea Orca once, listed in my city, pics weren't specific. The seller withdrew the listing and said he sold it outright. I believe that the bike was stolen and needed to get out of the city. Somebody in Texas got it for less than I offered. You figure these things out later.

In regards to feedback:

Although feedback can give you an insight into the seller/buyer paractices it isn't necessarily fool proof.
I have given up on feedback because of the tit for tat attitude of most sellers. They will not leave feedback until you leave it and if it isn't positive, they retaliate. The seller has the first opportunity for feedback and should be bound to provide it within say 10 days after auction.