I won the bid for an 06 Scott Scale 40 hardtail. I have been seriously thinking about buying a fast bike for the trails lately. I often browse Ebay and I came across this bike last night:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...2767&rd=1&rd=1

The size was right, the reviews said good things, and the seller had tons of positive feedback. Best of all the price was 40% off retail. I am just a little nervous about finializing the purchase. I have never bought anything off Ebay. What do you guys think based on the ad and your Ebay experiences? I really like the fact that he includes high resolution photos of multiple angles. The current year model of this bike goes for $2100 CAD. If I were to buy it I would have to pay 15% tax on top of that. He is shipping it for $1050US. I wonder how much duty I will pay? Any fellow Canadians out there that made similar purchases? Even if I end up paying 15% duty I think it's a great deal. I was just wondering what YOU guys thought.

Honestly, I think you should have thought about all of this before you placed your bid. Once you have bid on it the bike is yours, backing out is very, very uncool!

If that is not what you are asking then congratulations on a nice new bike!

I think Ebay is a great place to find a great deal if you're careful. However, it's not a place to play games. If you won it then you should pay for it. I also see you already have a negative feedback score for a non-paying bidder! Looks like a nice bike though, and as long as you're happy with it , then that's all that matters!

I keep preaching this, it's even in the FAQ. Newbies should never buy a bike online.

You're going to have to pay 15% tax on your purchase, brokerage fees from UPS (which are a lot more than USPS), and maybe duty depending on where the shipper indicates the bike is made. Plus you'll have to pay to assemble and tune the bike unless you can do that on your own.

There's only duty on complete bikes that are worth less than $250 or $500 CAD, I think. The duty exists to help the Canadian manufacturers keep Canadian Tire well stocked with crappy bikes instead of having Canadian Tire import them from Taiwan in particular.

I had to read up on this stuff as I imported a bunch of bike parts into Canada. I don't remember the exact figure but he won't have to pay any duty just GST and whatever is his PST. As you stated, he will have to pay UPS brokerage but that can be avoided if you know how. To the OP, if you're interested I can explain how you can avoid paying UPS brokerage.

FWIW, I have bought from that same Ebay vendor in the past and had no problems. A++++++

He said he's new to Ebay,he said nothing about being new to bikes.

I used to import a lot of automotive parts and it was nice not having to pay the UPS brokerage fees...they can add up pretty fast.

But I just checked the UPS site and it looks like the brokerage fee will be $70 or less. So on a $1000US+ bike for a one-time shot, it's not that bad (unless you want to clear customs yourself and save the money - unless santiago has a different way to bypass the brokerage).

Don't start adding logic to our discussions. It will take the fun right out of them.

I was referring to clearing customs on my own as well. No big secret, just takes about a lunch hour of time to take care of.

Feedback counts for a lot on ebay. Yours is off to a bad start. Don't bid on anything unless you are commited to buying it. Once you buy it you pay.

As an active ebayer, I have to say that you are every ebayers worst nightmare. You fail to realize the seriousness of it all apparently. An ebay bid is a legally binding bid. You don't just buy and sell things and then pay or sell if you feel like it. That really sucks.

Fortunately you wouldn't have won my auctions because i don't take bids from people with -1 feedback. I feel sorry for the seller because they are reputable and I am afraid they might be in for a mess. I hope you make it right with them.

I would contact the seller explain and offer to pay his listing fee if I really didn't want the item... or you could not pay and ebay will probably cancel your account. Apparently you like the bike or you wouldn't have bid, so just buy it.

If I was in the situation where I didn't want the item(which I don't see me bidding on something I don't want), seller demanded payment, and it was a grand.. I wouldn't pay.. the seller will be mad and have to do paperwork, but he should be refunded. 1 NPB wouldn't cancel me though, but apparently you don't use ebay anyway and by your record you don't need to.

I think the OP isn't really claiming that he wants to abandon the sale. He's worried about the transaction and has come asking for advice.

To the OP, as I wrote earlier, I've bought from that vendor and had no problems so don't worry about your purchase. This vendor also happens to have a guarantee if you're unsatisfied so honestly all you'd really be out is shipping. Go for it.

As a Mountain biking Newby, I bought my bike on Ebay last year. It worked out great. Do not ship via UPS. Ship US Post. Never ever ship anything by UPS. I agree with the other statements. Unless the bike was misrepresented, you own it. Pay up even if it is a bad deal. I take pride that I have 100% positive feedback after 100 transactions. If ever you want to sell something it will pay off. Sometimes with Canada post you don't even end up paying taxes. UPS charges $20 brokerage fee on things costing $22. I hope the Brown truck goes broke in Canada.

So how do you interpret that? He has a negative feedback score for not abiding by ebay terms and conditions and is obviously considering doing it again. The fact that would be two in a row is a little troublesome to me.

His original negative feedback was for not following through with a sale, not a purchase. In either case, if he is nervous about finalizing the purchase, I'm offering him assurances that the vendor is a good one.

So I came home from work and saw 16 replies to my post and thought to myself wow there are a lot of people out there willing to give me advice. I guess I didn't think that half of them would be about my negative feedback on Ebay. Oh no I am 0/1. -1 feedback better call the police cause that **** is illegal. Is was years ago for a PS1 yeah that's right Playstation 1. I sold it to a guy in my city so I wouldn't have to ship it. I didn't know anything about the procedure at that time. I am a newbie to Ebay not bikes. Portis you are a loser really get a life!! I think there's a rare Star Trek VHS bid about to end and it's at $1.99. Better get on it. My only thanks goes out to Santiago. Canada is an expensive country to live in (trying paying 15% tax on everything you buy). I should have known the only good advice would come from a fellow Canadian. He was the only one that actually understood what I was asking. I would be interested in finding out how I can avoid those brokerage fees. That's nice that I won't have to pay any duty. Are you 100% about this? I can accept the 15% because I'd have to pay that on any new bike anyways.

So, less than 10% of your readers were able to comprehend what you wrote? Perhaps you should have reflected on your original post before blasting the responses...

I guess my advice didn't count. I don't find Canada that expensive, and I only have to pay 6% tax.

BTW, you're not setting yourself up very well to get advice from forum members in the future. Putting down other members because you weren't clear in your original post isn't the best thing to do.

As far as I can see there is nothing wrong with my original post. I think it was pretty straight forward. I didn't ask what people thought of my Ebay rating.

Well how about this...you should have asked those questions before buying the bike.

I actually haven't bought the bike yet.

That attitude is exactly what people are having a problem with. You entered a legal contract to buy the bike--for all intents and purposes, it's yours. You act as if ebay is the place to do some window shopping, "...oh, that looks nice, I'll bid on it, hope I win, and figure out later whether or not I really want it." Do you really have no idea how frustrating that is to a seller, not to mention the other bidders who sincerely tried their best to win that auction?

how many Canadians does it take to understand the meaning of legally binding contract?


your ebay bid is a legally binding contract. so you bought it, but did not pay for it yet? the irony is you want people not to judge you by your ebay ratings, but your reluctance to take responsibiity for your action (bid) somewhat reflects your negative rating. so, no matter how much you deny, your ebay rating lets us know a bit about your personality.

sorry for another canadian joke..