TTON

Any problems encountered doing this? I found a good deal on some Continentals that seller says is from 2013 stock. Seller has a good rating and has a ebay storefront selling bike stuff so I don't think I need to worry too much. Only thing is that it just comes with the tires (no box).

seymour1910

I buy all my tires from ebay, I save a lot of money by doing this. A lot of the ebay sellers remove the tires from the original box to cut down on shipping charges. you will be fine.

zvez

do bicycle tires use the same coding system as car tires, ie year and week of manufacturer on the sidewall? I don't have a bike yet so don't know.

oespinoza83

My last 3 pairs of tires have all been off ebay with no problems. Conti GP4000s foldable.

seymour1910

That got my interest, I know my car tires show that so I just went to check my bike tires, no they don't. Well I won't say none of them, but the Michelins don't.

zvez

Yep, guess that would've been too easy. On motorcycles it's pretty critical, and lots of online sellers sell old stock (several years old) a no-no on motorcycles. Guess it's not as critical as bicycle tires don't build up heat or travel at high speeds.
Chris

rpenmanparker 

Cheapest ebay tire sellers are from UK. Conti GP 4000 for about $80/pair delivered to US or less. Never had a problem. No need to worry about tire age. Not an issue. These are reputable storefronts. Prices are so cheap because that is what they normally sell for in UK. Kind of like the cheap prices there on Campy. Did you know that in the hey day of tubulars, it was common to age them for a long, long time before using them. Years sometimes.

GBIAction

I have bought all my tires on EBay for years, both Michelin and Conti, and never had any problems. I tend not to buy ones that are not in original packaging since they are not much cheaper and probably take-offs. I have also assumed it would be harder to deal with warranty claims (not that I can imagine collecting) w/o the original packaging

TrojanHorse

Why not just buy them from an actual storefront like pbk.com or ribble? I've been getting my tires from pbk for a while. Cheap and less than fast but reliable. Pro4 service course were roughly $32 in 25mm width last time I got some, and conti GP4000s were usually around $38 or so.

Looigi

No qualms about buying tires on eBay as you describe, but like TrojanHorse above, I've been getting all mine from Ribble as they have great prices.

seymour1910

I have checked Ribble and PBK as well, but the last set of PRO 4's I got were going for the same price on ebay with free shipping and I only had to wait two days to get them.

rpenmanparker 

Absolutely nothing wrong with what you suggest. Buying from similar UK merchants on ebay however is even safer as one has the added protection of ebay and Pay Pal guarantees. This may not mean much when dealing with a fly-by-night seller, but with a quality merchant the protections add up to be essentially ironclad. Right now ebay prices look a little high, over $80/pair.

unionmade

I wouldn't hesitate to buy off eBay, but have also found lower sale prices from on line merchants. Got GP400s from pbk for $36 per tire, then just snagged some Pro4s from Nashbar for $32 per tire (shipping included in prices).

TTON

Thanks for the replies. I got a good deal on some Gp 4000. Around $87, almost half off what I would pay at my LBS. Though it was too good to be true but apparently not.

FrenchFit 

Never had a problem with eBay tire purchases, but have buying online direct with the brick and mortar sellers and ordering out-of -stock tires from a LBS. It seems eBay sellers might pay more attention to what they are doing than traditional sellers.