Discussion
As i've trawled through the web for stuff for my newly re-ignited MTB hobby
(first time round, Tomac had just won the worlds on a yeti with drop bars - if that dates it for anyone?)
I came across gumtree classifieds -
firstly i was quite heartened to see a lot of kit and london based - so though 'brill - i can get some decent price kit -
something didn't quite stack up though....
stuff like this:
http://www.gumtree.com/london/47/74970847.html
must be 1/3 market value - have a trawl - quite a few on there
is it just a fencers/scammers paradise with not the profile of ebay?
(first time round, Tomac had just won the worlds on a yeti with drop bars - if that dates it for anyone?)
I came across gumtree classifieds -
firstly i was quite heartened to see a lot of kit and london based - so though 'brill - i can get some decent price kit -
something didn't quite stack up though....
stuff like this:
http://www.gumtree.com/london/47/74970847.html
must be 1/3 market value - have a trawl - quite a few on there
is it just a fencers/scammers paradise with not the profile of ebay?
You are very right to be suspicious, that is either stolen or a total scam.
OT but I was told a very cautionary tail once:
This person had their bike stolen and got an insurance payout to replace it. She did so and moved on. A few months later she was on the start line of a race and the guy next to her was on her stolen bike, recognisable from the specific build etc. She explained and they agreed to meet up after the race.
When they met he was really cool about it, saying that he bought it second hand at a price that was simply too low to not be dodgy. She proved the bike was hers (details of how deliberately not posted) and they agreed to report it. The bike was confiscated by the police as the insurance money had been paid. He lost his bike. He got no money in return. The insurance company probably auctioned the bike via the police.
Bikes with questionable pasts are not worth touching, even at a bargain price.
I know that you are not proposing actually buying that one and posted it to illustrate the point. I just thought that this story had relevance to the situation.
OT but I was told a very cautionary tail once:
This person had their bike stolen and got an insurance payout to replace it. She did so and moved on. A few months later she was on the start line of a race and the guy next to her was on her stolen bike, recognisable from the specific build etc. She explained and they agreed to meet up after the race.
When they met he was really cool about it, saying that he bought it second hand at a price that was simply too low to not be dodgy. She proved the bike was hers (details of how deliberately not posted) and they agreed to report it. The bike was confiscated by the police as the insurance money had been paid. He lost his bike. He got no money in return. The insurance company probably auctioned the bike via the police.
Bikes with questionable pasts are not worth touching, even at a bargain price.
I know that you are not proposing actually buying that one and posted it to illustrate the point. I just thought that this story had relevance to the situation.
RRS_Staffs said:
That ad is just depressing on all levels
What is sad is that someone will buy it at that price knowing full well its waaaay under market value without insisting to see any proof of ownership
Or turn up hoping to do so and end up losing their money for nothing in return.What is sad is that someone will buy it at that price knowing full well its waaaay under market value without insisting to see any proof of ownership
If you were street scum you could either walk the streets at night trying to find drunk people and hope they have money on them or you could place a bike add on Gumtree and get them to come to you at your desired location with £500 in pocket... Sure you could fight back that's what this guy did...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209161/Ma...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209161/Ma...
Check out the reply:
Hi,
I will try to write in english.
I saw that you are interested in my bike.
I'm italian, i have stayed with my wife in London for 7 months but i moved back to Italy 2 weeks ago. I have posted the bike on the internet a long time ago, but i don't know what happend with the website because now i saw that is online. I received many e-mails.
Anyway, i still have the bike for sale, but is in Italy now with me. If you want to buy it, i can send the bike in UK with an escrow company on my own cost. I have used this tipes of companies before and i'm familiar with their services.
I know that no one wants to buy something without seeing it first. So we can do like this if you are interested to buy my bike, i will send the bike to you, i can let you 4-5 days for inspection to see the bike and ride it, if you are happy with it you can keep it, if not i will accept returns and you can send it back on my own cost. But i can assure you that this bike is in a perfect working condition, it has low kilometers about 300 because i don't have time anymore for it and i need the money now.
If you want to see more pictures please let me know.
Let me know if we can arrange a deal, i preffer to send the bike in UK because i know that there are good people, not false. I had the best time in London, but i had some financial problems.
I wait your e-mail.
You can try calling on my cell: 0039148294830, but I have a very weak signal here. I wait to get a land line, but I have not received any response yet.
Any other information you want, please tell me, I respond with the greatest pleasure.
Thank you very much.
Hi,
I will try to write in english.
I saw that you are interested in my bike.
I'm italian, i have stayed with my wife in London for 7 months but i moved back to Italy 2 weeks ago. I have posted the bike on the internet a long time ago, but i don't know what happend with the website because now i saw that is online. I received many e-mails.
Anyway, i still have the bike for sale, but is in Italy now with me. If you want to buy it, i can send the bike in UK with an escrow company on my own cost. I have used this tipes of companies before and i'm familiar with their services.
I know that no one wants to buy something without seeing it first. So we can do like this if you are interested to buy my bike, i will send the bike to you, i can let you 4-5 days for inspection to see the bike and ride it, if you are happy with it you can keep it, if not i will accept returns and you can send it back on my own cost. But i can assure you that this bike is in a perfect working condition, it has low kilometers about 300 because i don't have time anymore for it and i need the money now.
If you want to see more pictures please let me know.
Let me know if we can arrange a deal, i preffer to send the bike in UK because i know that there are good people, not false. I had the best time in London, but i had some financial problems.
I wait your e-mail.
You can try calling on my cell: 0039148294830, but I have a very weak signal here. I wait to get a land line, but I have not received any response yet.
Any other information you want, please tell me, I respond with the greatest pleasure.
Thank you very much.
I've had one positive experience and one which was iffy so didn't go through with it.
First guy was selling a indoor vertical bike rack and was super nice and upfront all the way through.
Second girl was selling a G25 wheel with seat and frame for a suspicious low price...... (alarm bells did ring) anyway she made it difficult to view the products before purchase saying that they were being held by UPS and once i had given her the money (100 quid) she'd release the goods then i'd have 30 mins to inspect them after signing from UPS.... bla bla bla anyway sounded dubious so i pulled.
Be careful is all i'd say.
Oh went into my LBS and a guy came in having to get a couple of bikes replaced on insurance. Apparently the police had found his bike along with many others in a guys flat after a lead through Gumtree.......
First guy was selling a indoor vertical bike rack and was super nice and upfront all the way through.
Second girl was selling a G25 wheel with seat and frame for a suspicious low price...... (alarm bells did ring) anyway she made it difficult to view the products before purchase saying that they were being held by UPS and once i had given her the money (100 quid) she'd release the goods then i'd have 30 mins to inspect them after signing from UPS.... bla bla bla anyway sounded dubious so i pulled.
Be careful is all i'd say.
Oh went into my LBS and a guy came in having to get a couple of bikes replaced on insurance. Apparently the police had found his bike along with many others in a guys flat after a lead through Gumtree.......
Gnarlybluesurf said:
If you were street scum you could either walk the streets at night trying to find drunk people and hope they have money on them or you could place a bike add on Gumtree and get them to come to you at your desired location with £500 in pocket... Sure you could fight back that's what this guy did...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209161/Ma...
My god!!! He is lucky to have survived, the death penalty is too good for the type of people who do these things. Interesting that advice is to meet somewhere public, rather than at private addresses. Kind of goes against everything that I have done when buying second hand things. Guess the threat has changed!!http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209161/Ma...
Night Runner said:
Check out the reply:
Dubious b
ks.
Thank you very much.
Are people really stupid enough to believe crap like that? The worrying thing is that I know the answer is yes.Dubious b
ks.Thank you very much.
That said it almost reads like he offering to send you the bike without payment on sale or return.
Gumtree - you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
I don't know what it is about that particular site, but it's so full of scams and stolen stuff you'd be insane to actually try to sell something legit on it.
For example, if you search for a Cove Shocker (which is quite a rare downhill bike) you will occationally find a nice Orange one for sale, really high spec, hardly used for about £2k - roughly 2/3rds of what it would cost you to build new and about £1k shy of it's actual value.
It's advertised as being in Portsmouth. My mate e-mailed the seller about it because he fancied one, the guy said that the bike was actually at his Folks place on Shetland, but he could provide more pictures, and if he 'gifted' the money to him via Paypal he would have it sent to him - even offered a few hundred pounds off for "his trouble".
Luckily he e-mailed me to have a look to see what I thought as I have a Shocker myself... I was a little surpised to say the least to see a photo of MY BIKE, a photo I took of it about a year previously when I listed it on Pink Bike when I was thinking of selling it an almost complete copy of my ad. I reported it to Gumtree and they pulled it, I searched again and it was back, so I reported it again, and again and again. They can't stop people starting up new accounts and placing the ads again so it appears from time to time.
I don't know what it is about that particular site, but it's so full of scams and stolen stuff you'd be insane to actually try to sell something legit on it.
For example, if you search for a Cove Shocker (which is quite a rare downhill bike) you will occationally find a nice Orange one for sale, really high spec, hardly used for about £2k - roughly 2/3rds of what it would cost you to build new and about £1k shy of it's actual value.
It's advertised as being in Portsmouth. My mate e-mailed the seller about it because he fancied one, the guy said that the bike was actually at his Folks place on Shetland, but he could provide more pictures, and if he 'gifted' the money to him via Paypal he would have it sent to him - even offered a few hundred pounds off for "his trouble".
Luckily he e-mailed me to have a look to see what I thought as I have a Shocker myself... I was a little surpised to say the least to see a photo of MY BIKE, a photo I took of it about a year previously when I listed it on Pink Bike when I was thinking of selling it an almost complete copy of my ad. I reported it to Gumtree and they pulled it, I searched again and it was back, so I reported it again, and again and again. They can't stop people starting up new accounts and placing the ads again so it appears from time to time.
P-Jay said:
Gumtree - you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
I don't know what it is about that particular site, but it's so full of scams and stolen stuff you'd be insane to actually try to sell something legit on it.
I reported it to Gumtree and they pulled it, I searched again and it was back, so I reported it again, and again and again. They can't stop people starting up new accounts and placing the ads again so it appears from time to time.
The problem with gumtree is Gumtree itself... I have seen bikes sold on ebay 'Up North' that have the same pics readvertised as for sale in london a day later. Bikes typically being advertised as being a better model than they are, the same phone number yet different names on different adds giving different reasons for sale ranging from moving abroad to terrible injury....I don't know what it is about that particular site, but it's so full of scams and stolen stuff you'd be insane to actually try to sell something legit on it.
I reported it to Gumtree and they pulled it, I searched again and it was back, so I reported it again, and again and again. They can't stop people starting up new accounts and placing the ads again so it appears from time to time.
So did the decent thing and emailed gumtree... all they do is pull it for an hour then repost it, preventing it from being flagged up again... Got so tired if this that I gave up in the end....
Gumtree is full of crooks because Gumtree won't do anything to try to reduce it... Everytime you see a 'Deal' put the contact phone number into the search function and see how many different sizes and types of bikes that one person can describe as their pride and joy.... Genius!
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