Look at this on eBay...

[Globalti]

A neighbour of mine recently bought a brand new carbon bike for £600 from a bloke who, judging from the logo on his shirt, works for the importer. He told my neighbour he gets given lots of bikes to try by his employer and has a shed full of new, unused bikes. There must be lots of people like him who work in the cycle industry on the other side of the Point Of Sale where the goods have much less value than on our side.

 

[dodgy]

That's all very well RR, but this guy in one advert claims to have had to sell due to financial problems, despite upgrading many parts before even riding it. Then in the second advert (the Dawes Ti tourer) he doesn't mention any such problems and no reason for selling.
It's setting off my spidey senses anyway.

 

[dodgy]

I've sent an email to Future Cycles after calling them up on the phone.

 

[wheelsoffuture]

Case dealt with

Hi, I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill as I think this seller is genuine and has provided documents on all listings. This is more then most sellers that sell bikes on ebay. Although his reasons for sale are slightly questionable, neverthless we cannot say otherwise and if I think it is quiet unfair to sctrunise to the extent that calling up bike shops to check whether they had a bike stolen. This is not necessary action and why would you want to land the person in trouble when they have had more then 60 positive feedbacks.Surely there are must less trusting ebayers? I hope I have managed to convey my point to you and by drawing suspicion on such sellers will not do good for anyone as it is not helping stopping bike crime in any way. To conclude I called up future cycles and they reported no bike was stolen myself so that should lay this thread to rest!

 

[dodgy]

Hi, I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill as I think this seller is genuine and has provided documents on all listings. This is more then most sellers that sell bikes on ebay. Although his reasons for sale are slightly questionable, neverthless we cannot say otherwise and if I think it is quiet unfair to sctrunise to the extent that calling up bike shops to check whether they had a bike stolen. This is not necessary action and why would you want to land the person in trouble when they have had more then 60 positive feedbacks.Surely there are must less trusting ebayers? I hope I have managed to convey my point to you and by drawing suspicion on such sellers will not do good for anyone as it is not helping stopping bike crime in any way. To conclude I called up future cycles and they reported no bike was stolen myself so that should lay this thread to rest!

!

 

[Theseus]

Glad that's settled then. A new member with no prior posting history tells us that all is well and nothing dodgy is going on. Forgive me if I take this glowing recommendation with a pinch of salt.

 

[Crankarm]

Yeah a new member who appears to have joined simply to refute suspicions that the bike offered for sale might not be all it seems of unknown provenance. Hmmmmm......

There's a piece in the Times today about Ebay and Paypal's dodgy dealing. Aimed at sellers this time who have been defrauded by buyers and Paypal has reneiged on it's protection scheme. Sellers receive funds for items in their accounts, send off items, only for Paypal to snatch the money back a short time later as the transaction is fraudulent. So seller ends up minus money and their goods which have been sent to the buyer. Paypal only refunded the sellers funds when the Times got involved. I avoid Ebay and Paypal now as they are crooks. They both ignored my requests for re-imbursement when I lost £21.00 in purchasing goods that were simply not as described.

Ask for the bike's frame number.
His times for a 10 / 25 mile TT.
Which club he rides for.
The courses has he ridden.
What the groupset is on the bike.

Report the auction to Ebay as suspicious. I think one can do this.