I think that I spotted my Nomad, which was stolen over 2 years ago, on Ebay over the weekend. I approached the police and took their advice and reported it to ebay. They also suggested I try to get a look at the bike to establish if it was definitely mine. I did this by asking questions and eventually asking if I could go and see him and try the bike for size. He agreed to this and it was planned that I pop round to his later this evening. However the listing has been ended and when I asked him if it was still available he said he has sold it.

I have been to see the police this morning to make a statement and at the end of it the PC said he didn’t hold out much hope of getting the bike back as he would have “dropped it like a hot potato” if he got suspicious. Or maybe he has just sold it, as he said?

In hind sight it was most likely a mistake to report to ebay as this is possibly why the listing has been ended?? I got the feeling from the our ebay message exchanges he wasn’t suspicious of me?? I don’t believe he was the thief either as he said he bought the bike the previous year from Ebay.

The seller has posted a photograph of the original ebay sale as part of his advert on ebay. Unfortunately there is not much information to establish who originally sold it to him.

My main goal from all of this is to find who stole it not necessarily getting the bike back, which is the insurance companies anyway I guess.

I’m not sure what to do next. any Ideas?

P.S Here is a link to the eBay ad so if you happen to be the buyer you can back out.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331438145796?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

My first thought – selling and buying stolen goods is highly illegal, isn’t it?

So surely the police should visit to determine if he did indeed sell it, and if so – whom too? And if it was sold through Ebay, the police would have to contact them (Ebay) to get the name of the buyer?

He already “admitted” to selling stolen goods to you (hopefully through email so you can prove it), so thats a no brainer surely.

They probably see it as a lot of work, but that seems to be how it “should” be done.

Edit:

Hi,I’m not a bike expert, so I won’t try and impress you with a description I know nothing about, brought from eBay last summer for £1950,pic supplied.the guy said it had £4k worth of extras?,I wanted a good solid bike with no probs,
The bike as been fantastic, not been used for 6 weeks as I’ve brought anew 29″ wheel bike. Grab a bargain thnx

Haha, yea sure. Because people often drop £2k on something they have no idea about. Calling BS, this is your thief, or most likey, your thief’s mate.

In hind sight it was most likely a mistake to report to ebay as this is possibly why the listing has been ended??

Having been on the other end of this dilemma, I think you were right to report to eBay.

I bought a bike that turned out to be stolen. I had to give it up, and I lost the money that I paid for it. eBay and Paypal could not give 2 shites about my losses.

If the disgruntled buyer in my case had reported it to eBay and pulled the listing I would be much better off. If the Police could show some interest rather than expecting you to do their jobs for them, the world would be a better place.

The inconsistency of police interest from region to region is frustrating..

I spotted my mate’s nicked bike on ebay a few years back, he informed the police and they went round immediately, recovering the bike as soon as it could be established that it was definitely my mate’s bike..

The tealeaf BSd his way out of any further action, but bike and owner were reunited

It is really frustrating that Whilst I was making a statement at the station all I could think of was “Why aren’t they sending an officer to at least knock on his door?”. If the seller has smelled a rat then he will just get rid. Surely we can write up statements after??

I also think that the seller does not come across as entirely innocent. As Plyphon said why would you spend £2K on a bike when you are not a bike expert.

If the seller is the innocent party, I have sympathy. I’m not concerned about getting the bike back, he can keep it for me. I just want to catch the original theif.

I have the sellers address and telephone number. Not sure if this helps or is relevant. Part of me wants to pop round and ask a few questions. It’s probably best to let the police do their work?

Somethings not right. You don’t buy a secondhand bike off ebay for almost 2k and not know absolutely anything about it then interms of research/parts etc- and similar now. He still ‘doesn’t’. His own listing is terrible. It doesn’t add up.

Could the original listing have been his? Hes playing dumb- kept it a while then trying to sell again with a few item changes.

I had a similar issue a couple of years back, spotted my stolen bike for sale on Pink Bike (what an idiot!) so called the police – fobbed me off with “we will look into it”

After much pleading from mrs beer, sorting it out myself went out the window (involved two mates, a van and maybe some rough justice….)

It took a friend who works for British Cycling speaking to the BC police liason officer to sort it out and get things moving.

Arranged to meet the “seller” and the police did the rest.

The guy was a 15 year old lad, and had his mum with him!
Told the police he bought it in a pub (why was a 15 year old in a pub…..) when they searched his house they found several bikes, and loads of bits – he was obviously nicking bikes and swapping the parts over. When you looked at his Pinkbike account he had quite a few bikes for sale – selling most of them for a “friend”.

The most infuriating thing was he wasn’t charged as they didn’t have enough evidence!

In the end though i got my bike back – extremely lucky!

How about you or a mate inquiring about seeing another of his car lots and seeing if the bike is on site?

If your local it might be worth it?

Sutton Coldfield covers a wide area of people tbh. Lots of broken car parts too.

Letmetalktomark. I had thought about paying him a visit but I don’t like asking friends to come with me for a potential kicking! Also something tells me he’s more than just a petty criminal. His house is worth a lot of money and hidden behind gates, yet cannot string a sentence together. This is all just a hunch and he may be a lovely man who’s unfortunately bought stolen goods?

I’d still like to say at this point I only think that this is my bike as the photo’s are fuzzy and until I see it cannot be 100% sure. It would be great if I get the opportunity to see it though to verify if it is or not.

hora. The original listing says the “item location” is different to the new listing. Not by much though. So i guess it could be the same seller.

Why don’t you pass the details over to the insurance company who now owns the bike, they may have their own investigators and have a bit more clout with the police.

euans2- Good idea. I’ll give them a call.

I built my lad a cracking little RockHopper from a mix of bits I collect over the years, Shimano UST wheels from a old Lapierre & bars, Xt here & there a Fizik seat & old ODi grips, bingo up it pops on fleabay, we had rerted months earlier to the police.
I swiftly messaged the guy, cant we try it might be too big for my lad, Oh yeah here’s my address, the police were USELESS didn’t want to know until I said I’m going round to give him a good hiding.

Result was as I knocked on his door two bobby’s were waiting outside, in we went, Oh yeah that’s our bike no worries, pleaded ignorant, we walked away with the bike & he was arrested & taken to the nick for questioning,next week he’s on fleabay selling more gear.
They’re stolen & moved out of the area for swift disposal / re sale also check Gumtree it’s full of stolen items.

yorkycsl. Really frustrating isn’t it? I’m undecided if the police don’t have the resource or just don’t care much. They only seem to act when pushed.

This morning after I gave a statement I said to the officer i think the advice the police gave me regarding reporting the sale to Ebay was not the best thing to do in hind sight. He said sometimes the correct thing to do is not always the most effective!

Local Manchester rider had his house burgled. His bike popped up on ebay the next week in Warrington. Thieves have friends/associates etc that fence/wash/rinse stuff for them as well.

I had 3 bike stolen 3.5yrs past and have so far recovered 2 of them. Both were spotted on by a friend and then with a small amount of detective work by myself, retrieved by the police. The most recent case was a Yeti Dh9. After discovering the eBay listing the first thing I did was to call the police and create an incident number. Then I set about copying and pasting not only the advert but the users name too and after a short time I had found his address and real name. This information was then passed onto my neighbourhood police team who recovered the item. On both of these occasions I have not involved eBay. Time is of the essence. Good luck I hope you manage to ride this bike again.

just to add my 10p.

my mate has his orange patriot stolen a few years ago, this then turn up on ebay last summer – it was 100% his bike. he contacted the police who took statements etc etc. nothing was done about it – the bike was on ebay for a month after he reported it.

Police have still done nothing, but I’m not giving up. When it was stolen the officer who came to investigate said there was an operation in the local area as bike theft is a big problem. Now I’m not sure he was being honest. I regularly see suspicious folk riding very expensive bikes which don’t look right if you know what I mean. Can the police not stop these people and ask a few questions? It may deter people from buying cheap knocked off bikes.

I’ think a scheme where if you cannot prove you own the bike it can be taken away might work. It’s a bit controversial as the law is normally innocent until proven guilty but in my experience to date there is no deterrent what so ever for bike theives.

ScottChegg:

I bought a bike that turned out to be stolen. I had to give it up, and I lost the money that I paid for it. eBay and Paypal could not give 2 shites about my losses.

I cannot believe this!!!

Shocking.

yorkycsl. Really frustrating isn’t it?

Very

I’m undecided if the police don’t have the resource

Usually

or just don’t care much.

Sadly – often due to

don’t have the resource

but not always 🙁