Had a discussion about selling bikes and kit etc.. with a riding buddy, on the back of someone he knows who was selling an expensive road bike (on Ebay), guy comes round to view, 2 days later before the listing ended its gone from his garage. Now there is no way to prove this guy who viewed is the thief or involved in anyway what so ever. But it is all a bit convenient, no??

Anyway what cropped up was the potential security issues with –

1) Inviting a random round to your house to view, when they could just be casing the joint
2) Taking cash as payment (when the banks are shut) and poss including forgeries
3) Meeting somewhere and the buyer turning up with a few mates and the fact that it looks/feels dodgy

So what are the Hive’s thoughts and what’s the safest approach to selling a bike no matter the value??

I said about hiring a safe storage for a month (£30 ish) and selling it out of there. If you have got all the receipts for the bike and proof of ownership, Its secure, away from your address and you don’t need to ride the bike as you have a new one anyway, I can’t see the problem. Mate thinks it wayyyyy OTT

Am I missing something or over complicating a simple transaction? I’m a bit paranoid as some ~#@+$ have already nicked one of my MTB’s (not recently, but you tend not to forget and pay a bit more attention to security)

Cheers

EDIT – And they are also likely to know your either getting or have got an new shiney bike to replace the one they’ve just viewed

Might be cheaper{free} just to meet prospective buyers (with a mate if you must) 500m from your house? at a neutral venue like a carpark/petrol station etc? in daylight too if poss…

EDIT – you have clearly thought of everything and I suggest only selling long distance from now

outside local police station? 🙂

inside would be more secure

I wouldn’t want to do a meet at a neutral location without air cover and a counter-sniper team personally.

Don’t let random people into the house or garage, bring the bike out to them.

You have every right to check or reject suspect notes, a check pen costs very little.

Unlikely to turn up mob handed if there is any way to trace them.

I checked out the bloke who bought my bike last night on LinkedIn to see who he was. In the past I’ve had people come to my street but not had them in my house.

If someone told me they’d sell me a bike but would meet me in a car park I’d not buy from them as my assumption would be a nicked bike or some sort of scam.

A mate of mine Just sold his 5 Series for cash to some interesting eastern European chaps… took the cash to the bank and Yep, forgeries Galore… Police were involved, Car is long gone, and he’s made some new friends, who now know his home address…

TBH you don’t meet potential buyers Alone, and certainly not at your home.

Agree a neutral, easy to find location, preferably Public, During daylight hours if you can, ideally somewhere with CCTV coverage, and take a mate along, Supermarket Carparks are ideal IMO…

Getting work and home telephone numbers and addresses of purchaser( not just mobile ones)have been what I have done in the past. You can verify them before progressing. It’s definitely also well worth having a good chat with them about biking too as to ascertain whether they are a genuine buyer or a scammer. If they are genuine they will want to know lots about the bike etc. It’s important not to Rush the process and not move on with a sale even if it risks the person dropping out. Doing things properly is in both buyers and sellers interest.

Cookeaa – Ouch!!!!!! Hope it works out with the Police etc… but chances are slim I guess

So the safe storage is OTT, but meeting in a neutral location (with sniper cover)a mate, your POP, receipts etc.. and with a note checker pen seems sensible enough.

Just be polite and up front about using a pen to check notes, no one who is honest should have a problem.

Obviously no test ride without money changing hands, and beware of distraction techniques.

i must be overly trusting (stupid), or very lucky 😕

so far i have:

met a stranger in a neutral car park and let him have a test ride, he also turned up with a mate, whereas i turned up with a very pregnant wife. i even let him have a test ride (round the car park) paid cash, no forgeries.

had many a stranger turn up at my house with genuine cash and again, no forgeries, nor burglaries

i also sold a car to a chap from Scotland who paid me in £100 notes… (i didn’t even know such a thing existed), plus the bank was closed so i couldn’t check them 1st!

Actually just had a conversation about this with some other mates at work…

They were saying that taking large sums of cash wasn’t really ideal, apparently a banker’s draft can be forged and Paypal payments can be retracted (unless its a “Gift”?)…

The conclusion reached was that Direct bank transfer was considered “Safest” as you can verify it then and there on your phone if needs be, but with the proviso that you don’t receive the funds into your main account, as you’re giving out an account number and sort code and don’t know what they might be able to do with that…
So you needed to set up a second “Trading” current account with no significant balance, no overdraft facility, and pull the funds out of it ASAP once they landed…

Makes me not want to sell anything at all now…
The level of paranoia has gone through the roof though since my mate got himself swindled out of his Beemer…
It was TBH mostly down to his stupidity and generally piss poor luck, He is known for being disaster prone…

met a stranger in a neutral car park and let him have a test ride, he also turned up with a mate, whereas i turned up with a very pregnant wife. i even let him have a test ride (round the car park) paid cash, no forgeries.

Good job you had your pregnant wife there or you would have been turned over something proper.

Last time I sold a bike I offered to deliver it to the buyer. Cost me in petrol money but gave me security…

I know it was made in jest ^^ but agreeing to meet outside the local cop shop is not a bad idea is it?

If they don’t ask many questions first then you know there not genuine, and if they don’t try knocking you down on price, these both would show they maybe out to con you most who want a good spec bike talk all about bikes so call them before they come to your house to see how they sound.

OP, started a similar thread a while back which might have some handy info in.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/taking-payment

As it goes, I met the guy at the train station, and we walked to the local Barclays and both of us, plus the bike, went in and paid the cash into my account. Luckily it was a nice dry day, so no-one moaned about taking a bike into branch.

The simplest and most expensive way of getting robbed is selling it on ebay. Once the buyer decides they can’t afford it or don’t want it they’ll open a “not as described” case and ebay will refund them out of your pocket.

Hmm…actually, have you got the listing number 😈

I’ve had people turn up, not really given it much thought.

Most stuff ends up being posted anyway. I understand the local people wanting to collect, but occasionally you get the odd one who insists on collecting from miles away. If that’s what they want to do, then fine!

Mixture, done plenty from my house but now prefer a neutral location which is a car park down the road on the high street. Busy enough during normal hours to be safe.

Be upfront with people. If they get touchy about it then don’t deal with them.

Also you can check on here to get an idea. Someone who is active on the forum and seems like a genuine mountain biker with an interest in woodburners and left wing politics is less likely to be a scammer than someone who has just posted one thing in the classifieds.