MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Follwoing up on my recent "Stolen bike" thread where I advised my Orange G2 had been taken, things have got a little bit odd this morning.
It was essentially a replacement for another bike I'd had for years, which was lifted about 18m ago. That one, I didn't bother to report to the police. It was taken from within the stairwell the flats I live in, and the bike was in good condition except bits of the drivetrain were knackered while pedalling heavilly the chain jumped and did something nasty, jamming and damaging - Stx crank, for which rings weren't available any longer, the chain, rear cassette. As such I held back on the repairs for a bit, parked it up and one day it went missing.
Now, it's surfaced on ebay,today. locally. I'd recognise it as it still has the d lock shackle attacked to the seat post, and the original dealers sticker on the down tube.
Without having reported it to the police, how do I best get it back? Ask the seller nicely? Offer a "finders fee"? just buy it? Or report belatedly to the police, and seek their intervention in a low value theft?
All I can offer in experience, is that I spotted a friend's bike on ebay a couple of months after it was lifted. Definitely his. He contacted police, listing had circa 5 days left.
Nothing happened. Someone bought the bike. Don't know the ins and outs but he was proactive in chasing police, but sadly appeared they didn't have the resource to deal with it.
He's loaded, so maybe didn't care too much, but sad story that frustrated me!
wherabouts in the country are you?
edit: Just noticed you are darn saaarf.
Worth a try to report it. Any old pics of the bike will support your claims of its theft.
Unless you've got pretty solid proof of ownership I'd have doubt that you'd be successful in reclaiming the bike. Worth a report though on the offchance the seller has lots of previous of theft or fencing stolen goods and a knock on the door unearths a [crimewatch] Aladin's Cave [/crimewatch]. Given the time frame though its as likely the seller is selling something they bought in good faith.
But not having reported it its difficult not to prove its not something you've sold/given away / thrown away and are now trying to scam back
Breguante - thats genius. I happen to have 1 Photo, and it shows the rear light and the shackle for the lock on the seat post - the shackle being a Specialised one with logo on, is clearly the same as the photo up on ebay. You'd look at the photo and go "yep" thsts it! Same position,with the light mounting above.
We would al;l accept it is your but having a photo of it is not proof
Show us!
Also tell police, he may be selling others too
Funnily enough, he's also selling another bike that used to park in our communal hallway, some nasty, heavy old full sus foldable bike. I recognise it as it hadn't moved for months and went at the same time as mine - it's tyres had been flat for months, and in the ebay picture they're still flat, 18m later. This guy's just been storing them for nearly 2 years before selling.
So, given that I will win the ebay auction, so I offer him a finders fee, and take it fromhim, pointing out it was mine and stolen? Try to steal it back off him? Pay the full price, by paypal and open a dispute? Or actually bite the bullet and pay what ever the auction ends at?
Contact the police, there is no downside in doing so.
Win the auction, offer to collect, tell him it's yours and you will just take it or involve the police. If he is legit, having bought it from the thief, he will be happy to help.
Win & pay them a visit.... Take it back. Where's the ebay link ? 🙂
carbonfibreismadebyaliens - Member
Contact the police, there is no downside in doing so
have you been in this position then? I told the police, sod all got done, even after seeing the officer dealing with it & being told a warrant to search has been granted & calling every couple of hours, told them where it was, when the thief was going to be home etc, then last week the brakes from my bike surfaced on ebay, informed them again, then a week later got an email from them saying "they may have been sold several times & the seller may not know they're stolen, so no action was taken"
so my vote is to just go round & take it back, be aware though the person selling it will have your address etc from ebay if you win the auction.
They don't get your address until you pay by paypal do they? Call the police once you are there.
They don't get your address until you pay by paypal do they? Call the police once you are there.
they get your address as soon as you win the auction, so they can post it out
Ask them to deliver! See when it clicks!
He knows where you live anyway!
He knows where you live anyway!
He knows it's a block of flats...
Not sure the police will do much as you did not report it when it got stolen...but worth trying them, I got mine back just off a photo but I did report it stolen. You could buy it tell them you are collecting it and phone the police tell them you are going round to collect a stolen bike and you would like some body there with you.. If they don't want to know just take it back and get the seller to phone police.
not sure about the delay in reporting it stolen, but I would like to add a tale of a [i]positive[/i] experience with the police and ebay..
A young lad that worked in my local had his bike nicked and I randomly spotted it on ebay some weeks later.. I informed the lad who involved the police, who were round at the sellers address recovering goods the same afternoon..
I think it will depend almost entirely on where in the country you are and how busy your local constabulary are as a result
Well, the good news is that I've won the auction. Now what to do?
Do I pay for it using paypal and then open a dispute after collection?
Or just contact the seller, indicate I am going to pay cash and just tell him when I arrive I've come to reclaim whats mine?
I am amazed that a 12-13 year old Orange p7 would still get £150+ on Ebay. (Of course, I know the chainrings were knackered and being StX-rc are impossible to find new due to the odd way the rings were joined), the left shifter didn't always shift, the chain was split and the rear tyre is worn to the point it needs replacement, none of which were mentioned on the Ad, so I've saved someone a crap ebay buy if nothing else.
Contact the police and see what they say.
If it was me, I'd try arrange a meet and confront them in person. For all you know, You could say "This bike is mine and was stolen, did you steal it" They could hold their hands up and give it back to you. Worth a try.
Or just throw in a headbutt or two and take it back anyway.
Don't pay for it over PayPal, Meet them and pay in person, or should I say take it.
i would be wary of taking the law into your hand as you need to both prove you own it and that it has been stolen.
Both of these may be difficult.
You also have no idea how the seller came into possession of it and they may not be guilty of anything
Doesn't hurt to confront them, I'd take a friend along though just incase.
Like I said, There's a good chance they'll panick and just hand the bike over. Then again it may be someone who's bought it after it was stolen. You'll be able to tell.
If they start withe the 'I bought it off a mate' bullcrap, call the Police whilst you are with the seller. Tell them you've seen a gun, they'll soon be round.... 🙂
Well I got it back!
😀
I did pay a small finders fee, but only because once I got the full story, it seemed reasonable enough. Apparently the flats I lived in asked the maintanance guys to remove stuff from communal areas, but it happened when I was on "sort of" holiday, and so never saw the notice attached to the bike. It's been stored ever since.
As such, given the seller clearly wasn't a "bike thief" as such, but just doing his job as ordered by the management co, I handed enough over for a decent round in a pub. Guy was really reasonable about it really.....
T-I-T