Sold a road bike at the weekend on EBay.

Transaction went smoothly and the buyer paid cash on collection yesterday.

Just had a message to say there is a serious problem – ‘weld point has come away at the bottom bracket’.

What to do? Bike was in the shop for a once over last week and nothing was said.

How do I know he hasn’t broken it..?

How do I know he hasn’t broken it..?

You don’t, he inspected before collection and paid cash.

The words jog and on are appropriate here.

Was their username soldierspy1982?

he inspected before collection and paid cash

Exactly.

He hasn’t got a case against you at all really.

If you had posted it to him, that would be different.

Did he collect from your house?

Yep, collected from my house and seemed genuine. Barely looked at the bike and handed over the cash.

He’s just sent me a photo of the frame and it does look like a failure at the drive side chainstay weld.

Might well be a refund and a warranty claim on the frame. Bought from Chain Reaction 2 years ago…

Hi,

Did you give the man a receipt? I was told you should write sold as seen on the receipt to be clear of any backlash (although I would not state my reputation, or anything else on that) I’m no expert.

But, it does seem that you have done everything right. The guy picked it up in person. It could be just really unlucky that the frame has cracked on his first ride out. You are probably off the hook, but its really unlucky for him.

Maybe you want to come to an agreement, over it or something? I mean think how you would feel if it was you.

You’ve inadvertently ended up protected thanks to his paying in cash.

If you believe it was solid when you sold it, then no moral reason to repay and this will end with you getting negative feedback and him having a broken bike.

If it happened to me I’d be gutted. Maybe worth contacting CRC on his behalf with the photo and seeing what they say?

Obviously make no promises to the buyer.

I’ve filed a warranty claim with Chain Reaction.

Although I know I’m within my rights to tell him to clear off, I’ll probably end up refunding him and keeping my fingers crossed that something happens with the warranty.

As curiousyellow put it, I’d be gutted if I happened to me. I haven’t ridden the bike for several weeks and had noticed a creaking that I presumed was the bottom bracket beginning to ask for some attention. Never imagined it would be a broken frame…

Sounds like you’re the sort of seller we all hope we’d end up with if something were to be wrong.

Best of luck with the warranty/return.

Check the frame number and any marks you know about in case matey is substituting one he’s borked already. But from what you said about the creaking…

Have you got a note of the frame number? And if so, would your seller be willing to take a photo of the frame number and send it to you?

You could claim its for the case with Chain Reaction.

Its something I’d want to check, just in case someone with a knackered frame bought yours.

slowoldgit and I, we think as one….

Thanks for the advice… Frame number checks out.

Still can’t believe an aluminium frame has given up within 2 years. Guess I’m lucky the thing hasn’t collapsed whilst I’m moving at speed.

I’ll wait on Chain Reaction and hope they don’t fob me off with:

“Corrosion and/or deterioration caused by material fatigue defined as the natural breakdown of materials that occurs after extended use will not be covered under warranty”

If it’s still within it’s warranty period then any failure of tubing or welds not caused by crash impact will be covered and you should get a replacement.