Sold my old forks on Ebay two weeks ago.
Sent them off.
Buyer accepts them.
A week later the buyer raises a dispute saying the rebound and lockout doesn’t work and would like a partial refund.
I agree to a full refund on the forks being returned.
A bit annoyed as I know they worked fine when I packaged them, I’d done a fresh seal service before listing them and checked everything worked fine.
Received forks yesterday.
Rebound and lockout doesn’t work so issued refund (Ebay would’ve done this in a few days anyway) and dropped lowers off.
No oil in the lowers, foam rings bone dry!
On closer look the top nut holding the damper cartridge in has been undone – small mark to it that wasn’t there before suggests an adjustable spanner has been used.
The lockout dial also has a few scratches to it that wasn’t there before.
Remove the damper and the rubber has split, no oil in it so would not work.
They must have swapped the internals out before raising a dispute!!

To say I’m annoyed is an understatement. Especially as the buyer works at a bike shop (forks were returned using the shop account, address matches where I sent them to). There’s no way I can prove any of this (forks look correct as the lowers and stanchions are mine, serial number matches), they’ve been very clever!! Doesn’t take away from the fact that I’m left with unsaleable forks and am down the original postage.

Absolutely seething 👿

If the bike shop is legit and your buyer works there have a chat with the boss there. Maybe on an unrelated topic first to check out the situation.

Raise dispute, speak to the owner of the bike shop.

That’s very naughty indeed. Can I be the fist to suggest Bombers?

I’d be speaking to the shop too.
If he had the cheek to get the forks sent there and then does that surely the shop owner needs to know.
(then again they may be in on it )

I’d send the bike shop a link to the Royal Mail Shock Thieves thread.Then if they don’t give a satisfactory explanation they can look forward to the same excellent and free publicity that they got. Should help their Google profile.

Defo phone the bike shop,let him know your on to him,people like this give other buyers/sellers a bad name and makes us all weary about selling gear on eBay,I’m going to sell a frame but I’m going to tell the buyer cash on collection and check the item before leaving it’s the only way,what’s his name put it up on here so no one else gets scammed.

I’ve sent the buyer a message asking him if he opened the internals at all and have sent eBay an email to see what the procedure is regarding this. Will see what replies get before doing anything else. Can’t prove anything at this stage, so my options are limited.

Still absolutely ready to explode! 👿

Milky – it’s not a shop specializing in re-selling used gear by any chance is it?

eBay is a bloody cesspit these days. As a seller, you are probably going to be out of pocket. So if everything has gone down like you said I would consider reporting it to the police as a fraud.

…or you could use the STW members to force the buyer into showing remorse.

Feel free to name and shame their eBay account.

On other note- so ebay is saying sellers on ebay have to offer an unofficial ‘warranty’ on an item sold?

If something secondhand breaks within weeks – how the hell do you know how they’ve used that item? Could have crashed/DJ’d the wrong forks etc etc etc. Bizarre.

Sounds like fraud to me. Or obtaining something through deception. Up to you to prove it though. Name and shame after a discussion with the shops manager. Unless there is a signed confession attached to a body the police aren’t interested.

This kind of scam is common in certain, er, developing countries and is the reason why our staff in those countries are never allowed to take company vehicles home. You can be sure they will come back the next morning with second-hand batteries, tyres or even engines or gearboxes.

OP needs to be careful before naming and shaming as, with just his word against the shop, he’s getting into defamation territory. Sounds like they deserve it though.

The threat of police involvement might help.

Alternatively wait until they flog the forks most likely to have your internals in them, get them sent to another address and do the same back to them. 🙂

Simply wait until the buyer sells something on ebay. Make sure you win it, open a dispute saying the item isn’t as described- want partial refund and then leave a neg. Set up a new account now in your partners name 😉

Gosh, I didn’t know Wales had gotten that bad.

It’s bad enough selling on ebay as it is, but for someone in he trade to pull a scam like that, would you trust them to service your bike?

To be fair to the as yet unnamed shop, it could be a temp worker, or a friend, using their shipping account.

That does stink … I’d be surprised if flEbay do anything about it to be honest as it isn’t their problem and the seller doesn’t have a great deal of rights.. I’ve heard of this happening before with electrical items where the returned item isn’t the original one sent out and a faulty one returned. It is very difficult to prove.. Contact the shop even go and see them with some friends and make a fuss.

To be fair to the as yet unnamed shop,
Are you mental, I am sat here with my recently sharpened and oiled pitchfork in one hand and a slice of marmite on toast in the other.

Would be interested to here any replies you receive.

If hes robbed your internals

I’d nip round to his place of work (seriously the threat will be enough) and have it out with the spineless shit

Would you sit there if I walked in your house and took the copy of hot sexy vixens ,which may be worth more to you than a set of fork parts? out of your DVD player….no I think you would object at being mugged off, hes just done it in a roundabout way not on your home site

Go and knock his pots in or at least get a friend to do it.

I’d nip round to his place of work

It could be 100s of miles away..

It could be 100s of miles away..

Justice cares not for your puny miles.

chip – Member

I am sat here with my recently sharpened and oiled pitchfork in one hand and a slice of marmite on toast in the other

How do you know the buyer doesn’t like marmite? [suspicious mode engaged]

I’d nip round to his place of work

It could be 100s of miles away..

He’s got a bike hasn’t he.

chip – Member
I’d nip round to his place of work

It could be 100s of miles away..

He’s got a bike hasn’t he.

But his forks don’t work. 😉

Serious mode. That is shit, track him down with a full bladder and a set of bombers.

Phone up the shop. Tell them what has happened.

I put money on it being some cheeky lad working there.

Like some have pointed out, I do not have any definite proof. It’s my word against his at this point. It could well be a rogue employee of the business so I do not want to name and shame the business and damage their reputation.
I have spoken to eBay and they don’t give a monkey’s, so I will just have to wait for any reply from the buyer. Then I’ll look at other options. Work does actually take me to very near the place every week or so, a visit could be fun 😉

Phone up the shop. Tell them what has happened.

I put money on it being some cheeky lad working there.

If hes using the shop account to post/receive personal things- I wonder if hes PAYING or just being cheeky.

Ouch.

Call the shop and speak to him.

I was scammed (or someone attempted through classifieds) a couple of years ago,

Bought some wheels for £340, no sign of them after a week so dropped him an email,

Ah sorry mate I’ve decided no to sell them. I’ll refund you.

Got a refund for £300. Wasn’t impressed.

Ignored all my emails etc. So i put his email into facebook, found out he worked in a bike shop. So I called the number asked to speak to him and said I wanted the £40 back either through paypal or in cash when I’m in the area in a week or so.

It was sorted very quick after that,

Also is there enough parts missing to compare parcel weights??

speak to the owner of the bike shop.

Has anyone ever had any success with this?

EDIT ha ha clearly singlespeed shep kind of has…

EDIT ha ha clearly singlespeed shep kind of has…

I didn’t speak to the owner just the lad direct, probably s~~t him up a bit getting a call at work. (If he knew me he probably actually wouldn’t be scared)

This could be a clever double bluff from Milky of course……..

Do the internals have any serial numbers on? Call his bluff and ask him if he can explain why the serial numbers don’t match the ones you sold.

I think contacting the shop is reasonable

if there is no joy I would name and shame

Its seems pretty clear what has happened here tbh and it is not a business I would want to give my money to

Do the internals have any serial numbers on? Call his bluff and ask him if he can explain why the serial numbers don’t match the ones you sold.

Excellent idea.

Stuff like this is why I stay well away from ebay. Bought a phone once – described as unlocked/not tied to any network in the description. It arrives, its locked to a particular network. Seller tries to deny saying its unlocked even though its in the description and gets shirty but makes the mistake of mentioning that he works in a phone shop. I put 2 and 2 together using his location and this info and manage to figure out where he works and advise that I’ll be paying a visit shortly. (I’m nowhere near – its the other side of the country)

He panics and gets the provider to send the phone unlocking code by the end of the day.

Phone/call into the shop and speak to the manager/owner. Tell him what has happened. Don’t get angry. Don’t blame the shop. Just tell themwhat has happened. I doubt they’ll be too impressed that their good name is being compromised. You may not get your internals back but life will probably get a little bit harder for the perpetrator.
Depending on the manager’s response, name and shame. In any (expensive)legal action it would be up to them to prove you are telling porkies.

I’d go for a softly softly approach first. Contact the shops boss pointing out that the premises was used for perpetration of a fraudulent act, thereby complicit.

Also point out the buyer that they have commited theft, and that you will happily return his internals.

PS use bombers to remove his internals….

I’d be totally straight with the guy ,tell exactly what you think he’s done ask him to explain why the lowers are bone dry with not a hint of oil bearing mind that you had only serviced them a week earlier.

If he pleads ignorance tell him that you will speak to his boss next and then the police.
Failing the above we’ll start a witch hunt on here.

Maybe a bit late now, but I would ring them….NOT to have a go etc, be more crafty…..

be along the lines of,
” I was out on the bike last night and my XXXX YYYYY forks have died and not working very will, do you have any experience of them as my normal shop does not do suspension”

then hopefully the shop would say…
“yes we funny enough just had some in the other day”

“oh really what was wrong with them, is it a common fault, how much did it cost to fix, how soon can it be fixed/get parts? etc”

I think you see where I am going with this, of course take notes or even better record the conversion, lead them down that path then give them hell after.

milky1980 if you like depending on make of fork, I can check if the importer of forks have that part in stock?
The Shop been a very under handed (and think very outside of the box) got your forks to nick the parts to fix a customer set, if that the case bet they charged full wack to the customer….give use all a bad name.