Ever buy a bike on Ebay?

[rickj]

I've been quietly monitoring this site and getting great information about the ST1300, in the hopes that I'd eventually be ready to buy one. I've also been building a house with the motivation that I'd get my ST as soon as it was done and the dust settled. Well, the dust hasn't all settled yet, but I'm close to being ready for the bike. A couple of days ago I happened upon a great 2003 ABS model (local) with a few interesting farkles at a reasonable price. Hardly any bids but the guy said he had received many calls. After checking with the other half I decided to go ahead and bid on it, even though this Ebay thing is new to me. I made a bid $100 higher than the last one and then one more bid to stay on top, after which there was complete "silence" and no more bids for over a day. I thought it would be mine. 20 seconds before the end of the auction there was still no activity, and I was starting to get excited about my new bike. Then, a flurry of bids appeared in the last 5 - 8 seconds by two guys and I lost out by a few hundred dollars! The whole experience left a bad tatste in my mouth to the point where I don't even want to log back on to that site. I'll find my bike the old fashioned way and will likely wait for the 2006s to come out, to see what that does to prices. Thanks to all for your great input on this awesome board!

[STeelersFan]

Rickj,

Unfortunately, that's how it usually happens. It takes some experience using eBay to get the hang of it. And sometimes, by waiting until the last 15 to 30 seconds you can "steal" the item away from the high bidder. The high bidder may have been willing to go even higher, but has run out of time, and the bidding is over, so you win the item. It's very common, and a pay service will even do it for you (never used it).

Just by coincidence, I bought a 2005 VTX1300 Retro Sunday evening on eBay. I was watching the item, and with 30 seconds to go, I placed a bid and took the motorcycle (and I believe I got a great deal). Since the bike was with a local dealer, I picked it up yesterday. One of the easiest eBay transactions I've ever done.

If I am very interested in an item, I will determine my maximum bid, and let eBay automatically place my bids. But, you have to determine in advance how high you are willing to go. Sometimes I win, more often I don't.

I think eBay is great, and use it to buy many different thinks. The VTX1300 was the highest priced item I've purchased so far.

The other think "Let the buyer beware" - there is still lots of fraud out there. If it's too good to be true, it probably is fraud.

[Lake Cle Elum]

I bought a bike on the other side of the country off E-bay (Suzuki GS1000S)....It was a huge disappointment. I had obiviously been assembed from several other bikes. I'm on a Porsche 911 forum and this also happens a lot with these cars.

Best to go look at something before you bid. Whenever I buy other things on e-bay, I only submit one bid and that at about 45 seconds before the auction ends....Best of luck....

[Fred D]

Know what you mean, I watched the same thing happen on an ST1100 seat I was bidding on a few months ago. I think many buyers have/are resorting to programs like AuctionStealer to buy stuff off of e-bay. Kinda takes the fun out of it.....

Are you following the classifieds on MSN's ST1300 site? I've been watching it, and waiting for all the omens, portents, stars, signs, etc to align to convince me to replace my 93 with a 1300.

[Rob Hephner]

I bought my ST on Ebay!

No issue at all. :)

[Lake Cle Elum]

FRED: I bought my ST1300 on the MSN site about a month ago. An '04, 6,900 miles, $1,500 worth of extras for $9,250.....Would have never got it for that price on Ebay.....Was well worth my wait.......

[CruisingDog]

I bought a bike on the other side of the country off E-bay (Suzuki GS1000S)....It was a huge disappointment. I had obiviously been assembed from several other bikes. I'm on a Porsche 911 forum and this also happens a lot with these cars.

Best to go look at something before you bid. Whenever I buy other things on e-bay, I only submit one bid and that at about 45 seconds before the auction ends....Best of luck....


Like the old saying, "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is ..."!!

Ebay has a lot of good stuff but also has the sharks swimming around as well.

[Moby]

I've bought several bikes on e-bay. Here is the trick: Buy in winter,calculate shipping cost on top of your bid (generally +$500) and most importent,understand that others people interpretation of "Mint,Perfect or Like New" may be different than yours.

On the 3 bikes purchased they ALWAYS come in a little under expectation!
So bid with that understanding.Other than that no problems.

One more tip: Always get the phone number of the seller and tlak to them about the bike.This helps establish some credability of the purchase.


Moby

[hload]

I've sold bikes on ebay - my last one was a 02 BMW GS/Adventure, which financed the ST1300.

When I bid on ebay I put my max bid up early - if it win's it wins if not well there's another bike out there somewhere, getting in a last minute bidding war is dumb

[stg1]

The same thing happened to me on E-bay and I have not been on back since. I found an 04 ST1300 close to my home and watched this thing for 6 days. The auction was over at 11:00 at night, so 1 hour before the end I camped out on the computer hitting refresh time after time to get updates on bids. I thought I was going to get it when at about 4 second before the end auto bidding took over and I lost. What a disapointment. Later I found that it went for more than it was worth. AUCTION FEVER :eek: . Go to your dealer or find one in the paper so you don't get let down. I bought an new "05" 2 days later from a dealer and got a real good deal.

[texxter]

I have sold three bikes on Ebay - the first two sold a couple of hundred under what I expected, and the last one a couple over what I expected, so overall I think you get less money on Ebay than you would from a local buyer.

I think there is a sweet spot to buy, which is when the seller is not too far away and you can pick up the bike yourself and not spend several hundred dollars in shipping. Also, I think it's really important to talk to the seller on the phone prior to bidding - as it was pointed out early.

Last minute bidding is the way Ebay works these days, there is even smart software to do this for you - in my opinion it's a good strategy not to bid until the last minute and take a chance if you really want it - especially when there is only one other bidder. There are some techniques to place the max bid with a better chance to win the competing last minute bidder. It makes sense to decide in advance what the max you're willing to pay is, and avoid competing trying to win at all costs...

So, there is a lot of science and art behind Ebay - I think cycletrader.com may be easier and more fun way to find a good used bike.

[acebradley]

I did buy a minibike once on eBay and the transaction went off just fine. But I am much bigger fan of Cycletrader (www.cycletrader.com) for motorcycles as it goes well beyond the traditional classifieds, but doesn't introduce the strange financial and technical bidding gymnastics that eBay does (I am an eBay fan, by the way, even bought a car that way). I use eBay to get ideas about pricing and because it helps to guage interest in an item that you get no insight into with the traditional classifieds (such as how many bids and where it started CAN be telling). Even though my only motorcycle purchase went fine, I would never again buy a big ticket used item without seeing it in person - I only appreciated my exposure when I got the minibike and realized how easily I could have been taken. Good luck hunting! :D

[Bones]

eBay is a great concept, but as it's matured it's become increasingly less appealing as a marketplace. Caveat emptor.

[rickj]

Thanks for all the great comments regarding buying on ebay! I've been monitoring the cycle trader, this site, and the MSN site to get information about the bike, average prices, etc. I haven't seen too many of these bikes for sale in this area (Temecula, CA), so when I saw the bike on ebay that was within a couple of hours of here, it peaked my interest and I thought I'd go for it. I did in fact decide how much I'd pay for it and set my highest bid accordingly. I was literally stunned at how fast the last two guys bid on it - probably with the use of some software tool. I'm going to lay low for a bit, but I do want to have my ST within a few months. My nephew is returning soon from a long deployment in Afghanistan, and we've been talking about a reunion ride for him. He lives in the Merced, CA area and we're talking about a ride in the Lake tahoe area. Thanks again for all the advice.

[John]

Hi, Rick. I bought my 05 ST from Cycle Trader a few weeks ago. I bought it without ever seeing it, which was nerve wracking, but I could have backed out of the deal when I went to pick it up. I live near Sacramento, and I got on a plane, flew to Las Vegas, and bought the bike from a nice fella who turned out to be true to his word. The bike was in as-new condition with a little over a thousand miles on it. I paid $12750 for it (ABS) and I have no regrets. It was not cheap but still a satisfactory deal to me.

Best of luck on the purchase. I'm sure you will love this bike. I had a beautiful Road Glide and no complaints, but I just wanted to try something different. I've already put 3000 miles on this bike, and I like it very much.

John

[oneshot]

my bro-in-law has bought several vehicles off ebay. he looks for the ones that are new on the site and have not met thier reserve......he contacts the seller and asks what they would take to end the auction early. if he likes the price, he will go look....
i bought a klx 400 from a dealership. it was new in the crate and i used the "buy it now" option....got a great deal.

[GAST1300A2004]

I am new to motorcycleing, but I have bought 3 Motorcycles now off of EBay in the last 8 months. I have not been disapointed yet.
If you are interested in a bike on EBay get a figure in your head you would be willing to pay and then post it. Either you win or you don't , there are plenty of more after that auction.
ALso get the persons telephone # and ask lots of questions, and go see the bike if you can.
Its like anywhere else , you can find great deals, but on EBay it does take some experence.

MY .02

THanks, Steve :04biker:

[GI_Alan]

What you see many times in the last few seconds of an auction are a lot of bids from a website called E-Snipe. My wife is a big time Ebayer and won many auctions using this service. You register on there and put the max bid you would like to post and how many seconds before the auction ends do you want you bid to hit the site. I think that the thought process is that if you can wait until the last minute to bid, you can probably get a better deal. If the price is moving, sometimes, people get caught up in the moment and bid up the item. Ebay finally got wise to this and instituted a similar service in their bidding process.

Now, I bought my bike 2 years ago off of cycletrader. I watched Ebay for a while and the bikes where going for more than I thought they were worth. So I started watching cycletrader religously, and on Saturday morning I found my 1991 ST1100 with only 21000 miles for $3895 @ the Honda shop in Muscatine Iowa. I called the shop put some money on it with my credit card and drove down the following weekend and paid the balance. The bike was local owner trade in with a lot of farkles already installed. When I got there the salesman said he wishes two things, first he wished that he would have charged more money and second that he had about 5 more to sell.

So just like some others had suggested I would watch all the sites I availiable.

[BigBadblue]

I like EBAY, but Craigslist is much better for bargains. I bought a 1984 Honda XL200 in craigslist for $600, put $150 into it, rode it for 2 years and sold it for $1100 in craigslist. I have purchased 3 other dirt bikes there also, My 01 WR426f still had nubs on the original tires as did my oldest sons YZ250f, essentially new bikes for half price. I would have a hard time buying anything as expensive as a ST without close personal scrutiny.

[rickj]

Wow! This thread I started in August of last year came back...

The good news is that I did in fact find my ST, but it wasn't through ebay. I discovered an '03 ABS model nearby via the MSN ST1300 forum. It had 32K miles on it, but had been meticulously maintained. As a bonus, it had many farkles that I would have wanted anyway. I had to change the seat and added a Honda topbox and it's perfect! I haven't been able to ride it as much as I'd like to, but we're starting to ride on a fairly regular basis now.

I have no buyer's remorse at all and aniticipate many years of riding enjoyment on our ST! We have several rides planned for this summer, including one to the Grand Canyon in a few weeks!

Rick

[videolester]

If I am very interested in an item, I will determine my maximum bid, and let eBay automatically place my bids. But, you have to determine in advance how high you are willing to go. Sometimes I win, more often I don't.

That's the way you gotta do it! :woo

[jdpfms]

I've bought and sold on ebay. It is fun. I've sold about about 4 cars and motorcyles combined on ebay as well as several other motorcycle items. I've been fortunate in having honest people to deal with usually. Good luck with it.

JDP

[STumpy]

My youngest daughter is a shark on ebay. She has her timing down to the last second. I get too nervous, but she is like a wall street broker. If I ever want to sell or purchase something, I just let her handle it. Of course I ALWAYS have pay a commission! :mad:

[snowmoer]

I got lucky. I picked up my wifes Intruder 800 on a "Buy It Now". The owner had it priced $1,200.00 less than what it was worth. Lots and lots of photos, could not find anything wrong from the photos. Picked it up and just like the photos, could not find anything wrong with it. The owner just did not know what the going price was.