A guide to recovering stolen bikes from ebay.

Kinetic85

Hello and welcome to my guide.
If you have had your bike stolen this guide will help you looking out for it to appear on ebay.

This guide is on how to recover your bike from ebay.

Most people wouldn't think that thieves would sell a stolen bike on
ebay and it will come to you as a surprise as you read this.
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THE BASICS

I've found 5 bikes which were stolen from friends of mine on ebay.
(this goes for lots of parts too)

These bikes were ALL recovered.
The following pages show tips on how to look out for and recover your bicycle.
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TIMING

Stolen bikes generally take a couple of months to surface on ebay when they aren't so hot or have been passed around a bit.

Keep checking weekly at the least, listings usually last a week.
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LISTING

LOOK FOR BAD LISTINGS -

Dont expect them to list the bike with the make and model, they are often just titled "Mountain Bike"

They often use stock images and use blurb from the net as they know fairly little about the bike.

Usually you can find them by setting the "sort by" Distance:
Nearest first.
ie It was stolen in Bristol, then it will be sold from Bristol or within a few miles.
Most are local pick up because the "sellers" won't write an address and send it or can't afford the postage because they don't want to spend the money .
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IDENTIFY THE BIKE

See tips on bidding winning the auction BEFORE you make contact


When identifying your bike it helps if your bike has customised features and you can ask the "seller" questions about the bike that you know answers to.

BUT don't be too obvious (eg. does the seat have a little tear on the left hand side from when I fell down the steps)


Get friends involved to ask questions on your behalf too.

REMEMBER: THESE THIEVES LIE CHEAT ALL THE TIME, THEY WILL BE NERVOUS WILL BAIL OUT IF YOU PUSH TOO HARD *ACT CASUAL*
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POLICE INVOLVEMENT

After all of these steps Contact the Police.
The Police have a special unit set up to investigate regional ebay crime.
Ask for Police help in recovery contact them as soon as you positively identify your bike and follow their instructions.


Feedback Welcome

veronese68

I agree with all of the above. My bike was listed 6 weeks after theft. The listing was a spec list for a standard bike, no mention of obviously different components. If the police don't help, keep pestering them.
I did get my bike back by doing pretty much all of the above. Good advice and well put.

aceartist

Thanks for the info - seems I have already followed the above as closely as possible but I only discovered my bike on ebay once it had been sold. Seems my thief was very eager to sell it and as I only realised it was stolen from my shed over a week after it happened have been unable to follow the process of posing as a buyer to gain contact info. He had however updated the listing with actual photos showing the upgrades I had put on the bike (despite listing it as 'standard') - thanks thief!

My question is - any experience of getting addresses for seller + buyer? the police have contacted ebay law enforcement but were given a possible lead time of 15days for contact details to be released to them! is this normal? Meanwhile the thief is spending the cash and the buyer is riding around on what was my mint condition bike... hmm?

Yeti811

I had same experience as you. Had my Blur and 3 other bikes stolen. I trawled ebay for 3 months and eventually found the frame up for sale. Same headset shock and distinctive markings on chain stay.

Contacted police they said ebay would take 14-15 days to track the address from an ebay sellers identity...so frustrating. I knew it was mine and the guy ended sale within the 14 days and has never listed anything since. Why ebay will not fastrack information when requested by the police I just cannot understand??

Ho hum life goes on, never leave them out of your sight!

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aceartist

Yeti811 - but you did get your frame back in the end yes?

agh - 4 bikes :shock: that's tough ... life does go on I guess but right now with no spare cash, no insurance and summer on the way lets hope ebay get cracking with the info!

BenS999

Thanks Kinetic85, some great tips there for us all to use. Well done on the recoveries, very impressive.

I hope the day never comes (again).
I had a bike stolen which luckily was recovered by police after stopping a "known to police" bike thieving bast**d **unt piece if s**t.
The serial number was recorded on immobilise.com, and I had marked it as stolen. Very impressed with immobilise.com and the police for cross referencing the database.
I highly recommend anyone to record all valuables serial numbers on the database.

Yeti811

aceartist - no, he twigged we were on to him, I had a mate from Devon ask him a couple of questions, I live in Lancashire. He ended listing early and doesnt answer msgs. A very naughty person.

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aceartist

BenS999 - yeah the policeman who is dealing with my theft let me know about something similar - a kind of 'smart water' that contains micro information specific to you that you can 'tag' any item with - enabling them to simply take a swab and instant proof! Combining something like that with recording serial numbers on a site like the one you mention sounds like a good idea.

Yeti811 - aww *badword* that is not cool... no good thieving ragamuffin!

aceartist

Hey guys - Hopefully this will cheer some people up - I finally have my bike back after 2 months! Immaculate Marin Rocky Ridge 2009 with DMRv12 mags, Conti mountainking supersonics and one piece of x-lite bling being the stem cap. Taken from my shed end of Feb (break in) and discovered gone beginning of march. same day I discovered it was gone I spotted it already sold on ebay and let the police know right away.

Despite not having my frame number recorded (stupid me!), the unique parts and replaced chain and chainring were enough for me to ID it as 100% mine. ebay actually got back to the police reasonably quickly with the seller/buyer details (had to ask twice as 1st time there was a mistake with the info asked for and it still was provided within 3 weeks total). Once the details had arrived the police acted quickly in picking my bike up from the buyers (who were very understanding and helpful - thanks guys!). once I had ID'd the bike they set to work arresting those responsible .. in the end 4 were arrested and all confessed to being involved apart from seller who claims he was just selling it for a mate.. Looks like although the buyers paid cash they will get most if not all their money back as court ruled one of the guys had to pay compensation.

Result.

The only thing is my previously immaculate bike now has a few scuffs and chips in the paint - but I'm not going to complain!!

Now frame number is recorded - hmm which site to register it on? Do people recommend going the extra step and sticking an IDtag on the bike as found at Bike Revolution? What if I were to sell my bike in the future - could the new owner update details so it's registered to them?

veronese68

Excellent, pleased to hear it.

Nick Cod

Hi aceartist

I've registered all my bikes on Bike Revolution, but in answer to your question yes you can mark them as sold if you sell them on.

In regards to the ID kit I haven't done this as the phone app doesn't work on my phone. But I still think it's worth registering your bikes as you can upload pictures and report stolen if the worse should happen.

Another tip a police officer once recommended to me was to lamminate a piece of card with your full details on and put it inside the handle bars, seat post or if you really want it secure up inside the frame by taking out the bottom bracket. If in the event the bike is stolen and recovered it's a quick way for the police to identify it's owner.

Anyway glad you got your bike back

Acnescar

shouldnt this be stickied? Admin please