Bike for sale in faraway places

meanredspider

A colleague up here in Inverness is looking to buy a road bike so is signed up to Gumtree.

There seem to be some very nice road bikes at bargain prices being sold on some of the islands off the Scottish coast...

After some aborted attempts to go and see these bikes ("sorry, mate it's sold" - cockney accent, heavy traffic in the background - Ilse of Skye...?) he's beginning to wonder if this is either a scam or bikes of dodgy provenance.

Anybody any background or thoughts? If it sounds too good to be true.....

UndercoverElephant

Go and see them? Surely the traditional method is to pay via Western Union and they deliver the bike... erm... never.

meanredspider

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Go and see them? Surely the traditional method is to pay via Western Union and they deliver the bike... erm... never.

Last one was in Skye (easy enough to get to) - the latest two are in Shetland (harder)

ETA - he's going to contact the bloke and ask if a "friend on the island" can pop over and take a look.

nicklouse

meanredspider wrote:

Anybody any background or thoughts? .....

yes scam.

for many take the first line of the advert and put in to google and you will see it being sold all over the place.

mudcow007

ive never known anything being sold on gumtree to be legit to be honest

UndercoverElephant

meanredspider wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Go and see them? Surely the traditional method is to pay via Western Union and they deliver the bike... erm... never.

Last one was in Skye (easy enough to get to) - the latest two are in Shetland (harder)

ETA - he's going to contact the bloke and ask if a "friend on the island" can pop over and take a look.

They are a scam. Like Nick says, google the ad and you'll see it all over the shop.

meanredspider

mudcow007 wrote:

ive never known anything being sold on gumtree to be legit to be honest

Sheet - maybe I'm the only person ever to have sold something legit on there :oops:

EKE_38BPM

meanredspider wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

ive never known anything being sold on gumtree to be legit to be honest

Sheet - maybe I'm the only person ever to have sold something legit on there :oops:

Maybe you stole whatever you sold and have succeeded in putting it out of your mind?

Greg T

I bought my paddy wagon off the guy who worked at the bike shop at the end of the road via gumtree.

Four years later - i snapped off the head of the mudguard lug bolt as it had seized.

Complete scam.

I blame wiggle

meanredspider

EKE_38BPM wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

ive never known anything being sold on gumtree to be legit to be honest

Sheet - maybe I'm the only person ever to have sold something legit on there :oops:

Maybe you stole whatever you sold and have succeeded in putting it out of your mind?

Ooh - you might be right. Anybody had a built-in under-counter freezer nicked....?

SimonAH

Yup, scam.

The idea is that the punter will send some funds to secure the purchase prior to going to get it.