Proof of purchase

karljeff72

Do you think it would be a good policy if you have to show some sort of documents that the bike belongs to you if you want to sell your bike on the likes of Ebay/marketplace and shpock?

I see far too many bikes being sold on these sites and the dead give away is wrong spelling of the bike or very little description or even some chav holding the bike whilst his mate takes the picture,trainers and tracksuit bottoms are a dead give away.
These sites make it far too easy for bike robbers to off load and make a quick buck.
What's your opinion?

steve_sordy

I keep receipts, any documents that came with the bike. I also (spod alert) keep a maintenance record for the bike. Easy to do for a new bike and I have never had a problem selling a bike of mine. But what if you bought the bike as previously used and now want to sell it? Did you get a receipt, would you have even thought to offer one when selling?

Even if they can prove they own the bike, they could still be in the process of conning you or be ripping you off.

Caveat Emptor - Latin for "let the buyer beware" is seldom bad advice.

reaperactual

I agree although obviously it's not feasible for the selling platform to enforce any sort of proof of purchase.

As you say some ads are more obvious that bike is stolen, on the other hand spelling mistakes and tracksuit bottoms doesn't outright mean a stolen bike?

If the pic and description looks dodgy don't bother. Some buyers don't care if they receive stolen goods or care that they are profiting from someone else's misery, good for the those sellers and buyers as karma's a b#tch!

I wouldn't buy any bike without confirming with the seller that they have proof of purchase and double checking serial numbers match otherwise I won't buy it.

Maybe I'd check for a local match on stolen bike section on forums and report it although not sure what results it would produce realistically.