Shady sellers and time wasters

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Drove from Mississauga to Ottawa to see an FJ1200. When. I phoned the guy he said the picture was recent, bike currently running flawless blah blah blah. Turned out to be a huge steaming pile. Told me "while your here you might as well make me an offer" I told him no way I'd make an offer for it as not only he lied about the condition and picture but it didn't even run like he said of would. I told him I was coming from Mississauga, he could have been straight with me.

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Venom01 said:
Drove from Mississauga to Ottawa to see an FJ1200. When. I phoned the guy he said the picture was recent, bike currently running flawless blah blah blah. Turned out to be a huge steaming pile. Told me "while your here you might as well make me an offer" I told him no way I'd make an offer for it as not only he lied about the condition and picture but it didn't even run like he said of would. I told him I was coming from Mississauga, he could have been straight with me.

This is my signature
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Lol ... don't get me wrong, I think the FJ1200 is a great bike in its own right, but every single one I've ever seen has been ridden into the ground.
 
when i was looking for a bike this march i came across a lot of sketchy sellers.
one claimed his 2011 gsxr was mint, 1 owner. i ran the history it kicked back clear. i went to see it and it was a mess. crappy paint job, cheap aftermarket replacements here and there, nothing lined up, scratches all over the farms and triple trees... all kinds of stuff.
another one seller had no ownership
another one he wouldnt let me check the vin.
others claimed no damage then you see it and its got sftermarket plastics here and there, scratches all over..

i finally found a legit mint 2009 cbr600. i paid a little more than i would have liked to but it is mint so i coughed up the extra $500.

i wish they would have trader ratings on here. on other forums when you put up a classified ad you have the option to review the buyer and the seller.
 
Yea, I recently helped a friend look at a GSX-R that was 'mint' and we ended showing the seller how it had once seen lots of front end damage and had been shoddily repaired with second-hand parts of a different colour before being rattle can spray painted to (sort of) match. I didn't think the seller could ride while blind.
 
I pretty much ignore all ads with the word "Mint" as part of the description.

Mint to me is the equivalent of a baseball card handled delicately once into the protector and locked forever. If your bike has over 100km's, it's not mint anymore. It can be in great condition, but it's definitely not mint. I don't care if you baby it, wash and lube every 500km, oil change every 2,500km, it's still not mint.
Plus, most of these "mint" bike sellers are out to lunch with the prices anyways. Just ignore them all together to save time.
 
I look for bikes that have been dropped. People who disclose that fact are generally more honest to begin with. There's absolutely nothing wrong with 90% of dropped bikes aside from cosmetic damage or easy fixes. As stated before - people who say their bikes are mint are usually either emotionally attached or crooks. Neither category I like to deal with.
 
I don't understand sellers who act like ******** to every potential buyer, that is not how you sell anything... Be as courteous and helpful as possible to everyone (until you realize they are not a serious buyer), they will trust you more and be more inclined to buy from you instead of someone else.
 
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How about you look for a vehicle, the person offers to show you the carfax, you look it up yourself anyways and find out the one they gave you was phony. Yup, welcome to toronto.
 
matt220 said:
I don't understand sellers who act like ******** to every potential buyer, that is not how you sell anything... Be as courteous and helpful as possible to everyone (until you realize they are not a serious buyer), they will trust you more and be more inclined to buy from you instead of someone else.
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Clear your inbox lol
 
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A guy I work with has been looking for a particularly rare car for a couple of years. A month ago he found one in Florida, he exchanged emails, phone calls, pictures, etc and decided to buy it. They agreed on a price, he arranged a flight, and told the guy he would fly down the next morning to pick it up. He called before the flight to confirm address and time. He gets there a few hours later and the guys says "sorry dude, some guy called after you did this morning and offered me $50 more than you, so sold it to him, it's gone". Then shut the door and left him standing there. I'd have gone postal but this guy's an older quiet type, he said he yelled a few obscenaties at the house and flew home. People's word is worth nothing these days.
 
If someone shows my pictures in the ad of any flaws, I'm more apt to deal with them than someone with obscure photos.

When I sold my last truck, I was 100% upfront in the ad with the damages, pictures included.
Buyer showed up, and 15 mins later I had my asking price in hand. It was that simple and easy because I was upfront about it.

In this day, it's not hard to take some detailed photos and throw them up on a kijiji ad.
 
EAGuy said:
Yea, I recently helped a friend look at a GSX-R that was 'mint' and we ended showing the seller how it had once seen lots of front end damage and had been shoddily repaired with second-hand parts of a different colour before being rattle can spray painted to (sort of) match. I didn't think the seller could ride while blind.
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yup, i was with EAGuy, the gsxr had lots of orange peel on the front fairing from crappy DIY paint job, not enough coats of paint (the original blue paint showed through the yellow), didnt bother sanding it down or clear coating it.

oh yea, the shifter was reversed.....gearing up you had to step down on the shifter ....

massive left fairing damage too
 
Anyone go to look at a 5 year old bike that was "better than new!" or "showroom condition!"?

"Selling my baby!" and "Mint!" and "Won't last long!" are equally ridiculous. Mint means balding, stock tires, rim tape pinstriping, scratches/dents everywhere and a chain coated with gunk.
 
I send snarky sarcastic replies to the lowballers. I'm selling a bike for $2500 and I get stupid emails saying "I'll give you $1500 if you will deliver it to me" so I send back a message saying "Sure, I'll deliver the bike for $1500, in addition to the $2500 for the bike."

Or there is the stupid "Would you trade your $2500 bike for a quad worth $1000?"
 
mikem said:
A guy I work with has been looking for a particularly rare car for a couple of years. A month ago he found one in Florida, he exchanged emails, phone calls, pictures, etc and decided to buy it. They agreed on a price, he arranged a flight, and told the guy he would fly down the next morning to pick it up. He called before the flight to confirm address and time. He gets there a few hours later and the guys says "sorry dude, some guy called after you did this morning and offered me $50 more than you, so sold it to him, it's gone". Then shut the door and left him standing there. I'd have gone postal but this guy's an older quiet type, he said he yelled a few obscenaties at the house and flew home. People's word is worth nothing these days.
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If he was smart he would have put down a small deposit.
Then tried to go after him to recoup his loses.
 
absolute said:
yup, i was with EAGuy, the gsxr had lots of orange peel on the front fairing from crappy DIY paint job, not enough coats of paint (the original blue paint showed through the yellow), didnt bother sanding it down or clear coating it.

oh yea, the shifter was reversed.....gearing up you had to step down on the shifter ....

massive left fairing damage too
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Good thing you didn't buy it, you'd have to take the whole transmission out and turn it back the other way!
 
matt220 said:
I don't understand sellers who act like assh0les to every potential buyer, that is not how you sell anything... Be as courteous and helpful as possible to everyone (until you realize they are not a serious buyer), they will trust you more and be more inclined to buy from you instead of someone else.
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I haven't sold many vehicles, but I did sell a LOT of computer equipment over the years. You are starting with the premise that everybody making inquiries is also a serious buyer, but in my experience that is never the case. For every serious buyer there are at least 4-5 tire kickers, and at some point you learn to figure it out within a couple of emails, or a couple of minutes of conversation.

Now I make it a rule to price my stuff at 10% more than market value, just so I have a bit of negotiating room. Everybody wants to haggle, so if you start with your bottom dollar then you invariably get less than what the item is worth.

I've had literally hundreds of people write messages like these:

Buyer: "I can offer you 10-20% less than your asking price."
Me: "Ok, come pick it up."
Buyer: "Sorry, my car broke down/dog ate my debit card/other blatantly false excuse. I can't afford buying your item anymore."

Buyer: "I can offer you half your asking price, will pay CASH!!!"
Me: "So I take it if you were to meet my asking price I'd have to accept a post dated cheque from the Central Bank of Zimbabwe?"

Buyer: "I will offer you your asking price. But you have to take out the hard drive or RAM because I already have them, and subtract brand new price of hard drive or RAM from the price."
Me: "And what exactly am I supposed to do with the extra stuff?"

And many other examples... That's partly the reason I got out of the buying and selling racket, most times it's not worth the hassle. I traded in my old SV when I picked up my GSXR, and while I lost about $5-700 on the deal (after factoring in the HST deduction), I figure my time and sanity were worth it.
 
The 650R is known for losing fairing bolts from vibration. I've had the main bracket that holds the whole front end up work loose once so the whole thing was bouncing around. Lost about 4 fairing bolts so far, too. Just saying.
 
unL33T said:
The 650R is known for losing fairing bolts from vibration. I've had the main bracket that holds the whole front end up work loose once so the whole thing was bouncing around. Lost about 4 fairing bolts so far, too. Just saying.
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I hate when manufacturers save a few pennies per bike by leaving off the thread lock.
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