Beware of buying on Ebay - Ducati.ms

fastlarry · Dec 16th, 2006, 7:08 pm

A couple of years ago I got the urge to get a Ducati Superbike; I was absolutely ignorant about Ducatis, having rode BMW's all my life. I saw one on Ebay for sale by a person in Franklin, IN. He represented the bike as one his wife owned and rode, bought from the original owner. It was repainted as well as the frame (should have turned a light on!) It looked good; it still does. I won the auction and drove up to look at it and bring it home. It started and ran OK as far as I could tell; It was January, cold and snowy so I didn't ride it. In his shop; he had Ducati frames hanging on the wall (another clue unheeded). He saw me staring at them and said he knew what I was thinking, but this bike was exactly as he represented it. He had a business buying wrecked exotic sports cars and reselling them, fixed up or otherwise.

Anyway, as soon as I started looking closely at the bike after getting it home I saw more and more evidence this guy was a liar. Fasteners on a bike with 3600 miles should all be uniformly shiny and new-looking. This bike had old rusty ones mixed with obviously non-Ducati fasteners. It had a non-factory battery and the battery overflow was missing, the shifter fell off the fastener not being tight. The oil cooler, which was later replaced because it leaked, was all bashed up, missing the tabs that secure the V-cowl. Lately I replaced the steering head bearings which came out in pieces. The frame tube that holds the eccentric tube was out of round. Took a hard hit to do that.

I checked his Ebay name and it was no longer active. I surfed Ebay looking for exotic cars and Ducati stuff and found him-with a new name!

It has been a couple of years now, I have fixed most of the problems on the bike and, fortunately, the motor runs good. Maybe he did tell the truth about the motor. But beware of buying motorcycles on Ebay and especially if the seller is from Franklin, Indiana.

Larry

angie-r · Dec 16th, 2006, 7:21 pm

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, there are plenty of liars and cheaters in the world, and eBay is no exception.

I've been using eBay for almost 10 years now, have hundreds of smooth transactions, and out of almost 400 transactions (many of which are over $100, and about a couple dozen or so over $1000), I can only think of less than 5 transactions in the last 10 years that went sour, and they were mostly for low dollar amount transactions (less than $50).

For buying: The FIRST key to good eBaying experience is to always check the feedback and feedback details of the person/entity you are dealing with. Track record is always the best measure. No good feedback details, no deal.

The SECOND key is to read every word in the auction, so that you have all the information about what it is you are buying.

**duc_748** · Dec 16th, 2006, 7:49 pm

Ebay has alot of scammers, and alot of honest people selling bikes, etc. If you buy a bike without very carefully looking it over before you exchange $, I think that is bad move. I would not buy anything off ebay without good photos, and if its a bike, I would never give any $ until I checked it out. My buddy has bought a bunch of bikes off Ebay, some great ducs, but he always inspects the bike carefully before he hands over the money. Sorry to hear you feel like you got burned. If you want a trustworthly used duc, buy it from another source, like Ducati.ms!

Imaposer · Dec 16th, 2006, 7:49 pm

I'd like to add, always exchange an email with the seller through ebay before bidding. The scammers have gotten to the point of copying whole auctions, and posting them under a hacked account long after the first is gone. By reading the ad, it may appear to be too good to be true, and worthy of a last minute attempt to get a hell of a deal. By exchanging an email and having them answer some questions, they usually throw up enough red flags to tip you off that something isn't right. They are getting much better.
Just today I watched an auction for a "perfect" 98 SPS go off. It was a no reserve auction, bidding was only at $3300 with hours to go. He had already answered an email thru ebay, posting it in the ad for all to see, and seemed to be able to communicate rather well. I emailed him some other questions just to try and feel him out, and it put up enough red flags to keep me from bidding(poor english, no direct answer to the questions) and the name was the final straw. A middle eastern name, which when I googled it, came back with a bunch of links showing it as being someone that was never listed in the same city. The bike sold for $6600. I hope the buyer is careful.

Oh yeah, I always end the email saying I'm local, and want to see the bike before handing over the cash.

Geof3 · Dec 16th, 2006, 11:18 pm

I've been doing Ebay for a long time. The thing that is currently a problem is buyers that have unreasonable expectations and whine/complain/threaten as soon as $$ is changed. It's as if they don't realize things take time with shipping etc. They bought it now, they want it NOW... It's getting to be a major pain... Just a comment, not pointed...

Anyway, it's a buyer beware. What type of title did you get? Was it clean? I can't see if the bike was cobbled together that there would be any legal way to have a clean title.

j911brick · Dec 17th, 2006, 1:01 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by angie-r

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, there are plenty of liars and cheaters in the world, and eBay is no exception.

I've been using eBay for almost 10 years now, have hundreds of smooth transactions, and out of almost 400 transactions (many of which are over $100, and about a couple dozen or so over $1000), I can only think of less than 5 transactions in the last 10 years that went sour, and they were mostly for low dollar amount transactions (less than $50).

For buying: The FIRST key to good eBaying experience is to always check the feedback and feedback details of the person/entity you are dealing with. Track record is always the best measure. No good feedback details, no deal.

The SECOND key is to read every word in the auction, so that you have all the information about what it is you are buying.

+1
...and let me add: its usually a good idea to sent the seller a question. This will give you a good idea how responsible he is to his auction. If he doesn't reply or give good answers, walk away. I also stay away from sellers that have TOOMUCH feedback. These 'Power Sellers" are so busy they often don't have time to fix a problem with the order. Same goes for sellers that list too many buyer requirements or have automated checkout systems. These people are usually just a pain in the a$$ to deal with.

fastlarry · Dec 17th, 2006, 7:31 am

It had a clean title, but was obviously to me cobbled together. I have seen frames on sale with clean titles attached to them.

Larry

tonto · Dec 17th, 2006, 9:03 am

I had the same experience buying my 748 years ago. I got the lead from the old Ducati Index. The guy seemed good. We talked and emailed many times and I decided to get the bike. Here's the rub: It's a 10 hr drive one way for the bike and when I got there it was snowing hard. He started the bike, it sounded good, but as I/ he was unable to road test it due to the snow, he ran it through the gears on the rear stand. There were a couple of things that he had mis-represented (again, I saw red flags but chose to ignore them), but I bought the bike. It was purchased in February, so I was not able to road test until late April. Low and behold, the tranny was shot due to a lowside jamming the shifter lever into 1st while at speed (if I had taken the time to remove the fairings, the low side would have been evident). Cost of my hastiness... wait for it... $2,800CDN. Add to that a bent front rim, and the whole experience left me very bitter. Many attempts to resolve this with the seller were useless. He maintained that the bike was perfect and suggested that it was I that did the damage. Also suggested that the shop I was dealing with was trying to hose me. Ironically, the owner of that shop is now DNA service manager for Canada. In a nut-shell, I think that you basically know if a deal starts to smell bad (at least i did, and it sounds like you had your doubts), and it probably is, you really should trust your instincts.

Tonto

Bill_Anderson · Dec 17th, 2006, 11:59 am

E-Bay has also become the world's largest fencing operation for stolen merchandise.

nathanTX · Dec 17th, 2006, 12:10 pm

Holy crap! I was talking to that same guy about that bike in Franklin when I was in the market for my 996. I had a business trip planned to Indianapolis the week after and asked him if we could work out a deal where I would send him a deposit, he would hold the bike until my trip the following week, and if everything checked out to be what he said it was when I got there, I would give him the rest of the money and make shipping arrangements for the bike. He was being apprehensive, but at first I thought he was legit and just a bit cautious. But when I mentioned that I have crewed for a couple of different club racers, he subtlely backed off any see-it-before-buying arrangements. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it seemed like he was hesitant to let someone who really knew their stuff get their hands on it. The auction, feedback, and initial communications all seemed OK, but something didn't add up the further in I got. So, I let the deal go. Sorry for your bad luck Larry, but boy am I glad I ended up finding something locally. It was/is a beautiful bike, and sounds like you got the issues sorted. Kinda sucks not getting everything you thought it was, but at least it wasn't a total scam. Silver lining: now you have a very special bike, with a story behind it, and can enjoy riding the hell out of it!