eBay etiquette- potential buyer wants to see bike first

Personally, I'd give my address and show the person the bike. But I'm quite carefree and happy-go-lucky, me.

If they're local then propose to meet in a very public place if you really need to. I have done this multiple times before. There is no way in hell I would reveal my address to a stranger on ebay.

Totally fair. Probably unnecessary, but there are idiots in the world who make such precautions worthwhile.

Nice inadvertent pun there, bid dodgy.

I'd just give him the address.

Normally I do it with the bike wheeled out the house and don't mention any other bikes.

I've happily had people round to look at bikes, but always made sure I get the one bike out and have it indoors rather than having to open the garage to show what else is there.

I've also had people meet me at work.

Carpark is an OK idea but choose wisely, not a dark quiet one in the middle of nowhere. Petrol station forecourt?

I'd rather meet at home than a random carpark honestly. If it was the other way round we'd have a thread asking if the bike was stolen because they want to meet at Tesco.

Meet a lot of strangers in carparks or where I work, usually from here or Pinkbike, when selling bikes. Never had a problem but wouldn't trust anyone I don't know visiting where I live.

If they aren't happy with that then plenty of others who are

A neighbour had a £7.5k bike stolen this way. The interested buyer never turned up and then the bike was stolen in the early hours.
If it's expensive then it's meet up locally in public place

I usually meet at Aldi's car park.

Easy for them to find and never full up.

Your local Aldi may differ.

Seems normal to me as a buyer.

Have bought a few bikes and other stuff off Gumtree, slightly different as payment is not done through them but it's always something along the lines of "I want to buy your bike, can I come around and fetch it please, assuming it's ok following inspection?"

1 person wanted to meet nearby in the street somewhere, everyone else (4 or 5 people) just gave me their home address. Personally I wouldn't, though from experience none of the people I visited subsequently got their houses robbed 😉 YMMV

Perfectly reasonable/normal - what's your plan if they win?

Personally I'd say I'm at the pub* this evening but happy to ride it there and you can meet me to take a look. This has two advantages.

*Other reasonable places to be on a Friday night are available.

No it's ebay sold as seen.

Meeting in a car park - Can I have a quick spin. Here have my car keys. Bye bye bike.

Could and probably is legit but I wouldn't take that risk.
Have you found their FB page or Strava account?

A couple of bikes I've posted on FB Marketplace have attracted some dodgy looking profiles. I've stopped putting bikes on the public Marketplace and reserve for private groups to hopefully avoid those.

No it’s ebay sold as seen.

That's the trouble though isn't it - you can't see everything from a listing no matter how good the photos are.

Isn’t this against eBay’s terms and conditions? Usually they block any messages with an address. I think you get charged the full sale fee regardless of it selling

Risk I'm prepared to take and potentially get less money.
I've also been chipped in a car park from an agreed price (not Ebay) and as I'd driven 50 miles I had to take it at the time. That won't happen again. I'll do more local for a good value sale but I haven't invested enough time and petrol to walk away.

If posting it's fully insured.
If picked up then it can't have been damaged in transit.

If they find something that's actually broken that you haven't highlighted it's either your fault for not showing it or they are trying a different scam.

I’ve also been chipped in a car park from an agreed price (not Ebay) and as I’d driven 50 miles I had to take it at the time.

I’d have stuck to the agreed price and happily drove back with bike !!

So if I provide a meeting place or address before they buy it it will flag and they’ll charge me the fees anyway? That’s not ideal

No issue with the chap seeing the bike before buying, that’s more than fair

Have you found their FB page or Strava account

How would I do that from an eBay account? If I had that I’d point him in the direction of fb market place where he could save himself 150 quid!😂

I’d have stuck to the agreed price and happily drove back with bike !!

I'd have countered with £50 more to be honest...

Arrange to meet at a local dogging spot and get a handjob whilst you're there?

No one is likely to trade an old cove for a gravel bike.

So if I provide a meeting place or address before they buy it it will flag and they’ll charge me the fees anyway? That’s not ideal

Yes, if they find out, and I think they monitor messages.

All you can do is say if they are not happy when they collect you will cancel the sale and refund.

I would meet at a safe location and not the home . Far to many instances of addresses being give and people being a no show .. only to find the bike goes missing at a later date

All you can do is say if they are not happy when they collect you will cancel the sale and refund

does that not cost me the fees?

So if I provide a meeting place or address before they buy it it will flag and they’ll charge me the fees anyway?

I don't believe that's entirely true or fair.

If, and it's a big enough if, they flag the message and you then withdraw the poem from sale, or the same person wins but then doesn't collect/pay etc, they'll charge you, but you can argue it quite successfully assuming the reason isn't "I'm just avoiding fees"

Let the auction run, take payment through ebay and you'll pay fees exactly as you normally would. You will not pay twice.

Meet someone, by miraculous coincidence pull the auction and never relist it etc, they may - probably correctly - assume you've sold it and are simply avoiding fees and may bill you.

Sell it, meet the buyer, they "don't pay" or "don't collect", see above.

does that not cost me the fees?

If its done via ebay, no it shouldn't.

Take payment.
Buyer opens a "not as described case".
Refund the buyer.

They can get funny and put a strike on your account if they think you sold outside of eBay i.e they manage to get an address through eBay messages and then you cancel the auction.

I would tell the buyer to buy the bike on eBay and then cash on collection, but if he doesn't like it then you both agree to cancel the sale which will get your fees cancelled. Unless of course buyer subsequently tries to haggle you down, you refuse and he gets the hump and won't play ball with agreeing to cancel the sale on eBay.

No it’s ebay sold as seen.

Which unless it's devalued into a idiom would imply it's reasonable to expect to see it.

+1 for not meeting at your home, Petrol Stations are good as they always have a ton of CCTV including ANPR, a cash point and are reasonably busy at all hours.

I give my road and then tell me to ring when they get there and go outside to meet them plus usually reference having to collect it in advance form where I store it - saying that most have my sales/purchases have involved meeting at motorway services around the country due to a high level of niche from when I had more money than sense

When I’ve bought/sold motorbikes I’ve met in a neutral location to look/show, then if the deal is on and we’re both happy, we go back home and do all the paperwork and money stuff.

Who says eBay doesn't let bidders come and have a look?

I always meet people at the park or coffee shop right next to my house. No-one has ever ridden off and left me, although my bikes were all £50 pub bikes...

Similar to what Pop said, I give the postcode but not house number.

Then get them to give me a bell when theyre nearby.

meet outside the local police station.

Been there... done that.... had bike nicked.

Meet somewhere with CCTV.

I'd give them a local postcode ie pub etc arrange to meet there first before giving full address. Then use your own common sense if they seem legitimate to go to your house .

No one is likely to trade an old cove for a gravel bike

That deserved more recognition.

For me it's totally dependent on the situation but generally I'm not one for giving my address away to people.
Depends what bike it is, where it's advertised, and most importantly how the buyer comes across.

If they ask very specific questions about components and service intervals and show a level of knowledge about what they are buying and ask for extra pics of specific things I'm slightly more relaxed about letting them turn up at my home.

But generally I'd meet at a busy public place for an exchange.

meet outside the local police station.

That was going to be my suggestion to. And maybe take a photo of the guy to boot. Explain your reasons - citing thefts, apologize etc and if he doesnt understand or takes offence then happily tell him to go F himself.

Never sold a high value bike this way but for kids bikes as others suggested I get that bike out and put in hall and only give final address when nearby...tend to make it pretty explicit that the price is the price and description gives faults and they are reflected in price...interesting initiative from council adjacent to where I currently live down under:

A joint Victoria Police and Darebin City Council trial of special zones outside police stations in Melbourne’s northeast to allow buyers and sellers of goods to safely exchange items bought online has begun.

Victoria Police say the trial zones have been established outside 24-hour police stations in the area that have adequate CCTV coverage.

This was last year not seen any updates though or any indication still running

I’ve always trusted folk, and given them my address. Until last week, they’ve always been sound. Then someone enquired about some cheap bars I had on eBay. They were quite pushy about coming to pick them up, but once I gave them my address, all went silent.

My Yamaha MT07, also listed for sale on eBay, was stolen that night.

Nearby pub car park from here on, and I’ll not mind explaining why.

You are clearly increasing the risk but then saying that my bike got nicked 5 months ago by some people who were just trying each house's garage for bikes. My security at the time was somewhat lacking so I learnt a lesson.

I don't really like listing stuff as pickup only anyway as the idiots I manage to avoid by selling as fixed price/buy it now/payment required immediately are open to buy my item and then piss about arranging how to pick it up.

Similar to what Pop said, I give the postcode but not house number.

Then get them to give me a bell when theyre nearby.

This ☝️

Last used bike I bought we met midway in Gretna Gateway carpark. Seller failed to mention the massive ding in the rear wheel so some haggling was had.