I don't use paypal so what is a way to buy a bike from a random person on and internet forum?

GervisLooper

They have informed me they are unable to do it til next week. I doubt a scammer would do that? They would be eager to do the transaction asap and impress a sense of urgency.

prowla

GervisLooper said:

prowla said:

Never send a payment by an unsecured means (bank transfer, etc.).

Also, even if you had PayPal, never use F&F to pay someone who isn't your friend or family.

I know but I have to pay somehow and don't use paypal thus I must use unsecured. Not going to meet for cash and I don't know a way to do debit transaction to individuals?

GervisLooper said:

elsien said:

You could do a bank transfer, however that could end up with you having no money and no bike (or a faulty bike worth much less than you have paid because you haven’t inspected it)  and no way to get the money back.

I will see if they sound honest first.

You could be the perfect victim for a scammer! :-)

sheramber

GervisLooper said:

They have informed me they are unable to do it til next week. I doubt a scammer would do that? They would be eager to do the transaction asap and impress a sense of urgency.

Hoping you don’t want to wait until next week.

retiredbanker1

Nobody has mentioned it yet (think so anyway) but how do you verify that the bike is not stolen - even if you meet halfway - how do you know the seller has the right to sell?

This does take me back a few years  when a customer found this 'fantastic' deal on FB for a laptop - he showed me the ad and I told him this is probably a scam - I even refused to do the bank transfer for him because it was an obvious scam but he drove to the next branch 10 miles down the road and they did the transfer.
He got his package which contained 2 pieces of gutter pipe (cut up I presume to the weight of a laptop).
The customer complained that the bank had not warned him about scams - unbeknown to him I had written a note on his file after he left me.
He lost his money - the bank refused to refund him.

Take care - if you want a bike go to Halfords.

lookbook

So what happened in the end?

Nasqueron

retiredbanker1 said:

Take care - if you want a bike go to Halfords.

Those two statements are mutually exclusive

If they want a bike, go to a local bike shop, a local enterprise that refurbs bikes or even Evans 

GrubbyGirl_2

GervisLooper said:

elsien said:

You could do a bank transfer, however that could end up with you having no money and no bike (or a faulty bike worth much less than you have paid because you haven’t inspected it)  and no way to get the money back.

I will see if they sound honest first.

That made me laugh

GervisLooper

lookbook said:

So what happened in the end?

That bike, besides my other misgivings, was not as suitable as I thought upon doing more research so I backed out of it.

I have another one now, which looks a very good deal. The seller said they will deliver anywhere in the country as they travel a lot for work.

Now this one has me worried. What kind of person would be willing to deliver to any address in the country? If they were of sound mind wouldn't they care they could be driving on to some wild estate where they themselves could be robbed or such?

I start to get the opposite worry now that if they say that they want your address to rob your place!

They have offered to either send via the post or 'deliver to your door' personally.

I looked at this person's post history though and they have more posts going back several years on the forum. Posts asking for bike bits and general chatter as well as one I found of an apparent happy customer who received a bike delivered by them on the seller's rounds. I looked at the recipient person's post history too and they had been a member on that forum for like a decade and a long time active member so that ruled out it being a puppet account.

born_again

GervisLooper said:

lookbook said:

So what happened in the end?

That bike, besides my other misgivings, was not as suitable as I thought upon doing more research so I backed out of it.

I have another one now, which looks a very good deal. The seller said they will deliver anywhere in the country as they travel a lot for work.

Now this one has me worried. What kind of person would be willing to deliver to any address in the country? If they were of sound mind wouldn't they care they could be driving on to some wild estate where they themselves could be robbed or such?

I start to get the opposite worry now that if they say that they want your address to rob your place!

They have offered to either send via the post or 'deliver to your door' personally.

I looked at this person's post history though and they have more posts going back several years on the forum. Posts asking for bike bits and general chatter as well as one I found of an apparent happy customer who received a bike delivered by them on the seller's rounds. I looked at the recipient person's post history too and they had been a member on that forum for like a decade and a long time active member so that ruled out it being a puppet account.

Have you contacted them to check?

Nasqueron

We had a customer who ordered a product from us that has expensive shipping, her partner worked in some car delivery firm and they used to routinely pick it up from us by sending a driver to collect it on the way