shady experiences

[Slede]

had a guy come look at a bike I had for sale this morning. drove over an hour, seemed nice enough. looked the bike over and seemed pretty happy with it. there where cobwebs on it from sitting and it was dead cold. I told him I left it cold so I could show him how to start it when it's been sitting. he said there was no need, he didn't need to see it running anyway, I thought that strange. then he says he'll take it, no haggle at all, strange again but not unheard of. let me just write you a check and we'll get this done. uh, sorry hoss but that just wont happen. if I knew you it might be different, but I don't. you can leave me a check and i'll call you to come get it when/if it clears. didn't want to do that and frankly I didn't either. it's ok man, i'll go back to Clanton and get the money, I though you said your bank was in Dadeville? it is but I can go back down here and get it. ok, i'll be here buddy.

so truck and trailer leave with the promise of returning shortly with the required funds.....................


I had an appointment this afternoon so I called him after a couple hours to see if I was still waiting on him and he said he'd have to go back home to his bank because the one? in clanton didn't believe him enough to cash his check.

I don't know that he's shady for sure, he could be just niave about how shit works, he was driving a very nice truck and pulling a super nice(new looking) trailer.

we'll see, if he shows back up proper i'll update this but I did ride the bike after he left so I may just keep it as it's a wheelie machine and who doesn't like that after all.


I said all that to say this, pay attention, don't get suckered into or out of anything you earned or love. and most of all don't let you bike get fuckin cobwebs on it them  8)

[Brian A]

If he does return and happens to start talking about a relative in Nigeria and needing to wire money.....

Just please be sure to record the response.

[Slede]

negative, there will be no evidence of any such happening.


on the other hand, he shows up and all is well I will update this thread.


I wonder how many other shady experiences folks have had though

[springer]

negative, there will be no evidence of any such happening.


on the other hand, he shows up and all is well I will update this thread.


I wonder how many other shady experiences folks have had though

Other than the internet, never one that shady in person.  :o

[bblass]

The same thing happened to me once. Worse yet, the check cleared and I gave him the bike. Turns out it was a stolen check and not caught until 2 days later when they pulled the funds from my account.

I was 21, naive and didn't think to ask for the guys license and all that. It was an insurance and police nightmare.

[Chitza]

I had a scary one when I listed the gs500. Got a weird vibe from the text messages before hand so I closed up the garage and just had the bike outside. Hindsight, I should have met him somewhere other than my house! He sat on that bike, cigarillo hanging out of his mouth like a mob boss. He wanted to ride it, but I had enough foresight to say "only with cash in hand and proper riding gear. He had a friend hanging around in a big SUV. He said he was going to get his gear and some cash and would be back. I never heard from him again. But I put padlocks on my garage that night.

All transactions occur off my property with escort and in a public place now.

There was a post on Facebook recently about a police department that designated a few spaces with camera surveillance for craigslist and other like transactions. I think that's a jam up good idea.

[Nice Goat]

Went to look at an FJR a couple of years ago.  Guy let me test ride it and everything. 

Came back and said, "Okay, let's do it.  Do you have the title?"

"Yeah, but it's not in my name."

"Ummm, okay, I don't want to have any problems at the DMV, so thank you very much for the test ride, but I'm going to pass."

Guess I should have asked that first.  It felt shady at the time.

Three weeks later, he called me to tell me that he had the title transferred into his name, and he was ready to go.

"Sorry, man, already bought an ST1300."

Every day, more and more people are trying to take the easy way.  I have trouble knowing whether they are lazy or shady sometimes.

[KevinB]

I've had a couple of opposite experiences as a seller...

When I sold my ZX14,  the buyer never came to look at it and we only communicated via text. I had to take it by his finance company for them to verify the VIN, and he came by the house the next evening to pick it up. He never looked the bike over...he handed me the check from the finance company,  hopped on,  and rode off.  Transaction took 30 seconds.

The guy that bought my 200EXC last month drove over from Georgia. We chatted some,  but he never cranked the bike...even after I suggested a couple of times that he ride it down the street.

[LawnmowerRG]

Had a few experiences. The worst was driving all the way to North of Ashville NC to look at a track hoe. The pictures sent where not the machine for sale. Price went up $500 when we got there. It had been repainted. Got a really bad feeling overall.
Then the guy said what you going to do drive all this was and just go home?  We said actually yea. And got in the truck a headed back. After stopping at the police department to drop all the info we had. Asked them to check it out as we suspected it was stolen.

[Slede]

   I have trouble knowing whether they are lazy or shady sometimes.

I've wondered that very same thing so many times

[lazeebum]

I have developed the habit of asking if a vehicle title is in the sellers name.  If a person doesn't have the vehicle registered in their name, they most likely bought it to flip. There is nothing wrong with that, but just spend the thirty bucks, so that the next buyer doesn't have nightmares at the courthouse.

[springer]

I have developed the habit of asking if a vehicle title is in the sellers name.  If a person doesn't have the vehicle registered in their name, they most likely bought it to flip. There is nothing wrong with that, but just spend the thirty bucks, so that the next buyer doesn't have nightmares at the courthouse.

AMEN BROTHER BEN!  :) It might just be the clerk I got at the DMV, but man that was a HUUGE pain in the butt.

[kylepeterson]

I was the shady guy.... Went to buy the drz and came up about 400 short. I had an envelope on the counter with however much cash in it, and the wife took some for whatever. After arriving and test riding, I handed him the envelope, and he counted it. The ATM close but was broken, so I asked if I could PayPal the remaining, or at least have him hold a deposit until Monday when I could get the rest. (It was Sunday)

He looked and acted pissed, understandably. I offered to come back, Monday afternoon with the full payment, and apologised for the trouble. His phone was on fire with other buyers (it's a drz after all) so u understood if he wouldn't wait.

His wife came out and suggested PayPal, and he resisted. OK OK, no big deal, I'll you Monday if you still have it, I said.

I got a few blocks away, and he called say I could PayPal the remainder. Sweet!

Turned out to be his uncle's bike (or someone's), a burned up stator, and leaking counter shaft seal that I wasn't told about.

Oh well, years and countless tens of thousands of miles later I still have the sexy machine you all drool over.



Since then all my sales have been very easy, non stressed, and legit thanks to my motorcycling friends being part of each one.

What is a dealership? I dunno. I got peeps

[Fencejumper09]

I have a couple sketchy stories but also a lot of non-issue stories.

I contacted a woman in Atlanta selling her husbands KTM 690 and we agreed on a price and pick up time of 9 am Saturday morning. I went to the bank and left with cash in my pocket.

Left Birmingham at 6 am only to get no response from the woman when I arrived in Atlanta.

After about 30 minutes she texted me to tell me she had sold the bike the night before. She said "I thought I emailed you last night????"

I was pretty pissed.

Similar story happened when I was going to pick up an old Makita Jointer/Planer on a Friday. I had picked up a friends trailer on Thursday and was ready to head out Friday morning only to find out the guy sold it the night before. At least this time I hadn't driven 2 hours to Atlanta to find out it was sold.

The 690 I ended up with was a pretty smooth transaction with the only issue being that the battery died when I was 5 miles from the guys house. Spent a couple hours chasing down a new battery and all was good!

Craigslist can be so sketchy but at the same time convenient.