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With all the bargains on used bikes online these days, I am wondering what (if anything) people do to insure you are not purchasing a stolen bike. I personally have never bought a used bike before, but seriously considering it for my next bike in order to get more bike for the dollar. From my “unscientific” survey/observations from fellow bikers who do buy used bikes online…I found most people don’t really do anything to “validate” the bike belongs to the seller. It seems like most people I talk to rely on: the seller’s knowledge of their bike, online reviews of the seller, assessment of the asking price to the market value (i.e. is it too good to be true), and their own subjective conclusions from their personal conclusions. I’ve heard about asking for the bike’s serial number and/or original purchase receipt, however I am finding most people don’t bother (& rely on the other things mentioned).
My question is what do people typically do when buying a used bike from someone? Is there a “how-to” for buying a bike online from a complete stranger? As a seller, how would you react to someone asking for the original receipt or serial number on the bike? Also, what can you really do or verify with a bike serial number?
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Great question! Michael Paul wrote a good article that addresses some of these questions:
As for checking a bike’s serial #, there are a couple websites that make it easy to do yourself:
https://www.bikeregister.com/bike-checker
Of course these only work if people actually enter their stolen bike’s details; most folks don’t bother doing this either because they don’t know about it or they never wrote down their bike’s serial #.
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Jeff, thanks for the links. Good stuff.
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This is awesome
thanks
i always take a pic of my serial number so I can easily report it if it ever happens.
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Great question sssirois. Since beginning to ride about four years ago, I have now bought four bikes on Craiglist and am none less for the wear. I have met a whole of heap private individuals selling their bikes. Honestly, nearly all of them seemed decent and were a pleasure to meet. Of course there are crooks out there, and I have meet a few questionable individuals. And I have definitely seen a couple of questionable posts on Craigslist that I wouldn’t touch. I have a different take on meeting up with people to see a bike. I know you can meet people at public locations, and I have done that at the request of the seller. But I like meeting people at their home. The home, neighborhood, even the condition of the garage are all helpful pieces of the puzzle, assessing the individual and situation.
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