Can these ads be legit?

[stinkyrider]

Originally Posted by 2w4s

definitely a scam, and definitely a great opportunity to f#ck with a scammer.

Ah, the wonderful world of scambaiting.

http://www.419eater.com/

[MuddyEdgar]

I bought a car last night for $400.00 serious.

I will post pictures later.... LMAO

Its a POS but gets great gas mileage. 32-37mpg

My SUV was killing me on gas, so I purchased a commute car.

pictures to come.

[Collette]

I replied to the XTR-Superlight ad saying I was really interested in a "Multi-Suspended" Bike . We'll see where it goes.

[GP_pilot]

Originally Posted by Waldo

Somebody who lists their location as Orange, CA is listing 6-10 bikes per day on Craigslist, and many are high end bikes. Many also have suspiciously low prices, and the ad copy & pics are lifted straight from the manufacturers' web sites.

Several times I've seen scammers pull bikes ads off Ebay (pictures & description) and post them on CL. I was watch Superlights and Blurs and then saw them come up on CL a few days after closing. E-mail them a technical question or want to go look at it and you get a standard non-descript reply.

[Collette]

This is what came back from my "inquiry" into the Superlight. Most likely an auto reply. As I got the email at 8:08pm, meaning 11:08pm EST(Maine)


Dear customer,

Thank you for your interest in our bikes. THIS IS A STOCK LIMIT OFFER!!! We give this discount because we are liquidating our stock.

The bike is new (not used), in perfect condition, with no problems or scratches on it, as it comes from the manufacture. It will come in original box with all the papers, manuals and manufacture warranty documents.

The buy it now price for the complete bike is listed on our website. In this price all shipment costs are included. We ship the bike fully assembled.

Please email us with your model, size and color to see if it is available.

You can check our stock at www.victorsbikes.com




We look forward for your reply,

George Cole,
Sales Dep.,
Victor's Cycling Store,
address: 360 Western Ave., Augusta, ME, 04330, USA
website: www.victorsbikes.com
email: victorsbikes@yahoo.com

[Pain Freak]

This Victor bikes is selling a 6,000.oo bike for 1800.oo

Like the old saying goes....

If it's to cheap to be true, it is to cheap to be true. It ain't real, or there's some scam to it.

[Waldo]

Thanks Colette. My favorite part: "In this price all shipment costs are included. We ship the bike fully assembled." I'd love to see that.

I'd guess the overseas brands like Giant are gray market, but I don't know how that would explain bargains on domestic boutique brands like Ellsworth. Very suspicious.

I have had some luck buying & selling parts on CL, but only face-to-face, meeting in a public place, and after some careful questioning. The good thing about bike parts is that a legit seller pretty much has to know their parts and shops well in order to have a solid explanation of why they're selling a brand new XTR dérailleur (ie: Stock on the bike but they prefer Sram). If you know your stuff and do your due diligence, it's pretty easy to weed out the sketchy people.