Are you worried about buying a stolen bike?

[DeSelby]

Hi Guys

Something has been playing on my mind so thought I would ask for some of your views on the subject and I fully understand its probably a bit of a touchy one!

Stolen bikes, having read these two threads and various other forum threads on the subject no one seems to have discussed my thoughts / concerns.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=70128
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=67267

My thoughts are..... when buying a bike of Ebay or the market do you worry if its stolen or don't you think about it?

A few years back I broke up with someone I was seeing and decided to buy a second hand mountain bike. I went for a 2005 Kona Blast of Ebay, out of pure chance it came with the original owners manual and was actually being sold by a policeman so I could as good as possible assume it was legit.

Roll forward a few years and I am also into commuting to work on a single speed road bike plus the retro mountain bike scene. Having recently purchased to retro Konas from Ebay, neither of the retro Konas had owners manuals and they certainly wasn't sold by policeman.... So it dawned on me, what happens if I decide to sell one of them or buy a bike just for the parts and sell the frame, do I need to take any measures to protect myself and the future owner from buying something that could be stolen or selling something that is stolen?

People probably don't give a dam about buying items from boot sales that could be hot like PS3 games etc but they don't have serial numbers bikes do and if I am spending my hard earned cash I want to try and make sure what I am buying and selling is legit. I have never been in trouble with the law and dont want to now.

Whats your view? I'm probably just being paranoid.

DeSelby (aka Jamie)

 

[silverclaws]

I agree with your concern, as being in the possession of stolen items makes one guilty whether they know about it or not, I think the term is handling stolen goods, that itself a criminal offence, but more likely an unsuspecting purchaser, a criminals dream.

I suppose ebay needs to act on this as well, like force vendors to put up the frame numbers so people can check for themselves if the cycle has been reported stolen.

But that is only good if the person who lost their cycle knew the frame number and reported it.

 

[maverick]

If you buy it knowing that it is stolen or with the belief that it is stolen then you are committing a criminal offence of handling stolen goods.
If you buy it and the seller informs you that they have rightful possesion of the said item, then you are not committing any offence.
If the item then turns out to be stolen and you know, technically you are back to handling stolen goods, maximum custodial sentence of 14 years.
If you buy it through evilbay, it would be fair to say that they as the selling platform have to take reasonable steps to ensure that those using the bay have to take steps to prevent stolen items being sold and assisting Police in the detection of offenders.
Car-boot sales you have to take your chance, just ask the seller, is this your item to legally sell, maybe even take a photo on your phone of the seller next to the item you are buying.
Or buy from like minded trusted sellers on a website like: www.retrobike.co.uk

Its a mine field out there, as long as you take reasonable steps to ensure you are happy with the seller then you can,t go far wrong. If the deal seems to good to be true, pinch yourself, it probably is.

 

[longun]

tbh,doesnt cross my mind with old used bikes,the owner would/should hopefully of been paid out and karma will get the bad guys,maybe a wrong attitude to have but if i worried about every little thing id never go out or buy anything second hand.

 

[silverclaws]

The other thing about second hand, is other things might be attached to that part or bike, the last poster talked about karma so must believe in karma, but if that is so, there are other energies attached to things we may obtain pre owned. Some believe human handled things contain memories of the past, a reason as a jeweller I will not work with gold, too much negativity attached to that stuff, all the vices of mankind at it's worst. Some people of a sense can feel the negativity in a thing, but many can, which explains the need to handle something before considering purchase.

My bike is heavily doused in my energy, anyone who touches it with mal intent is cursed, whether that works or not, I don't know, but it is free to use, a why not situation, protect physically with anti tamper bolts and things, but also protect on another plane of existence. The bottom line, I want my stuff to remain mine until I give it to someone else.

 

[mikee]

tbh,doesnt cross my mind with old used bikes,the owner would/should hopefully of been paid out and karma will get the bad guys,maybe a wrong attitude to have but if i worried about every little thing id never go out or buy anything second hand.

+1 on this

even buying "new" stuff off the bay doesn't guarantee its kosher

 

[suburbanreuben]

Whenever I buy anything of value, I consider whether the seller is trustworthy. If I think he's dodgy, I don't buy.
It's not just the thought of buying hooky gear, though that would take the shine off "ownership", but the possibility that something ain't quite what it seems, is damaged or sub-standard.
In my experience, anyone misrepresenting ownership of a bike is equally likely to misrepresent the condition.
I can't be doing with this "ignorance is bliss" attitude. It's shabby.

 

[mikee]

i didn't mean ignorance is bliss
i just meant that if it looks dodgy then it probably is ,but when you
buy at a distance ,e-bay or internet in general ,you can't be sure of
anything ,if it is stolen that distance should insulate you from blame

 

[suburbanreuben]

i didn't mean ignorance is bliss
i just meant that if it looks dodgy then it probably is ,but when you
buy at a distance ,e-bay or internet in general ,you can't be sure of
anything ,if it is stolen that distance should insulate you from blame

I wasn't getting at you,



but you seem to be digging yourself a hole...

 

[mikee]

i know it's not all about me