Posts
775
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Stillwater, OK, USA
Edited Date/Time
6/21/2013 11:41pm
Believe it or not I absolutely hate selling bikes. I sell a ton of parts and the people are always excited to have them, I've had a few occasions where I missed some damage on a part and have gladly refunded buyers in those cases. But what do you do when you deal with a guy with super unreasonable expectations.
Last year I traded for a 1984 YZ125. The bike was a pretty low hour 84 that my buddy had taken apart and freshened up. It had new plastic and a lot of other new odds and ends. I had an 80 RM 125 he wanted and I traded him for the 84 completely disassembled. I assembled the bike and finished putting it together literally the day before we left for Diamond Don's. I raced it at Diamond Don's and it did really good other than the front brake gave me issues all weekend, I weight 200 pounds and really enjoyed riding my big bikes more. Shortly after Diamond Dons I put it on Marks swap meet for $1000 bucks. As far as I'm concerned I gave the bike away at that price but I really didn't have all that much tied up in it.
Shortly after posting it someone called me and just pretty much said I will take it and asked for payment information. He paid me promptly via paypal and said he would arrange shipping. After this he started calling me every few days asking a lot of questions about it. I told him with a fresh top end and some work on the front brake I think it could win any vintage race in the country. He continues calling every few days often asking the same questions over and over. None of this really bothered me but this is when I probably should of seen the guy had unreasonable expectations. When it came time for the shipper he hired to pick the bike up I ended up waisting 3 days waiting for the guy when he didn't show up when he was suppose to. I really don't blame him for this but it still happened.
Fast forward to today when I get this e-mail.
When was the last time this thing ran? It needs ALOT of work you failed to mention,,,,,it won't start,,,,bent shifter, front fender about to fall off,,,,this thing needs a resto,,,,not what you told me!!! You told me other than a front brake cable,,,and maybe a top end,,,should be good to go,,,,well,,,this thing is NOT anywhere near good to go!!!!!
This kind of shit bothers me to no end. I would rather jump the bike off in a lake than have to deal with people like this. The gas in the bikes been in it since Diamond Dons and I'm sure it will need fresh gas and the carb cleaned to run, I told him this before hand. As far as the shifter being bent and the fender? I mean I'm sure he's not lying to me but really? If I bitched out every guy that sold me a bike with a bent shifter I wouldn't have many friends. The shifter was brand new with 1 ride on it if it was bent I guess I missed it.
Anyways now the bikes half way across the country. He's not happy, I'm not happy but what do you do about it. I would gladly buy it back but no way am I eating any of the shipping expenses.
Last year I traded for a 1984 YZ125. The bike was a pretty low hour 84 that my buddy had taken apart and freshened up. It had new plastic and a lot of other new odds and ends. I had an 80 RM 125 he wanted and I traded him for the 84 completely disassembled. I assembled the bike and finished putting it together literally the day before we left for Diamond Don's. I raced it at Diamond Don's and it did really good other than the front brake gave me issues all weekend, I weight 200 pounds and really enjoyed riding my big bikes more. Shortly after Diamond Dons I put it on Marks swap meet for $1000 bucks. As far as I'm concerned I gave the bike away at that price but I really didn't have all that much tied up in it.
Shortly after posting it someone called me and just pretty much said I will take it and asked for payment information. He paid me promptly via paypal and said he would arrange shipping. After this he started calling me every few days asking a lot of questions about it. I told him with a fresh top end and some work on the front brake I think it could win any vintage race in the country. He continues calling every few days often asking the same questions over and over. None of this really bothered me but this is when I probably should of seen the guy had unreasonable expectations. When it came time for the shipper he hired to pick the bike up I ended up waisting 3 days waiting for the guy when he didn't show up when he was suppose to. I really don't blame him for this but it still happened.
Fast forward to today when I get this e-mail.
When was the last time this thing ran? It needs ALOT of work you failed to mention,,,,,it won't start,,,,bent shifter, front fender about to fall off,,,,this thing needs a resto,,,,not what you told me!!! You told me other than a front brake cable,,,and maybe a top end,,,should be good to go,,,,well,,,this thing is NOT anywhere near good to go!!!!!
This kind of shit bothers me to no end. I would rather jump the bike off in a lake than have to deal with people like this. The gas in the bikes been in it since Diamond Dons and I'm sure it will need fresh gas and the carb cleaned to run, I told him this before hand. As far as the shifter being bent and the fender? I mean I'm sure he's not lying to me but really? If I bitched out every guy that sold me a bike with a bent shifter I wouldn't have many friends. The shifter was brand new with 1 ride on it if it was bent I guess I missed it.
Anyways now the bikes half way across the country. He's not happy, I'm not happy but what do you do about it. I would gladly buy it back but no way am I eating any of the shipping expenses.
Did he elaborate on the rest of the problems? It's a 1984 bike. It is not new.
I wouldn't sweat it.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Did you include an "as-is" clause in your bill of sale?
Offer to send him a front brake cable and a spark plug as a goodwill gesture. Maybe his freight guy that he arranged bent the shifter? Was it crated?
Don't sweat people that are kooks.
And a full resto can need alot of work to become a race bike.....
NO WARRANTY !!!!!!
It's a race bike.
It's almost 30 years old .
Wadda Ya want for Nuttin ? Rubber biscuits ?
Since it's not, I vote you tell him to take a hike as well.....
And then you can settle the situation on your time not theirs.
You know as well as anyone that's into VMX that your YZ was worth 1000. Old mx bikes are on Craigslist everyday wanting between 500 to 1000 and they are spray painted BBQ black and totally beat. I feel rather than risk him bitching to PayPal that you eat poop and be nice to him as possible. ask him what he would want to make this right . It probably wouldn't hurt to let PayPal know he is threatening you and you did everything right. Most of the time ,the person that bitches first in life is the person that is considered right.
I know someone that sells VMX bikes. He lists them as he has never heard them run and takes lots of pics. This was if it does t run right they it can't come back on him.
Good luck
And the paypal thing, very good advice.
I use them only when it's really, really needed, heck, I don't even sell ebay anymore, they're both so crazy.
Pit Row
Here's the current project.
I've been restoring and racing vintage and post vintage bikes for nearly 10 years now. In those 10 years, there was only 1 bike that I bought under 1500.00 that DIDN"T need a full restoration. When I buy a vintage or PV bike and pay less than 1500.00, 99 percent of the time it's going to require major work. That's just the way it is. You're pictures show a solid looking bike that's definitely worth 1k.
You offered to buy the bike back, there's nothing else you can do or say. Look when it comes to these old bikes, sometimes (rarely) you get a smokin' deal and sometimes you don't. Like I tell dudes, if you want to buy a really, really nice restored bike, then save up about $3000-5000.00 and buy yourself one. Otherwise, be ready to do some work -- that's just the way it it in the vintage world.
Post a reply to: How would you guys handle this? (Vintage bike related)