Sold a bike at 12:30 am this morning

[Carter Turk]

I sold a bike at 12:30 am this morning off craigslist.
The ad was posted on Friday at 7pm.
I had a one scam artist this morning willing to pick up with a shipping company and another simply saying it was worth half my asking price.
Then a guy calls, I recognize the area code, but with cell phones, people don't always live where their area codes indicate.
Say's his girlfriend wants to buy it for him..."will I except paypal?" She's whispering in the background. Really didn't know what to say, but maybe.
Look online, find no buyer or seller protection, text back, say I'd prefer cash. A few hour delay, then guy says tomorrow would work, but I say, I have other plans, so how about tonight at 9pm he says? Ok I say, a little weird timing, but just make the bike go away, I'm thinking.
I have the cash, he says, will be there by 9pm. Do you have a helmet I can have? Yes I do. (20 year old Shoei RF800) At 10:50 pm "We're coming up, are you still awake?" Yes, I'm watching 2005 WSBK on DVD, waiting.
Text at 10:52pm, I'm on my way, 70 miles south. 11:15pm my brothers almost here, still 70 miles south. 30 texts later he rolls in at 12:20 am, I'm tired, try to start bike in the dark...it's not starting because I had the choke off. Whoops bad impression, he and three friends are standing watching, battery getting tired, finally I get it lit. Do paper work, show title, money exchange, load spare parts, thanks me for my patience and the helmet, all within 10 minutes, he's off out the driveway with kickstand partially deployed dragging in the driveway, I yell, he doesn't hear, off he goes 70 miles back at 12:30 am.

[steve murdoch]

That is an odd one.
Obviously he REALLY wanted the bike.

[Nessism]

Congratulations on the sale! You just never know with craigslist!

[Burque73]

Congratulations Mr Turk!

Just a note, paypal is definitely good to avoid for transactions in that amount. I sold my V-Strom with a paypal transaction after meeting the buyer and exchanging enough info that felt comfortable and I could also track him down if anything funny happened. He texted me the day after looking at the bike. We had a back and forth conversation then he said OK, deposit made, I'm on my way. I verified with paypal the funds were deposited (as a gift) and helped him load the bike. It took ten days before I could touch the money! Every time I checked it was pending but not posted. I kept thinking he may try to reverse the transaction ibn that time. All is well, lesson learned!

Texting is not my preferred way of communicating with buyers, or anyone for that matter. Too many folks use it as an anonymous way to be knuckle heads. When I sold a parts bike last week we initially started talking by text but I insisted the buyer call me. At least with a voice conversation you have a little better idea who you're dealing with.

Kinda weird it was so late in the evening but then again I've been at car dealerships stupid late because I had to have it, thought for sure it would be gone the next day.

[gsrick]

What was the bike?

[Charlie G]

Nice story Carter. Never know who or what's going to show up........

[Carter Turk]

It was the 93 CBR F2 I picked up in the fall.
I spent a fair amount of time fussing with it, but figured it was a learning/wrenching experience and had no real attachment to it.
Thanks for the Paypal tip, the idea felt wrong.

The spares part has another story, basically a 91 engine open to the elements, it was free, so I go pick it up.
All I really was after was this little round $8 ignition cover, that it didn't have, but guy said maybe he could find it. Not.
The pistons were seized with rust and top end seperated with rusted out valves.
The guy took the covers off, but didn't drain the milky brown oil water mixture in the engine.
We load into my van on cardboard and oil absorbtion rags, leaving a trail of brown mess from the garage to the van.

Recently, there was cold spell, so the road out front his house had a light dusting of snow.
I hadn't driven my van in the snow in a while, when I had the bright revelation to slam on the brakes to see if my van would skid, to test grip...
Oh yeah the engine, just sitting unstrapped, tips over and this wave of brown syrup flows over the carpet.
Some cussing at myself insues and other boneheaded comments about myself all the way home.

I split the cases and discovered many usable parts, I had a manual, but didn't look at it thinking I split many Suzuki cases, what could be different.
Turns out alot, from removing clutch basket to, removing pistons since the top of case half is the piston block.
The top half of the case doesn't lift off the pistons becasue of a lip at the bottom of the bore, the connecting rod halfs have to be removed.
Good times, but I learned something new.

The guy who bought my bike has his friends load this into the tiny car and off they go 1/2 hour into April fools day for 6 greenbacks.

[Cipher]

so are we the fools or are you a charlatan selling known garbage to the uninformed>

[Carter Turk]

so are we the fools or are you a charlatan selling known garbage to the uninformed>

No, I stated in the ad it was a former trackbike and been down a few times and needs tlc.
Mentioned unpainted rough race body work and a lack of working turn signals.
Came with a manual, title, new chain and sprockets, spare usable engine parts, free helmet, tabs till 1/19 and the guy rode it home in the middle of the night/morning.
Thought I might use it myself for trackdays, but happened upon 04 track only 750, so this had to go.

[Buffalo Bill]

Nice story Carter. Never know who or what's going to show up........

Remember back in the day of newspaper adds?
I never felt worried in any way, except I may have my time wasted. Some interesting visits and phone calls.
I do remember an A_H showing up with his crew, loading my stuff into his truck then giving me his price, but still fair. That time I didn't care, because I just wanted the stuff gone.
One guy came too late for what he wanted, so he bought something else just so his time wasn't wasted.

[blowerbike]

i have bought and sold under similar circumstances in the past be it a bike/drag bike/car/truck trailer ect..
sometimes you gotta get while the getting is good...

[GSXR7ED]

That CL Feeling...

It really depends on how an Ad is placed on CL and how the respondents handle the dialogue. Sounds simple enough, huh?

I purchased 3 bikes on CL...the first was the Gixxer from Sterling, VA. The guy had younger prospective buyers but once we met, he based his decision on my demeanor and sold the bike to me. He saw how serious I was because I rented a box truck for the pick up.

I sold that Gixxer 6 months later and made a $400 profit within a week of it on CL.

My current GS was bought for $475 and I picked her up from Glen Burnie, MD.

The last CL purchase was to be my Parts Bike. Picked her up for $275 from Palmerton, PA.

These purchases and one sale were all done between 1pm and 7pm.

Soooooo,

I'm glad to hear you were able to sell your bike...and at the darndest hour!


Ed

[bwringer]

If you don't like texting, you'll cut yourself off from pretty much every buyer under the age of 35. And some of the ones old enough to know better, too. Just the way it is.

My wife supervises quite a few people working in houses doing home care over a wide area. Many are younger, of course, and they pretty much communicate almost exclusively via texting. It would drive me batty. If someone actually calls her, it's to whine and lie about why they can't make it to work. One guy used "my cousin got shot in Chicago" five or six times before he finally got fired.


Anyway, yeah, I'm a night owl too and I've transacted some late night CrackList business several times.

[gsrick]

It really depends on how an Ad is placed on CL and how the respondents handle the dialogue. Sounds simple enough, huh?

I purchased 3 bikes on CL...the first was the Gixxer from Sterling, VA. The guy had younger prospective buyers but once we met, he based his decision on my demeanor and sold the bike to me. He saw how serious I was because I rented a box truck for the pick up.

I sold that Gixxer 6 months later and made a $400 profit within a week of it on CL.

My current GS was bought for $475 and I picked her up from Glen Burnie, MD.

The last CL purchase was to be my Parts Bike. Picked her up for $275 from Palmerton, PA.

These purchases and one sale were all done between 1pm and 7pm.

Soooooo,

I'm glad to hear you were able to sell your bike...and at the darndest hour!


Ed

My parents were Glen Burnie High School sweethearts, just thought I'd mention it.

Got a call on my '05 C90 flip today($2,250). I was at the WAWA gassing up my $500 Clist GSX1100G. He asks a few questions and about how much interest I've had in it. I tell quite a bit, but when they ask about the miles I tell them the gauge odo lens is warped, so I don't know. Everyone flakes out after that. It doesn't matter that it doesn't have a single drop of oil on it or that is fires right up with no smoke. So he asks a few more questions and wants to know if i do paypal. I said yes, but I prefer to deal in cash. He tells me the bike sounds like what he needs. Just a summer bike for him to ride and that he's in the Clearwater Tampa area. Long story short I dropped my price $250, he sent a deposit via PP and I'll deliver it for a fee and the rest of the money in cash.

The money arrived in my PP acc. and he calls an hour later asking how much I'd charge to fix the odo lens. I told him I've watched videos on how to do it, but I've never doen it and it might be easier just to get one from ebay. I look and find a nice one just listed today for $100 plus $13 shipping and send him the info. He texts me back that he bought it. Sure enough the listing has ended. I'd have to say that this looks to be like a good deal. My bike has been removed from Clist. Delivery pending on as soon as i can find out when a member here wants the 850 parts bike I got from down in the same area. I got the C90 for $250, spent $350 for the fuel pump, $250 for the Cobra exhaust, $114 for the front tire and $45 for the chrome side covers. I'll double my money when it's all said and done.

[Carter Turk]

All I was thinking when I got the bike for $100 was could I get it running.
Something that goes 140mph + for a hundred bucks, how could I pass that up?

The only problem with the bike was a broken bolt on the valve cover needing to be extracted.
It was a bit of chore to drop the engine down out of the perimeter frame to actually extract the bolt and it came out suprisingly easy.
I was shocked.

I put about 300 miles on it, doing short little blips, seeing if all was well.
Had a few weepy oil issues out of the aforementioned $8 ignition cover, and one moment when it stalled an wouldn't start.
I was about 25 miles from home, immediatley thought of the charging system issues our bikes are known for. It was exhibiting the same cues.
Didn't want to call for a tow or help, so backed it up the hill I was on and bump started it. It fired, then I thought If I turn around there's lots of stop an go moments, so I ended up going farther away from home to avoid lights and it ran fine all the way, but I kept thinking it was gonna quit on me. It didn't.

I charged the battery on the trickle, refused to fire, so tried bumping down my flat street, no dice. I then tried jumping it from my van, no go until I removed the battery and just hooked the leads to the battery cables. It finally lit and sounded fine. Revved to 5K and the voltage dropped to lower than idle.

I bought a used stator and had the battery tested where I bought it, they said it was good as new. Put it back in and the bike fired easily. Then I said buy bye and sold it.