Evenin' all,
I want to share a few recent experiences of this addiction - and it can only be described as that. The addiction has caused me to review my garage - where do i store bikes? It has caused my wife to raise eyebrows when handlebars arrive and the look like horns! The postman is cursing me (and me him) because of his additional workload. As a newbie to the RB scene (although it does not really exist here - Norn Iron) i can RB easily using postal services and couriers. A quiet hobby.
As a newbie, i am open to exploitation - and that particularly annoys me but i expect that most people reading this have had some bad experiences. I have yet to have a problem with anyone here on RB - there have been hiccups - where a mech has broken before i received it, or where, after some research, an item, described as something, turns out not to be that thing. Currently there are two bikes for sale on RB which are not as they purport to be and it seems the seller has moved his/her sale elsewhere - lfgss. This is the difficulty as a newbie.
I have also experienced heartache at the hands of a popular auction website - i bid and the bidding rises and at the end of the auction i am outbid twice in the last two seconds - before i can even consider what has happened. The ability of an app or computer program to beat me is fine but my real annoyance is worse. Today i received two items - both 'won' in separate auctions. One - a stem which should be marked Dura Ace - has no such markings. I am pretty sure it is a DA stem but the decal is missing. I was contacted by the seller, and he offered a full refund - why? So he can resell it to another newbie? And he was worried about his feedback so he was nice. Unfortunately, i reviewed what he had described after i had bought the item and it appears that he had mentioned this defect albeit in a form of English which i did not understand. The second item was a set of handlebars - they were in good condition on the website, when they arrived i noticed that one one of them had been worn down - either by a crash or wearing against a wall. The bars will probably have to be shortened to sort this out as the round section is now oval!
In both of the above circumstances, the pics of the items failed to show the damage but, and i should emphasise this - BUT the pics showed the items in a good light. An honest mistake could not have caused these errors. So, my top tip is -
DO NOT LOOK AT WHAT THE PIC IS SHOWING - LOOK AT WHAT YOU CANNOT SEE AND THINK WHY?
My other annoyance will not be easily solved by anyone here or other forums or auctions sites. I know the reasons behind my problem but i would rather RBers try to keep to some form of contract which avoids this annoyance, so here it is -
If you are selling something eg a wheelset - please include the appropriate skewers or if it is a frame and forks - try and include the headset and BB. I understand that this is not always easy but, surely, for the buyers benefit it makes sense.
The disassemblement of bits and pieces has a long term impact - and as a buyer, it greatly annoys me. I saw headset components for sale today - on an auction site - they had been taken apart and each bit was sold separately - it was pretty obvious as it was the same seller with the same type of bits. I have to presume that this is the best way to make money out of bits but i really disagree with it. I don't mind paying the correct money for a headset but it is hard to describe my annoyance about trying to buy a set of bits to make the headset up - and the additional cost this involves.
An example which i have currently have is that two/three frames which i bought which have had the dropout adjusters removed - is it my fault for not asking if they were being sold as part of the sale? Campag ones are currently around £10 per pair so this is an additional cost to me.
That is my grumblings complete for tonight - thanks for reading.
Finally, i will add that RB has the most decent, honest and generally nice people i have come across on the net and hope that it will remain this way.
In a soppy way - LOVE YOU GUYS / GIRLS (well more the second - if i am honest!)
Thanks all,
Richard
I want to share a few recent experiences of this addiction - and it can only be described as that. The addiction has caused me to review my garage - where do i store bikes? It has caused my wife to raise eyebrows when handlebars arrive and the look like horns! The postman is cursing me (and me him) because of his additional workload. As a newbie to the RB scene (although it does not really exist here - Norn Iron) i can RB easily using postal services and couriers. A quiet hobby.
As a newbie, i am open to exploitation - and that particularly annoys me but i expect that most people reading this have had some bad experiences. I have yet to have a problem with anyone here on RB - there have been hiccups - where a mech has broken before i received it, or where, after some research, an item, described as something, turns out not to be that thing. Currently there are two bikes for sale on RB which are not as they purport to be and it seems the seller has moved his/her sale elsewhere - lfgss. This is the difficulty as a newbie.
I have also experienced heartache at the hands of a popular auction website - i bid and the bidding rises and at the end of the auction i am outbid twice in the last two seconds - before i can even consider what has happened. The ability of an app or computer program to beat me is fine but my real annoyance is worse. Today i received two items - both 'won' in separate auctions. One - a stem which should be marked Dura Ace - has no such markings. I am pretty sure it is a DA stem but the decal is missing. I was contacted by the seller, and he offered a full refund - why? So he can resell it to another newbie? And he was worried about his feedback so he was nice. Unfortunately, i reviewed what he had described after i had bought the item and it appears that he had mentioned this defect albeit in a form of English which i did not understand. The second item was a set of handlebars - they were in good condition on the website, when they arrived i noticed that one one of them had been worn down - either by a crash or wearing against a wall. The bars will probably have to be shortened to sort this out as the round section is now oval!
In both of the above circumstances, the pics of the items failed to show the damage but, and i should emphasise this - BUT the pics showed the items in a good light. An honest mistake could not have caused these errors. So, my top tip is -
DO NOT LOOK AT WHAT THE PIC IS SHOWING - LOOK AT WHAT YOU CANNOT SEE AND THINK WHY?
My other annoyance will not be easily solved by anyone here or other forums or auctions sites. I know the reasons behind my problem but i would rather RBers try to keep to some form of contract which avoids this annoyance, so here it is -
If you are selling something eg a wheelset - please include the appropriate skewers or if it is a frame and forks - try and include the headset and BB. I understand that this is not always easy but, surely, for the buyers benefit it makes sense.
The disassemblement of bits and pieces has a long term impact - and as a buyer, it greatly annoys me. I saw headset components for sale today - on an auction site - they had been taken apart and each bit was sold separately - it was pretty obvious as it was the same seller with the same type of bits. I have to presume that this is the best way to make money out of bits but i really disagree with it. I don't mind paying the correct money for a headset but it is hard to describe my annoyance about trying to buy a set of bits to make the headset up - and the additional cost this involves.
An example which i have currently have is that two/three frames which i bought which have had the dropout adjusters removed - is it my fault for not asking if they were being sold as part of the sale? Campag ones are currently around £10 per pair so this is an additional cost to me.
That is my grumblings complete for tonight - thanks for reading.
Finally, i will add that RB has the most decent, honest and generally nice people i have come across on the net and hope that it will remain this way.
In a soppy way - LOVE YOU GUYS / GIRLS (well more the second - if i am honest!)
Thanks all,
Richard