Buying advice for France/French eBay

I've had someone ask me to post buying advice for UK buyers, dealing with the inscrutable French!

I've had a fair bit of experience, in both face to face and online transactions with our continental cousins. Starting off with eBay: it's not that popular in France, as there are a quite a few competing websites selling complete bikes and parts (Leboncoin being the most successful). It's more popular for traditional antiques and collectibles than for cycling stuff. The problem comes from both language and shipping idiosyncrasies. High end bikes trend to priced on the ridiculous side, in reality the price of a real world collectible bike has probably taken a 30-40% hit, same as the UK.

The language on eBay often doesn't translate well, and you'll find 99% of French sellers either unable or unwilling to engage in English. It's a good idea to learn the French nomenclature for every part, I'll post these later. You'll notice that the large majority of sellers will 'only 'ship to France', and/or the EU (UE). This is for several reasons (they don't particularly trust international carriers) but mainly because Mondial Relais is the prime mover of goods on the platform. It's fast, reliable, and they have 20,000 lockers located throughout France and it costs about half the price of La Poste. I'm pretty sure it's not available in the UK, but Belgium, Italy, Spain and Germany are accessible. And when the French say 'Non', they mean NO!

That said, there are more and more professional sellers every month, usually bike shops who are willing to ship overseas. Again, very few of them will interact with you in English.

There are a lot of novice sellers on French eBay, many of whom still use the quaint Auction style. Starting listings at a euro, so you can get some proper bargains. I bought a Trevor James Privilege flute recently for 40 euros, mainly because it was listed only in France, and with an obscure shipping requirement. It would've been 900 new... Last month I picked up a pair of NOS Record Pista large flange hubs in the box for around 80 quid. It's really worth searching for Auction only sales.

The French like selling items in 'Lots', so it can be a mish mash of parts and bikes with some tasty morsels, but you have to buy the LOT! They don't do 'splitting', you can get some tremendous bargains though. I've bought nearly all of my VAR tools this way and saved a small fortune. 'Lots' of bikes are very interesting too, because with it you'll probably get all the spare wheels/parts/clothing for free. These are generally the products of a of house moves or recent bereavements, and they just want to get rid of EVERYTHING...


The French really do like dealing face to face, so if you land in France and have a French SIM card (you can buy a one month use sim for a tenner from a 'Free' dispenser with your credit card) there are some serious bargains to be had on Leboncoin.com. They have a secure payment method you can link to a UK account or card with an IBAN number. The seller doesn't get the money to you have verified the item is in good order on receipt. You can communicate by text message via Google, and its quite successful. It's roughly half what you would expect to pay for similar parts/bikes on eBay, and although they prefer face to face, you can get items shipped to a locker anywhere in France on a 3-4 day turnaround. Ideal if you're on holiday and fancy a Colnago to take home with you! There's a service called Relais Colis, which is also popular and ships entire bikes to drop off points for about 25 euro.

Dealing Face to face with French people is quite a learned skill, there are procedures and rules: if you express an interest in an item/bike, and you're the first contact, no matter how many people/better offers they get, as the first you're pretty much guaranteed the sale. It's a matter of 'honneur', some people find this frustrating, but I like it. They will likely not do business on a public holiday or a Sunday. They just like their down time that's all. Cash is king, and they expect you to haggle. If you tyre kick too much though, they will show you the door. Also if you piss them off, no matter how much you plead or how much money you put on the table, the will resolutely not sell.
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Buying online: don't expect anything to be cleaned or in good order, that's not their way. They expect the buyer to do that. Shipping times can vary, amateur sellers are usually very prompt and you can get an item in 4 days from France, but professional sellers generally double that. You'll pay a straight 20% import tax on everything (until Brexit softens, that's staying). Shipping costs for small items (and larger also) incur a 3 euro 'Brexit surcharge' from La Poste for sellers, so small items will be around 18 euro to the UK.

Finally, although there are some great bargains to be had, the French operate on a level of politeness and civility which we are not used to. They won't tolerate any rudeness at all. They are generally very honest, often too honest in their descriptions, and pointing out any defects. A good thing IMO. If you can speak a little French and use Google translate, it'll go a long way. Oh, and if you want a Rene Herse, see me! I know where all the bodies (and the collectors) are buried

French cycling terms:

Cadre: frame

Fourches: forks

Pedalier: chain set

Roues: wheels

Pedales: pedals

Moyeux: hubs

Pignons: sprockets

Guidon: handlebars

Levier de vitesse: gear levers

Potence: stem

Porte-bagages: luggage carrier/rack

JDD or Jeu Direction: headset

Boitier: bottom bracket

Selle: saddle

Garde-boue: mudguards

Roue Libre: freewheel

Rayons: Spokes

Gonfleur: the pump

TDS or Tige de Selle: seat post

Pneus: tyres

chaîne de vélo: the chain

Feu /Phare arrière: rear light

Dynamo: dynamo!

Nice summary!

Good post! I enjoyed reading that and mirrors some of my french eBay experience from some years back, you are bang on about sellers not cleaning things etc

A good summary. Too add:

- Ebay.fr messages translates automatically into your preferred language. It's got some bugs, generally OK. If you write in German from ebay.de or English from ebay.co.uk it will be translated in French for a seller on ebay.fr

- Mondial Relay is Ebay.fr preferred partner. Pre-Brexit they did ship to the UK. They are cheap and you get exactly what you pay for - parcels thrown about, dreadful lead-times, not environment friendly efficient routing, dreadful rates for loss / damage compensation, lockers not suitable for larger items, service points in rural areas a total joke (for both domestically and those EU destinations you mentioned).

- I'd say nothing to do with the "French" per se about shipping to the UK. It's a ball-ache pure and simple. La Poste charge 3€ extra but that is not the point - after Ebay takes it's cut and you've messed about with additional insurance, a 6 page document pack and done the online pre-customs Export clearance before you can even go the post office it's simply not worth it except for higher value items. In this respect La Poste is the absolute clear winner to choose. I routinely never advertise shipping out of the EU, but will ship anywhere based on my own discretion upon a polite request (a minimum is a "Hello" and not use fcuking 12 year old text message speak).

- Ebay.fr still gathers it's fees from Sellers. Every so often there are -70% or -60% fee reductions and usually is a good time for buyers too and haggle a bit on more costly items.

- Selling in LOTS for all the low value items (which most bike items are now these days anyway) is practical and almost the only way now. I'm also to the point of not being arsed to clean some stuff. The LOT if not sold goes to the bike charity or different charity shop.

- Good luck finding a Seller on Leboncoin willing to ship abroad. You may as well not even ask unless both the seller and buyer are prepared to cry blood because the whole platform is not built for it.

Agreed, Leboncoin is very much a domestic platform catering to the French and occasionally Belgian and Spanish buyers. But if you're over on holiday, all you need is a 10 euro French SIM and you can use it like a local. You can link your credit card to it as long as the account has an IBAN number. Sim cards with a 30 day expiry can be had in most Tabacs from an automated dispenser. It's very easy to get one, just make sure your phone is unlocked.

My experience with Mondial Relais is generally very good. Their new lockers are not for large items, think 60 litre rucksack and you get the idea. They do however ship bigger items to a lot of rural locations via Tabacs, convenience stores and the like. Relais Colis is a fairly new service and ships bikes and frames very reliably throughout France in a 3 day turnaround. Ideal if you are in a France for an extended holiday. I'm 35km from a big town and I have no problem getting parcels. If anything the service has improved a lot in the past 2 years with transit times down and very good compensation from Leboncoin if anything goes awry. I recently got to keep a set of Super Record brake levers (and get my money back) because the seller neglected to show pictures of the cracked hoods.

They are very thorough with defaults and bad sellers and on the whole I find it a much more pleasant experience than eBay, which of course charges the sellers 12% fees. On Leboncoin the seller gets ALL the money and the buyer pays a small fee amount, generally about 4%.

There are about half a dozen websites dedicated to selling secondhand bikes in France, good bargains can also be had in town centre Trocs (think flashy pawn brokers), who often have no idea what they are selling, especially if it's old and rare. A lot of Alex Singer and Rene Herse are sourced this way. I know a guy who regularly trawls the Trocs of Bordeaux and Nantes and comes back with amazing finds on a regular basis.

A lot of the big collectors meet each other at the bigger bike meets and vintage rides and jumbles. It's a bit of a closed shop as they generally trade only among themselves, but if you get to know them and tell them what you're after, eventually they'll come up trumps.

There are some VERY big collectors in France, probably the biggest Colnago collector (who has more rare bikes than even the Colnago factory museum, in fact he even loans them back their own rare bikes!), an ex racing driver lives just down the road from me in Perpignan. It's rumoured he'll be opening a Colnago cafe/shop early in 2026 in the city. Well worth a visit, his collection is sensational.

It will always be a case of "horses for courses".

Like what almost we came about, for an International buyer it's virtually Ebay because of their international clout to buy from France. Click to buy. The right platform and all that feedback and whatnot.

Domestic as a buyer, there is more choice and bargains but don't expect nothing served on a plate either.

I will finish, and all the above in more detail level is all true, frankly, and never forget, the French are damn good at this, everything is up for negotiation face-to-face. Be serious, be willing, be prepared to play your part, be reasonable, be sincere, look in the eyes, yes it can all work out.

Hell, you are most likely will be invited to a drink of the good stuff when a proper "gentleman agreement" which is a term the French use seals it for being "a good sport" which also the French use. A good fair deal is always better than no deal for any party. And that is worth celebrating.

Personally on Ebay I love the sport. All my offerings include "Best Offer".

It is generally southern Europe that will play the sport vs. Northern Europe willing to trade off immediacy at an higher purchase price.