Canuk
Old School Grand Master
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.
.
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
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.
.
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
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