Re: [CR] honesty in advertising Ebay style

(Example: Racing:Beryl Burton)

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:08:05 -0700
From: "verktyg" <verktyg@aol.com>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] honesty in advertising Ebay style


Steven,

In defense of the seller Stefan, I bought a bike from him this spring. His descriptions were accurate and he mentioned the flaws. All of my communications with him were excellent. He did the best packing job I've ever seen on a bike. It took me 1/2 and hour to unpack everything.

I Photoshopped a number of the pictures of this BB to look at them closer. For the most part the bearing tracks on the spindle have several spots of spalling but it looks usable. There is some severe spalling outboard of the bearing tracks as if someone used the wrong size balls, wrong cups or ran it excessively loose for a long time.

It's hard to tell if the spots in the cups are spalling, staining from corrosion or both.

While it's in poor condition, I think that this could be used on a wall hanger bike for occasional rides; 50 year old Campy BBs are pretty hard to find.

There are plenty of pictures so I don't think that there is any attempt to hide anything with this BB... Caveat emptor.

Here's an example of a somewhat misleading description:

http://tinyurl.com/kps8nn

The seller says that the bike is for "parts or repairs" but there are 5 paragraphs in the description talking about the bike's features before he states: "NOTED FLAWS The bike is listed for parts or repair as the frame is obviously bent".

Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA

Steven Maasland wrote:
   > Check out this ebay auction for what should normally be a very collectible item: a first generation Campagnolo cotterless BB, from the late 50's
   >
   > http://ebay.com/<blah>
   >
   > Does the description: "Used in ok condition." seem plausible to anybody? To me the whole thing is completely shot, axle and cups. You might want it as a collector's item, but no way something in that condition is ever going in any of my bikes.
   >
   > It seems like the seller Stefan is aware of the issue as he then further downgrades the condition when he subsequently writes: "Used condition. Bearings show signs but running surface is overall ok and should be useable."
   >
   > Steven Maasland
   > Moorestown, NJ
   > USA