I have a 103 A motor, a set of wide Glide tins and some parts which would go a long way to building a late model wide glide so I've been looking for a damaged or neglected one to restore and sell. I saw a vandalised 2016 one on www.salvagebikesauction.com so I bid on it. It costs you $50.00 to join up and you have to pay a min $400.00 down to bid so I paid that in good faith. I had a couple of other bikes in line and I told one seller to wait until the auction was done because if I didn't win the auction I'd buy his. Well I won the auction and was duly advised so by salvagebikesauction and asked to pay up. I went on-line next day to do that and saw that they'd sent me an email telling me that my auction had been cancelled and quoted the number of the auction.
Consequently I called the other guy and agreed to buy his and transferred him the $$$. I was a bit disappointed that I missed out on the first because I would have rather had a 2016 than a 2012 which is what I ended up buying. So I thought I'd send the auction site an email asking for an explanation. The explanation I got was that there was a glitch in their system and I had won the auction and that it hadn't been cancelled. I told them it was too late because I'd made another purchase but there position was and remains that I am liable for the balance or I forfeit my deposit and have to pay another $300 broker fee. They don't dispute that they sent me a cancellation email and don't care that I made another purchase but refuse to refund my deposit. Stay away from www.salvagebikesauction.com . These guys should be wearing ski masks when they do business.

 

What happens if you tell them to pound sand and don't pay them?

You should use a more legitimate well known site that has protections built in and less stupid fees. eBay comes to mind.....

 

Did you pay the deposit with a CC?

 

if you used paypal ya can file a request to get your money back

 

Glad I read this, I have looked at a couple bikes on that site.
Like stated if you used a CC you can contact your CC and take action against them.
Been there done that, an EBAY, PAYPAL customer tried to take me for a ride.
My CC insured all my purchases, after PAYPAL told me to stuff it I said ok I will let my CC handle it.
They did not like that very much, in the end all it cost me was time (we got all our money back).

 

Anyone know a reputable auction site for salvage bikes while we're talking?

 

You have documentation that says you lost the auction. That is on them. I wouldn't pay and would take to small claims if I had to.

 

When you search for bikes in eBay, that is one of the filtering options.

 

Thanks guys. I did pay using my credit card so I contacted them today and lodged a dispute.

 

Unfortunately you have to pay the $400 in advance which I did. For the other $300 they can, as you say, pound sand but I do want to recover my downpayment. I am trying the visa dispute route thanks to advice form members here. Looks promising.