Provided what you have presented is true, you have a decent case of inter-state mail fraud, this carries a stiff penalty and fine. Contact a lawyer and see what your options are -- which probably include loosing the bike.

 

I agree , Trust No One! Jrsess

 

Please don't asked your brothers to do the dirty work for you. Seems like you got on this forum because of this problem. Go ahead and handle the situation and go out there if you need to to get it resolved. It is an unfortunate situation to be in, but if you have been around this business for 30 years I would assume you would know and take all the neccessary pre-cautions. I would expect my tean-age son to make a mistake like this as he does not have the experince in these matters. If it is true what you are saying there must be a violation of a law that is enforceable. The local police is the place to start.
I dealt with a guy one time on a bike I won on ebay for my son that did not have the title(did not say that on his sales pitch) and told me how easy it was for me to get a copy. I told him I would be happy "if it is so easy to wait" until he got a valid one and we would close the deal. Needless to say it was not so easy and he could not produce a copy and he got negative feedback from me..

 

Yareally shouldn'tbe posting electronic messages that ask for someone to harm someone else. That's at least a class 5 felony in a lot states even if nothing is really done.

 

Pffffttt! You have got to be kidding me! Have you not seen nor heard of all the scams that are out in the big cruelworld these days? What made you think ebay would be any different? If anything, ebay is probably the best venue for any would be scam artist to facilitate his art.

"Fellow biker" ripping you off???? Go figure. What makes you think just because this guy has sold off a bike that he has any sort of ethics? ... Please don't tell me it's because you think he's a biker.

Double PFFFFTTT!

 

I bought my bike on ebay but I flew the 1700 miles there to see it before I gave the guy the money. The cost of the flight and the ride back was worth the cost. I didn't consider the cost of the trip as part of the cost of the bike. I figured the cost was worth it for another one oflifes adventures.

 

One thing to consider. Don"t fly some where or drive for that matter to some unknown , to you, person's address when you have advised them you will be bringing the money with you for the purchase of the motorcycle. It's a possible way to get robbed at the least. Arrange to meet them in a very public place in the daytime. Just my nickel'sworth.

 

i work in manahawkin n.j., it's a very big biker town. if i were you i'd contact the authorities asap.

 

1. I would seriously hope that you would not actually contemplate handing out this person's name and address for purposes 'of a visit' to anyone who asks? In doing such, you may find yourself a party to something far worse than what you are dealing with already.

2. Solicit the advice of an attorney in YOUR area initially. If he/she is at all competent, they will advise you as to which steps (notification of authorities, filing of papers, etc) to take next.

3. Refrain from working outside the confines of the law in your attempts at seeking both resolution and restitution. Yeah, you have the guy's address, etc. Showing up in hopes of 'setting matters straight' could well land you in more trouble than you are capable of handling. If a guy has the wherewithal to scam you to such an extent? Rest assured, he's most likely not one to back down too easily when confronted by someone in a non-authoritarian capacity; i.e. law enforcement. Proceed with caution.

4. Revisit #2 above.

5. Common sense goesa long way when conducting any type of transaction via the Internet.

 

I sold my 2005 FLSTSCi Softail Springer Classic this past August. It was a perfect transaction, every step of the way. The people that bought my bike came all the way from New York State to Indiana to pick it up on Saturday July 7th. They gave me a cashiers check for the total, I signed the title over to them and they loaded it up and headed out.

I took the cashiers check to the bank the following Monday (the check was for 15K) and the teller proceeded to tell me there would be a ten day waiting period for the check to clear. I nearly passed out. Not that I needed the money right way, but because I thought cashiers checks were like gold. Come to find out, my bank gets about 1 or 2 fake/fraudulent cashiers checks for internet sales every week. I had them call the bank it was drawn on, the other bank verified it on the phone and they made the funds available immediately.

Fast forward to this past week... I get an email from the folks that bought my Springer, informing some fraudulent jerk had copied my eBay add verbatum, including photos of my old bike, and relisted it on eBay. The idiot hadn't sold anything, so he didn't have any feedback of course. This was obviously a fraudulent listing, so I emailed eBay, asking them to take care of the situation. They did absolutely NOTHING. They should have pulled the ad, as I gave them the auction number from my listing from back in August to compare, but they didn't do a freakin' thing.

Had some poor guy actually hit the reserve, might have paid for a motorcycle that didn't exist. Or just as bad, the seller may still contact the people that did bid, in an attempt to sell it outside of eBay.

If I ever sell or buy anything on eBay again, you can count on the fact that I will totally do my homework to ensure it's a quality deal. If I ever sell an item for a lot of money, the item (car, bike, whatever) won't leave here until the check clears or they bring cash with them to pick it up.

This is getting scary, IMHO.