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Independent Motorsports - Beware


5thSFG

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best of luck to you, and enjoy your new bike. i go down to west palm beach on occasion and i will shake my fist at anyone i see on bikes since i wont have a bike down there for some time.

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Independent Motorsports still allowed the bike to be sold later that day on eBay to a third party and at a higher price.

In response to the customer that submitted a bid on eBay for a BMW motorcycle. His bid did not meet the reserve. Another bidder submitted a higher bid and it met the reserve. That bidder then secured the purchase of the bike by paying the $500 via PayPal immediately. The remainder was paid by the winning bidder via wire transfer.

The above statement says I sold the bike at a higher price. The eBay reserve was $10000. I calculated the other total with the bike priced at $9999 so I did sell it for $1 more on eBay.

Yes, I did know that the bike was being auctioned on ebay (it was listed for sale in several places, i.e. CycleTrader, etc.). I bid on the bike last weekend, but my bid didn't meet the reserve price, so I made contact with Steve on Monday. We reached a deal yesterday. Nothing has posted to my credit card yet - I'm thinking Independent Motorsports already canceled the transaction (the deposit amount was only $250 anyway, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if it showed up).

We never processed this customer's credit card because the other bidder meet the reserve and secured the purchase with PayPal.

- Steve

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I have no horse in this race BUT there's more to this than what you merely replied to, Steve. If I read what you posted correctly, you're not disputing the OP's statements at all. The auction ended minutes after the final bid of $10k but the OP said that his deal was agreed to prior to that time. I'd like to know the exact timeline of the events as they occurred as that would shed some additional light on the matter.

I guess the question I have is: is it the practice/policy of IM to verbally agree to the purchase of an item it has for sale and advertised in any number of publications both in print and online, including auctions, and not immediately apply the purchasers deposit upon having all that is required to do so?

Now I know what everyone is thinking and they are 100% right. If you do not have money in your hands (meaning IM) then a verbal deal doesn't mean jack squat.

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Seems odd that IM waited a few days for me to disappear before addressing this thread.

First, nothing was verbal - it was all via email (which I have and will gladly post if Steve disputes any of this). The email timeline in EST times are:

12:50 pm – Acceptance of Steve's offer to sell the bike, and I ask whether I can place the deposit via credit card or Paypal

*

2:48 pm – Steve responds “Sounds good” and that Pam will contact me for my credit card information

*

3:43 pm – Pam’s email details what she needs for the deposit (i.e., credit card number, expiration, address, etc.)

*

4:10 pm – All of credit card information requested by Pam is provided which she receives

4:44 pm - Someone bids the reserve price on the eBay auction

*

4:45 pm – *eBay auction ends, with a third party “high bidder”.

Approx. 7 pm – Steve informs me after I call for the bank wiring instructions that there is a “problem” and that he sold the bike to someone else on eBay. He initially claimed that the eBay auction ended at 1:45 pm, but I think he didn't understand that eBay auctions are on Pacific time

Second, here is where Steve's story falls apart: why did he have my credit card information? The ONLY reason he would have had it was if we reached a deal on the bike and for the deposit.

I don't expect him to admit that their customer service after the fact sucked, but he should man up and admit that 100% of what I posted was true.

Third, the eBay part of the timeline is easy to prove without having to post the emails. Sign onto eBay, and search Completed Listings for 2009 K1300S. It is the gray, Item No. 280932998872 sold by independent_motorsports. You can see the bidding history and exactly when the reserve was met and the auction ended.

Edited by 5thSFG
Typos
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I certainly dont want to overstay my welcome, and perhaps I have, but I did want to reply to IM's post. I also don't need an apology from IM, although I think it would have been a classy move on their part.

Besides, at least three people here complained the other day that the thread ended anti-climatically. :)

Edited by 5thSFG
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In light of the timeline now fully exposed. There's either a lack of inter-departmental communication as previously posted or someone in particular has some real issues with how to deal with a customer.

We'll never know if someone simply failed to pull down/end the auction after the deal was reached with the OP. Which is a simple error on IM's part and by all means an apology is due to the OP.

Or the deal was made with the OP and since the auction was close to ending someone at IM thought it wouldn't make the reserve and let it run. But it did and now Steve is in a pickle because he has now made two deals on the same bike. Rather then ruin his rep. on eBay he chose to rescind on his deal with the OP.

Either way, it's good to know that if you're going to deal with IM that you should have the all the "t"s crossed and "i"s dotted. I don't know that this would keep me from dealing with them, just that I need to be prepared for any deal made to be broken...verbal, in writing, etc.

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You won't overstay your welcome if you let this go. This thread will become a drama fest in no time. You're more than welcome to hang around on this board. No Ohio residency is required. Stay as long as you like. Just don't keep railing on about this when you already said you don't want an apology. Not that it matters' date=' because it looks like you aren't going to get one.

Seriously, thanks for the heads up.. but feel free to browse the rest of the forums. Ride safe![/quote']

While in most cases Pauly, you'd be right. But I honestly don't see this going that direction. It's been very informative and helpful for anyone who is/was planning on dealing with IM.

This is pretty much a free site, and if the OP wants to continue to rant, then that's his right.

Now, you should probably be preparing yourself to fix Jinu's bike since he's at Putnam this weekend and no one from Ohio can ride there without falling down several time. :D

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To close this thread out, I'd like everyone to know that IM's owner, Ray, called me this afternoon, said the blamed rested with him (and not Steve) and apologized. He was very much a gentleman, and seemed genuinely contrite about the mistake and IM's handling of it afterward. We shook hands over the phone and I'm happy.

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To close this thread out, I'd like everyone to know that IM's owner, Ray, called me this afternoon, said the blamed rested with him (and not Steve) and apologized. He was very much a gentleman, and seemed genuinely contrite about the mistake and IM's handling of it afterward. We shook hands over the phone and I'm happy.

That's a good boss, taking one for his employee.

glad you're happy, and you're welcome to stick around an shoot the sh1t with us if you'd like. we're congenial, for the most part... :D

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