# Something fishy with this S-Works Venge?



## Thighs (Oct 8, 2012)

I'm shopping for a new bike, but don't know much about Venges or Specialized in general.

2012 Specialized s Works Venge 56cm | eBay

The "buy it now" price is very low for such a nice frame and groupset, but it has to be done off ebay through email?


----------



## Mr645 (Jun 14, 2013)

Yea, you move off of Ebay, wire transfer the money to someone, and never see your money or a bike.


----------



## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

I'm seeing a list of bikes. Not sure any match the description. If the text of the ad tells you to contact seller outside eBay, then it's usually a scam. Legit sellers get hijacked all the time by these scammers.

I report a few and they are usually taken down fairly quickly.


----------



## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

I think it's been taken down. All of the Venges I see listed look like they're being offered by legit sellers, with at least 3 figure transaction histories, and very positive feedback.


----------



## Thighs (Oct 8, 2012)

mpre53 said:


> I think it's been taken down. All of the Venges I see listed look like they're being offered by legit sellers, with at least 3 figure transaction histories, and very positive feedback.


That's the thing...they are being sold by accounts with thousands of positive feedback so I'm not sure what to believe.


----------



## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

Thighs said:


> That's the thing...they are being sold by accounts with thousands of positive feedback so I'm not sure what to believe.


There's about 12 bikes that show up. Nothing jumped out at me that looked "fishy". Mostly sellers looked private with <100 feedbacks. A couple of ones with more were either, a store, online retailers/reseller, or a consignment shop.

If the transaction is done through eBay and PP there is quite a lot of protection for the buyer.


----------



## thumper8888 (Apr 7, 2009)

I sold a McLaren Venge on eBay awhile back, and for months scammers were starting fake auctions on ebay with the photos and text I had posted. Somehow they were taking over accounts of peopple with, usually, large numbers of sales. I had "McLaren Venge" on an auto search on ebay, so every time one popped up, I'd see it the same day and notify eBay.
The obvious giveaways were the photos in combination with the rarity of the bike...then weird aspecte to the deal like, "DO NOT bid. For the Best Price contact this email address". The less obvious thing was that none of the zombie accounts they took over to try the scam were really people who sold bike stuff. Tons of sales to their credit, but no bike stuff.
99.9 percent of Venge auctions I've seen are legit, but its smart as always on ebay, espcecially with big ticket items like this, to check the number of sales to the person's credit, check the other itmes they have sold or are selling and ensure they acutally are bike folks... and check their feedback. And if it was a whole bike, well.. at that kind of money, I would at least contact them via the messaging and maybe talk on the phone to make sure you know who you are dealing with....
It is of course entirely possible that someone who hasn't had mamy transactions, or who has never sold a bike or bike parts is moving a Venge and its legit, but really there is no reason to buy from someone like that. Lots of venges around unless you want one of the low production colors. And of course anything that seems to good to be true is.
There also are counterfeit Venges out there now. Upper headset area is one giveaway.


----------



## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

As Thumper says, and I said *If the text of the ad tells you to contact seller outside eBay, then it's usually a scam. Legit sellers get hijacked all the time by these scammers.*

I found an example I'd saved:


----------



## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

Just last week, some guy on this forum was raving & posting pics about his Venge.

Turned out the Venge & Zipp wheels were totally fake & counterfeit, which the guy finally admitted after being called out on it. AFAIK he was not trying to sell it, and he knew it was fake, so I'm not sure what motivated him to boast about his "awesome" Venge with an absolutely hideous "custom" paint job. 

You had to be pretty knowledgeable about the Venge's design to catch the counterfeit giveaways. 

Buyer beware ... and as others said, ANY offer to go outside ebay is against its rules and is 99.999% certain to be some Nigerian scammer.

"Robot" scammers on Craigslist also frequently ask to "reply directly to me", but they are usually trying to harvest your true email address by circumventing the Craigslist "email anonymizer".


----------



## NealH (May 2, 2004)

I generally have no sympathy for people that get ripped from buying off the flea market venue. For a such and important purchase as an S-Works Venge, go to a dealer and bargain.


----------



## Thighs (Oct 8, 2012)

NealH said:


> I generally have no sympathy for people that get ripped from buying off the flea market venue. For a such and important purchase as an S-Works Venge, go to a dealer and bargain.


Flea market venue? Ebay is a fine place to buy things. People are trying to find the best deals, or find things that they can't normally find from dealers...even cars. Don't blame a legitimate buyer for something a scammer does. Is it a problem that somebody wants to verify if something is authentic before purchasing?


----------

