Buying a Segway from Craigslist...

[Artdlr]

Good Morning Members,
Any advice before commiting to a purchase of an i167 from Craigslist?. Unfortunately I cannot go to see the unit personally as I am in Texas and the unit is located in Washington state. But the price is certianly within my budget $1000 and the seller has offered to ship the unit using the original box and will pay for the shipping and insurance. From my dialog with the seller I have learned that he is the original owner and has maintained the unit very well since new, the photos he sent show a well kept i167. I recall reading a thread about researching the units through Segway inc before buying used but a serial number is needed. I asked for the serail number and it was provided. Will Segway inc. be of any assistance with this unit if I provide a serial number?
Also... the seller has agreed to utilize pay-pal as a payment methodology which insures him and I in he case of a bad transaction. I called pay-pal personally and inquired about the levels of "coverage" for both the buyer and the seller, Pay-pal said there were coverage benefits for both sides in the case of mis-representation, non-delivery, negligence etc... a good feeling since I cannot see or meet the seller in person. Any advice from past experiences with remote purchases is helpful.
Thanks,
Artdlr

[stinggray]

I have bought a Segway from a different state and it went though with out a problem. What I did is contacted a fellow segwayer in the area from this forum and payed him to look it over and have shipped for me. It was worth every penny.

I have also found an ad for a Segways on Craigslist with pictures of my Segway in front of my house that I sold on eBay. When I told him it was my picture he hung up on me.

There's lots of scams out there so be very careful. Most of the time if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Try to find someone that can take a look at it. If you can't do that start talking to them that someone is going to come by to look it over and see how they react to that.

Good luck and be careful.

[Civicsman]

Personally, I would be extremely cautious about this. This is like buying a used car from someone 1,000 miles away.

How will PayPal react if you call them a week after delivery and tell them the batteries won't take a charge? Or, if the Seg starts shutting down intermittently? At the very least, call Segway with the serial number and try to determine whether it is stolen.

[russ498]

My experience with Paypal is that they will cover non delivery OK, but are horrible in cases of defective or misrepresented products. I think credit card payments provide better coverage.

[Artdlr]

I cannot confirm without a doubt the "deal" I was working was/is a scam but I believe it to be so. After a brief e-mail dialog with the seller it turns out the unit was located in Washington state and not Cedar Rapids as listed {first caution light}. I asked the seller to e-mail me photos of the unit and the serial number for the unit {Thanks to the advice i'd gleaned from this site!} which he/they provided. I called Segway Inc and asked about the serial number to which they informed me the serial number which began with an "08" series was for a Gen II Segway and not an i167 as was pictured in thier craigslist advert {second caution light}. I replied to the seller about the mis-read serial number and asked them to confirm the number again and this time send photos of the serial number. They re-sent a new number and cryptically indicated that they were having trouble "reading" the serial number but provided what they thought was the "correct" number. The second number was close to the first but completely different in the last four digits... Not a mistake one can make from a "hard to read" serial plate. They also indicated they no longer "had access to a camera" and could not provide photos of the serial number!... {caution light number 3}. So... for grins I googled the second serial number they provided and voila... Up comes more than a dozen listings for that exact serial number for Gen II Segway listed with the selling site called Alibaba. Alibaba had the serial number tied to Alibaba listings based in Asia, Russia, Spain and Portugal {final caution light and full stop!}. E-mailed the seller and informed them there were "siginificant" descrepancies with thier listing and that I would pass on the sale. Now to the best part... After all our dialog and thier efforts to scam they replied to my final letter with a "k"!
Funny thing too... I installed the money into the Pay-pal account {where it sits right now} and was truely hopefull for the sale. Thanks to all who have contributed to this and other Segway forums about the perils of buying without seeing things first.
Thanks!

[SegNerd]

Supposedly you can request the serial number and ask INC if it has been reported stolen, but when I have tried it myself, I either leave a phone message or send them an e-mail, and get no response either way.

It is possible to get scammed buying used Segways online, but it is also possible to get a very good deal that way. Just make sure you understand that when you buy a used item from a private party, it is always an "as is" sale - the seller has no obligation to warrant or repair anything unless they made a specific representation in the ad or intentionally hid a defect.

[MowTin]

Originally Posted by Artdlr

Good Morning Members,
Any advice before commiting to a purchase of an i167 from Craigslist?. Unfortunately I cannot go to see the unit personally as I am in Texas and the unit is located in Washington state. But the price is certianly within my budget $1000 and the seller has offered to ship the unit using the original box and will pay for the shipping and insurance. From my dialog with the seller I have learned that he is the original owner and has maintained the unit very well since new, the photos he sent show a well kept i167. I recall reading a thread about researching the units through Segway inc before buying used but a serial number is needed. I asked for the serail number and it was provided. Will Segway inc. be of any assistance with this unit if I provide a serial number?
Also... the seller has agreed to utilize pay-pal as a payment methodology which insures him and I in he case of a bad transaction. I called pay-pal personally and inquired about the levels of "coverage" for both the buyer and the seller, Pay-pal said there were coverage benefits for both sides in the case of mis-representation, non-delivery, negligence etc... a good feeling since I cannot see or meet the seller in person. Any advice from past experiences with remote purchases is helpful.
Thanks,
Artdlr

Just a month ago I lost a bid on ebay for an i167. I went to $2,600 and still lost.

An i167 goes for around $2,000 on Ebay.

I would be a little suspicious of someone selling for $1,000. He could make 2x that much if he just sold it in parts...handle bars, batteries, platform, wheels.

Be sure to verify that it's not stolen.

[Artdlr]

Hey Mowtin and Segnerd,
Thanks for the input and the advice. I did indeed contact Segway Inc before I committed to the sale and it did help me with the little info they were able to provide. They did indicate that I could call anytime with other numbers to verify the history for the unit in question {or at leat as much as they could}. I must be a glutton for punishment as I am already attempting to contact another Craigslist seller who supposedly has an i180 for sale. But... as usual {from my experience with Craigslist} I am having trouble simply contacting the seller. Seems my e-mails bounce back. Must be a filter on Craigslist part... I'll keep trying until I get a resutl one way or the other. Plus... this latest listing I am hunting is located about an hour from me here in Houston, This time I'll drive out to see the unit firsthand... No more remote purchases for me.