Interesting ad on Gumtree

[Specialeyes]

So, at the time of writing (hopefully it'll be down in 12 hours) this ad has caught my attention:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/colnago-master-bike/1236837614

It's a word-for-word copy of an eBay listing of mine from last week (I did actually sell a Colnago Master Piu, item number 201901615816 this weekend just gone): , and it's not even a Master, despite the Gumtree ad title. I know Colnago models are difficult to identify sometimes, and there's quite a lot of misinformation out there on t'interwebs, but really... The seller has just changed the bike-specific details a bit, and quite what he's doing "commuting along the A127" from west London, I don't know!

The photo is suitably neutral and generic but looks kinda familiar; it's probably the brick wall background, but that feels like it's been copy/pasted too.

I've reported it to Gumtree as a scam, but I'd be interested in your thoughts - lazy but genuine seller or scam?

 

[Dec66]

Funny how the impeccable punctuation and grammar go a bit wonky when you get down to the end of the ad, where the seller says where he/she lives...

I smell scam.

 

[Welsh wheels]

So, at the time of writing (hopefully it'll be down in 12 hours) this ad has caught my attention:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/colnago-master-bike/1236837614

It's a word-for-word copy of an eBay listing of mine from last week (I did actually sell a Colnago Master Piu, item number 201901615816 this weekend just gone): , and it's not even a Master, despite the Gumtree ad title. I know Colnago models are difficult to identify sometimes, and there's quite a lot of misinformation out there on t'interwebs, but really... The seller has just changed the bike-specific details a bit, and quite what he's doing "commuting along the A127" from west London, I don't know!

The photo is suitably neutral and generic but looks kinda familiar; it's probably the brick wall background, but that feels like it's been copy/pasted too.

I've reported it to Gumtree as a scam, but I'd be interested in your thoughts - lazy but genuine seller or scam?

Contact them, put the wind up them and say it looks really like the advert you posted recently. Enjoy imagining their discomfort.

 

[winjim]

They've got three other bikes for sale, all photographed in front of the same wall. Slightly different style of prose in the other descriptions though...

 

[Specialeyes]

They've got three other bikes for sale, all photographed in front of the same wall. Slightly different style of prose in the other descriptions though...

Lazy plagiarism rather than actual scam, perhaps. Still oddly annoying though, but I guess that's the internet for ya.

 

[winjim]

The Sigma advert also reads like plagiarism to me. Bought as a "second bike" but there are three other bikes for sale? Style seems generally inconsistent between ads. Mind you, they couldn't even be bothered to move the bin bags for some of the photos so what can you expect? It does seem a bit weird, they have a couple of £100 bikes for sale and then suddenly a grand's worth of Colnago, all just photographed round the back of the flat by the bins...

 

[Dec66]

The Sigma advert also reads like plagiarism to me. Bought as a "second bike" but there are three other bikes for sale? Style seems generally inconsistent between ads. Mind you, they couldn't even be bothered to move the bin bags for some of the photos so what can you expect? It does seem a bit weird, they have a couple of £100 bikes for sale and then suddenly a grand's worth of Colnago, all just photographed round the back of the flat by the bins...

I thought that, a couple of BSO's, then a Colnago... I know we all like an occasional upgrade but that's a heck of a jump.

 

[Cycleops]

Very odd. In context with the other bikes does seem like a scam. Could it be stolen?

Steals a bike, doesn't know much about it, Googles it, finds your add and plagiarises it.