Caveat Emptor Bikebandit.com

[AZMike]

I checked with the local dealer first to buy these parts . It is as 20 year old bike so they did not have them. I used Bike Bandit because they have all the oem parts diagrams online and I have used them in the past for hard to find items. I have NEVER used a debit card in the past for an online purchase. I was trying to help someone out that was pressed for time. I am an old guy that needs to get kicked in the pants every now and then to keep me humble. I am a local businessman who buys local when I can. It ain't easy anymore. The last word in my company name is Service, it is a dying art....

 

[holligl]

I'm in the business and local dealers can't match internet prices. They will find some items they can match or get close on, but across the board, it can't be done. let's say I can buy one tire for $100 each, ten for $96 each or maybe 25 for $92 each. The big boys will buy 1000 of the same tire and get them for $85 each and sell them by the truck full for $100 each. Your local dealer can't buy in those quantities. If I buy a Yuasa battery for $90 and try to sell it for $115, the internet sellers are buying them by the thousands for $75 and selling them for $90. The dealer can't win.

Everyone has had a good time saving money by buying online, but when all the dealers are gone, you sure are going to miss them.

I never expected them to totally match prices, just to give me the best price they possibly could. I did always tell them what the online price was. One place would always give me a "veterans" discount. I always recognize individual shipping costs too. I'm pretty sure they were never loosing a nickle. I am guessing most OEM parts ultimately come from the same OEM source, at very similar pricing, maybe adjusted for volume. Some online places may stock common inventory to achieve volume orders. Some businesses are willing to work with lower margins or have differing overheads.

I do miss the small family dealers. I know of three that are now gone. We are now being relegated to the big chain multi-brand dealers. They are a whole different breed, and not my favorites. Such is the world we now face...

 

[holligl]

I checked with the local dealer first to buy these parts . It is as 20 year old bike so they did not have them. I used Bike Bandit because they have all the oem parts diagrams online and I have used them in the past for hard to find items.

None of the other sites I mentioned before are going to stock 20 year old model parts. They all do use the same OEM parts database (probably same as your dealer). You can pretty much get an assessment of the availability through any of these sites. If it is in stock, no problem (they generally tell you how many they have). If it ships in 2-3 days that means they need to get it from the OEM, but it is normally available. If status is back-ordered, it is unlikely available anytime soon, and there is a supply chain issue: Good luck and don't hold your breath. A buddy of mine waited many months for an S10 radiator hose. The final category - Part no longer available. Time for Ebay.

 

[Tenman]

If you go in the dealer and tell them a cheaper internet price. It might turn them off. They already know they can't compete.

 

[AZMike]

Motorcycle Parts Seller BikeBandit Has Stolen $646,000 of Customers' Money and Disappeared, Says Bankruptcy Trustee

The online parts seller declared bankruptcy in February, but the website stayed up, leading thousands of customers to pay for orders they would never receive.

jalopnik.com

Here is the answer. I did get my money back from my Bank.

 

[RCinNC]

You should read some of the actual bankruptcy filings related to this case. It reads a lot more like a business committing Theft by Deception than it does a business that fell on hard times during the pandemic.

A bankruptcy trustee was appointed to oversee the handling of the case. In a document filed by the trustee where he is requesting the court to authorize subpoenas, he makes this statement:

It remains unclear why the Debtor continued to operate its business well past the point of insolvency and, even worse, continued to accept online orders when it was apparent the Debtor would not be able to fulfill those orders. The Trustee is informed and believes that the Debtor contemplated filing bankruptcy as early as February 2021 and was unable to pay its debts as they came due no later than by that time. Despite these facts, the Debtor continued to accept online orders and charge consumers credit cards at least until weeks or days before the petition date, for orders that it was knowingly unable to fulfill from its available inventory.".

That's about as shady as you can get when you're a business.

 

[AZMike]

Why California allowed them to continue to operate after a tidal wave of complaints is very odd. The AG's office wrote me back a month later and said Bike Bandit had failed to respond to their inquiry. Gee thanks for nothing. Their BBB rating is an F. This was theft plain and simple.

Bike Bandit's website is still operating this morning.

 

[Reno]

California allows murderers to get off the hook to them theft is nothing

 

[Sierra1]

California allows murderers to get off the hook to them theft is nothing

That's why they have all those smash & grabs happening. And trains are being boarded and burglarized. They reduced their felony thefts to just misdemeanors. Low risk v. high reward. Once again bad behavior not only going unpunished, but actually rewarded.

 

[AusTexS10]

You should read some of the actual bankruptcy filings related to this case. It reads a lot more like a business committing Theft by Deception than it does a business that fell on hard times during the pandemic.

A bankruptcy trustee was appointed to oversee the handling of the case. In a document filed by the trustee where he is requesting the court to authorize subpoenas, he makes this statement:

It remains unclear why the Debtor continued to operate its business well past the point of insolvency and, even worse, continued to accept online orders when it was apparent the Debtor would not be able to fulfill those orders. The Trustee is informed and believes that the Debtor contemplated filing bankruptcy as early as February 2021 and was unable to pay its debts as they came due no later than by that time. Despite these facts, the Debtor continued to accept online orders and charge consumers credit cards at least until weeks or days before the petition date, for orders that it was knowingly unable to fulfill from its available inventory.".

That's about as shady as you can get when you're a business.

And if you read more, it appears that the majority of their debt is to themselves through, for lack of a better term, internal investments. Read this as "no honor among thieves."

 

[RCinNC]

That part, about them being their own major creditor, isn't uncommon in the way debt is structured in a corporation. It might seem shady and unethical, but it's not actually illegal, at least not at face value. That's what happened with Sears and their CEO, Eddie Lamper. He's a world class scumbag, but a revered capitalist.

The part where they were taking money for orders from customers while knowing that they had no way of fulfilling the orders (if it's all true) is a crime...it's theft by deception. I left the caveat there about "if it's all true" because the bankruptcy hasn't been finalized yet, but the fact that the bankruptcy trustee believes that the corporation involved is being deceptive about the circumstances of the bankruptcy is a big red flag that it's not on the level.