Lovely Canyon Box on ebay

There's a term for this.
Pig in a poke.

Makes me think of avoiding Canyon.

Makes me think of the Xbox box scam.

Might explain why, when Canyon charged my credit card, Barclaycard rejected it as possible fraud. Bit of a pain at the time

It's gotta be.

Credit card fraud?

I don't think the location makes much difference to be honest, it's just as likely to be the same lot. In the Summer I noticed the CF SLX's slowly getting spread out over the country.
It seems a Sheffield slum was'nt quite the point of sale for a 4 grand bike.
I did'nt take it any further than the Canyon email.
To be honest I was a little disappointed with their response. I was expecting something along the lines of 'wow great thanks, you're such a great guy for letting us know, here's a £3700 off your next bike voucher.'
Infact they made me feel a bit dirty for having gone and looked.

This is in London. I don't doubt that there is actually a bike in the box, as they have the ebay moneyback buyer's guarantee.

But it does seem very suspicious, if it was a genuine purchase from Canyon, it could have been returned. The box hasn't even been opened so it can't be an issue with size/colour etc. If he had obtained it genuinely, surely he would put in the description a note about why he was selling it - quite common for genuine sellers of bikes on ebay these days.

I really can't think of anything other than card fraud.
I went all the way up to Sheffield from London to look at one of the early CF SLX's that appeared on there.
It was dodgy as hell.
No meeting with the seller just a string of really badly spelt texts, eventually got steered to this rough house in the middle of a Rotherham ghetto.
The door was answered by a big Nigerian lady who obviously had nothing to do with the bike other than allowing it to be sold from what appeared to be her house.
There was also the feeling that if you tried something funny like legging it with the bike you wouldn't of got much further than the drive.
The bike on the other hand was box fresh, mint, genuine and had never been assembled.
I made an excuse along the lines of 'having to go to the bank to get the cash' and beat a hasty retreat.
At the time there were another 4 or 5 on EBay in the Sheffield area, all in XL, all Black and White..
If they were a brand you could get in shops then there maybe more possibilities for scamming but coming from Canyon it makes it harder.
Even the thickest thief wouldn't put 6 identical stolen bikes on eBay at the same time from a 2 mile radius.
I could of been the fuzz for all they knew.
I reckon as far as Canyon were concerned these bikes were bought legit.
I emailed Canyon to let them know and got a rather terse one line reply along the lines of 'yes, thanks we are aware of it'
I reckon a scam gang have nicked a load of card details or cards, bought the canyons without any face to face, ditched the cards, got the bikes delivered to some dodgy address, then started dispersing them and banging them out at half price..
That's my take on it anyway...

This looks like more of the up North Canyon credit card posse.
I can't think of anything other than card fraud.
There's been loads of them on there. There was a real run of CF SLX's in Black and White in XL earlier in the year.
It's a dodgy set up alright if it is the same thing..
Best way to check is ask to view the bike. If it's in the Sheffield area then its hooky. You'll never get to actually speak to the seller, text only, never get to meet him and get sent to look at it on some rough estate.
If not then fill your boots..

My gut feeling is that box has been opened, the warping of the cardboard at the two sides is my major giveaway.

If they are selling it on the "sealed" aspect, would they allow you to open it up and have a look when you got there or would they be expecting payment before you opened it?

Exactly it's likely "moody", and a risk any potential buyer should be aware of. Also has the groupset untouched? If it's a legit purchase then it would have been returned? Unless the wrong size /special order.

In general the listing smells a bit, but some people do get lucky like this. It is collect in person after all so the buyer could just take a bike geek to verify the goods, and a couple more big mates for backup, and in case you need to walk away with your money intact.

The listing doesn't even say which colour it is. Green or white?
( http://www.canyon.com/en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3580#tab-reiter1 )
Aluminium is the frame material not the colour?

Best value secondhand goods seem to be bike forums/clubs and then people leaving the country suddenly

If you look at the side of the box with the black Canyon logo on, in the left-hand hole you can see something with the letters 'SLX'.

Which corroborates the model given.

The question is... why on earth would you not just return it to the company for a refund if you didn't want it? How damaged did it get when it fell off the back of the lorry?

If you look carefully there's what appears to be a plastic sheet/bag visible through one of the carry holes. So it's clearly not an empty box. Also all the details are there such as Frame material (M) and Colour (Aluminium). What more do you want ?

A sure bet/no brainer! Especially as seller has 100% feedback - on one item as a buyer. First ever activity after registering 3 years ago. Perhaps it was a box ?