Today I found out I might have unknowingly bought a stolen bicycle. Today, my bicycle was parked in a train station and someone was waiting for me there, claiming that the bike was his and it was stolen. I bought the bike from the Facebook marketplace in August 2020. We called the police and it seems that, indeed, the bike was stolen. I showed the police the Facebook profile of the seller and my conversation with him before buying the bike.
I had no idea the bike could have been stolen. Currently, the policeman kept the bike for further investigations. I am worried that I might face further accusations.
Thanks for the link, I have to correct you however:
The article says the fine is a suspended fine of 6 daily rates (6 * 30 CHF =180 CHF). The fine is suspended so only payable if he does it again within the probationary term.
He does have to pay 200 CHF but those are court fees and expressly not a fine.
Not sure what the factors are for being convicted for buying fenced goods in Switzerland but in the Netherlands it's whether you could have reasonably known the goods were stolen (most often due to an unbelievable low price) and I imagine Switzerland is similar.
Of course the only cases in the NL I know of are cases where people are buying good condition bikes for 5 Euro, not sure whether paing 400 CHF for a second hand bike with new value 3200 CHF would have qualified in the NL (that's still 12.5% of the new price). Perhaps there were other factors (?) but in this case the actions of the buyer (going to an official shop with the chassis number present, leaving the bike there etc) seem to imply he acted in good faith and should not have been convicted in my opinion.
Thanks for the answers! I paid 100 CHF for a bike worth of at most 300 CHF when new (I found it online for 150 euros). The bike was heavily used when I bought it so the price seemed fair. I even had to replace some parts as they broke soon after I bought the bike.
Unless it's found that OP acted in good faith, which may well apply here.
The German version of the civil code speaks of "bewegliche Sache", mobile goods, i.e. everything that's not fixed to the ground like real estate, plants in the soil, etc.
Der Besitzer, dem eine bewegliche Sache gestohlen wird,
kann sie gemäss Art.934 Abs.1 ZGB während fünf Jahren
jedem Empfänger abfordern. Ein Eigentumserwerb an ei-
ner gestohlenen Sache ist also selbst bei gutgläubigem
Erwerb erst nach fünf Jahren möglich. Ist die Sache öf-
fentlich versteigert, auf dem Markt oder durch einen Kauf-
mann, der mit Waren der gleichen Art handelt, übertragen
worden, kann sie dem ersten und jedem späteren gut-
gläubigen Erwerber allerdings nur gegen Vergütung des
von ihm bezahlten Preises abgefordert werden (Art.934
Abs.2 ZGB)
If I read this correctly: Even if you bought the bike in good faith, you have to give it back to the original owner, if the purchase happened less then five years ago. (More then five years, and good faith, you can keep the bike.)
Now it gets interesting if you bought the bike at a public auction, on a market or from a merchant dealing in similar goods, the original owner can still demand the bike back, but he has to give you the same amount of money you paid for it. I wonder if Facebook marketplace could be construed as belonging to one of this categories.