Trying to sell a used bike -arrgh!

[Fredwina]

Since I hardly ever ride my mountian bike (a 2005 Cannondale prophet 600, size M) , I decided to put it on e-bay.
I decide to my my LBS list it, He wanted to clean it up before selling it. However, it's been three weeks, and still no listing:mad: (apparently, he's preparing it for Concorous D'elagance of MTB's :rolleyes:)
advice? Want a hardly used MTB?

[uforgot]

I have a couple of bikes to sell, but I'm waiting until spring. They just don't sell for much this time of year around here. Maybe it's a good thing?

[bikerHen]

I've had great luck and a quick sell of three bikes using my local craigslist. It's an easy do it yourself and no shipping to deal with. bikerHen

[malkin]

Before listing it check ebay listing fees and final value fees and make sure the price will cover your LBS fee and still leave something left for you.

[ilima]

Sell it on craigslist. Check ebay to see what your bike is going for and then price it accordingly on craigslist.

Nothin' to your slacker LBS owner, nothing' to ebay, nothin' to paypal, nothin' to shipping.

[Cataboo]

Since I hardly ever ride my mountian bike (a 2005 Cannondale prophet 600, size M) , I decided to put it on e-bay.
I decide to my my LBS list it, He wanted to clean it up before selling it. However, it's been three weeks, and still no listing:mad: (apparently, he's preparing it for Concorous D'elagance of MTB's :rolleyes:)
advice? Want a hardly used MTB?

Definitely you can do the craigslist thing if you want. People on craigslist can be a pain in the butt, 'cause it takes forever to meet up with them, you hold the bike for them, and then they decide to haggle. Or you drive the bike halfway across whereever, and then they decide to haggle. Make sure they realize it's firm before you do any of that stuff.

Otherwise - Take pictures & put it on ebay yourself. It's not hard. PM me if you have any questions. It's 10 cents for a 30 day buy it now or best offer listing. Unless you really have a great bike that's in hot demand, I wouldn't do a bid it up auction at this time of year.

Just know you're going to lose 10-20% of it to ebay & paypal fees. List the bike at the price you want to sell it at, given that... and for 10 cents for a 30 day listing (you're going to pay more for each photo, but not that much), you really don't have anything to lose - wait till someone wants it.

[bike4ever]

I do a lot of selling on Craigslist. I set the price, yet I know the minimum I am willing to accept. I even have a template saved on my computer that I just copy/paste to post bikes quickly. To date, I haven't taken my product to meet with a potential buyer. I only offer it for them to see at my work. With the ability to do national Craiglist searches, I've sold items to Georgia and twice to California. I had high dollar Shimano spd's go to San Fran today as a Craigslist sale.

If I have a friend's bike product, then I'll list it on two additional bike sites. My last resort is eBay due to their higher fees of late. By the time you get hit with both eBay and PayPal fees, you can take a hit.

Whether you choose Craigslist, local sales, or eBay, please watch out for spammers. I had two different items off of Craigslist this week where they would pay with a "certified check" then have their "mover" pick up the product. My reply to them was "cash or paypal", and I haven't heard back yet.

[smilingcat]

Hi Fredwina,

E-bay is going through some major shift in its business model and are actively discouraging small time sellers. Also if you are not a power seller, they WILL hold the payment for 21 days.

The fee they charge, the fee charged by paypal does add up so you portion is not what you expect. I suggest you try craigslist before opting for e-bay. The 30day listing doesn't generate any more interest than a quick 5 day listing. And the 99cent starting price only backfires. So you basically have to place a starting price which is minimum of what you want.

------

My partner used to make enough off e-bay to make a living. Not anymore. There isn't much of bidding and many items go without even a bite. E-bay has set up all these crazy promos for the seller but when it comes down to it, they cost you money.

Meg Whitmann and her successor has said that they want e-bay to be the walmart of internet commerce. so the old style garage sale format is out. They want large volumes to move through. Retaillers who want to see if they can make a bit more by selling on e-bay. Things like Wii FIT, iPOD and things like that. To that end, they have cross agreement with places like buy.com. They (buy.com) is now placing over 20,000 listings per day. And the smart search or best match favors places like buy.com. If you want yours to pop up, you have to offer things like 10% discount, free shipping...

Another thing, if you get scammed, you are out of luck. Common trick of late is that the buyer claim never received the item and instant refund. Oh you have proof of delivery by UPS. paypal and e-bay don't want to hear it. I've heard several people who have been scammed this way.

I had one buyer whose handle was "never satisfied". I sent his stuff next day air to get rid of him. He was scary trouble. for my trouble he didn't give me a feedback.

Try Craiglist first and do it on your own instead of LBS,

smilingcat

[jesvetmed]

Fredwina: Wish you were closer -- sounds like a great bike, right size. I wish I could try it out! Good luck with the sale. Out of curiosity, what is your price going to be?

[Cataboo]

I don't sell on ebay for a living or anything, but I have sold on it for the last couple of years. It's more than possible to still make a living on ebay, but you do really have to adjust your target population and how you sell things. Auctions starting at 99 cents or whatever, don't work. Expect that you're really only going to have 1 or 2 bids over your reserve price and set your reserve price accordingly.

Up until the financial crisis of the last few months, it was quite possible for sellers to have a field day on ebay - because 1. microsoft live, buyers knew they were getting 20-30% cashback on items, and savvy sellers were raising their buy it nows and including links on how to use microsoft live in their auction as the cashback percentage rose. People were selling store gift cards for above their cash value. 2. The US dollar was so low in comparison to the rest of the world, that it was quite easy to sell things at high prices to canadians, europeans, asians & australians... You just had to be selling them things that they can't get discounted in their country. Things are somewhat slow lately and I think that's more because everyone's broken from christmas and discouraged by the economy meltdown.

30 day buy it now listings do work much better than 5 day auction listings, and it's part of adjusting your selling to the current environment on ebay. Set your price to something that's more than fair, allow a best offer in case someone wants to get a $20 discount to make it feel like they've got a bargain... and you're only paying 10 cents to see if they'll bite. Whereas, put up a 5 day auction listing with a high reserve, and you're spending a few dollars to see if it'll sell. I guess it's also 10 cents to do a 5 day buy it now listing, but why would you set it shorter?

I've been lucky in that in however many items I've sold on ebay, I haven't had any packages go astray or serious buyer complaints. I always ship with some sort of delivery confirmation, and especially if it's going overseas, I take pictures of the item that I'm sending. I've had one person claim that there was a coffee stain (which possibly could have happened in customs) and one claiming the item was torn - but I sent them pictures and referred them to the shipping insurance. None seem to have pursued it. There does seem to be some people that when they're disgruntled you can just refund them some of their payment to make them happy and go away - and I think those people once they realize that works tend to keep acting disgruntled the next few times they buy something.
I live in a large metropolitan area with a lot of traffic, so on craigslist there's a lot of people meeting halfway in spots that are convenient to both for errands or whatever...

[uforgot]

I've never had problems with Craigslist either and it's free. I second going there first. I have had a few people haggle with me through email, but I always list my firm price and stay with it. I've really never had a problem and I've sold several bikes. We also have a local listing (rollanet) that I've had a lot of luck with, maybe you can check with your community and see if there is one?

Catriona - I thought the 30 day buy it now was over in Dec? I know that books are 10cents, and that's all I've sold since Christmas, but everything else too?

[Cataboo]

Hrm. Is it 40 cents for 30 day listings then? I don't think it's over in December. I usually use turbo lister, so don't always pay attention to the fees.

Ebay's of course jacked up the final value fees on buy it now listings to compensate for it being cheaper to list - but having a lower upfront price in case it doesn't sell is nice.

[Aggie_Ama]

I have had very good luck selling two bikes on Craigslist. My commuter went super fast and so did my old road bike. Both for the asking price which I set higher than my rock bottom price in case I get no inquiries and want to drop it. I have never been in a rush to sell them. ;) Both in late December/January. I sold my commuter on 12/31 and had three people fighting to get to my house first. I sold it to the first person who emailed me for $10 less than I listed because she forgot the extra $10 and I noticed it was going to need a rear tire PDQ.

You don't want to try selling it here? I want but cannot afford a new moutain bike. Too bad, I would be interested but I am sure I am not the only one.

[Fredwina]

i'm probably going to discuss my concerns this weekend. He also has my roubiax - which has yet to be fixed from the crash (needs new rear wheel - i have a spare)
I was think about $600-$800 based on the fact that I saw completed acution on e-bay for a XS one (otherwise identical) that went for $700.
It 's all orignal(look at the archive at Cannondale.com for specs) ,and has 73 miles(you also get a cateye computer, but no pedals)

[Aggie_Ama]

Oh good thing I need a small in C-dale. I think with some patience you could sell it for what you want on CL. I have sold two entry level road bikes, one with many more miles on it through CL.

[bikerHen]

Fredwina: Wish you were closer -- sounds like a great bike, right size. I wish I could try it out! Good luck with the sale. Out of curiosity, what is your price going to be?

Well, it just so happens we're going to be a stones throw from Fredwina in February. We might have room to haul an extra bike back. Didn't you say you come visit Spokane from time to time? :D bikerHen

[Fredwina]

let me know if you want to pick it up down here:
Pre-concours condition:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/100_0122.jpg


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/100_0120.jpg


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/100_0119.jpg

[Fredwina]

Mark found a local customer and got more than we had planned (maybe all that polishing paid off )