[Closed] Selling a bike is like pulling teeth ! 🙄

Is it still available?

Not really.

I sold the Sworks in 48 hours, 1 message, deposit 30 mins later.

The GT Fury I bought, he delivered to a mate and I paid

G170 was sold to a mate last week, he paid on payday.

So, for you, sure, it was. For me, it was easy.

I've not had much luck selling either, getting exactly the same type of idiots message me.
Not so much from this forum, more from Facebook and eBay.

'I can come now and pay cash for (50% of any buy it now figure)'
'What's your best price?' - £1.2M is good for me - they didn't come back.
'Can you deliver to London (a 80KG wooden box)? I'll give you £100 for it when you get here' - for something collection only and £160.
'I will pay in 3 week when I get some money in' - yeh, but you just won an auction with instructions to pay in 3 days.

Some chancers out there, before we get into baffoons who think 'dibs' is a thing.

@oldfart Try a stealth ad on here. Come on, what is it?

I take it you're using gum tree or FB market market place?

I've had plenty of time wasters, but always get there eventually. But it's got to be realistically priced.

I've had more luck on PB than here or FB or ebay.

Price it right and it will sell

I had the same with a 2.2K bike. 18 months old that had done 6 rides & was immaculate. Getting offers of £800. Held out & managed to get £1150.

twonks yep FB is where they lurk 🙄
Damascus already tried it on here , zilch , I set the price with advice from my LBS the one leaving me dangling hasn’t commented on what he thought of the price .

Always sell on here or Pinkbike, full bikes and bike splits. Always priced at what I would be happy with and never had a problem. Most if not all have sold quickly

The Covid tax bubble has popped I think too. There's loads of lockdown purchases that have never been out the garage now being sold by people who need the money back.

You aren't one of these people selling a "nearly new" used bike with an RRP of £2699 for £2500+shipping are you? "Out of stock everywhere, so get yourself a bargain"

Lots of them around at the minute.

The Covid tax bubble has popped I think too

Maybe, but the fuel price one is rapidly inflating.

It's not me that's been replying to you and I've forgotten is it?

I'm bloody murder sometimes, I know that, I don't do it on purpose but when you get home at 8 and back up at 6 you start forgetting stuff.

My advice would be to persevere if you want it sold, if money isn't in your hand then tough luck to the "buyer" if they're being slack and it gets sold to someone else.

So you’re selling it for 2.5k, which would suggest it’s a nearly new 3.3k bike, so no warranty to second owner, or a year old 4.5k bike.

As I already said I’d resigned myself to keeping it , then today recontacted with an apology and he was gutted he’d potentially missed it . He’s not questioning my pricing so that doesn’t seem to be an issue . My LBS who advised me said price it too cheap and people might be suspicious that its nicked .

If your having trouble selling, it's priced incorrectly - simple.

Maybe, but the fuel price one is rapidly inflating.

Yeah but commuting by bike requires effort and planning, not just disposable income.

In defence of "is it still available", that is one of the default messages FB gives you. Loads of stuff just gets put up and forgotten about, so it's a good starting point for the conversation. There a bike up there currently and the bloke has told me it's sold, but it's still listed over 5 weeks later.

If your [sic] having trouble selling

you must be using Facebook.

Its not exclusive to bikes its selling second hand stuff in general i think. People basically want stuff mint condition but pay peanuts. I had a guy haggle like crazy over some trainers then told me the agreed price was too cheap and they must be fake. which they were not. im going to be selling a rolling frame soon dreading it. just cant be assed to deal with the time wasters if I had the space and didnt need the money to fund the new bike I would keep it.

I’ll give you £1,500 OP if you deliver it between 11:03 and 11:38 next Wednesday.

In all seriousness I normally end up asking a few questions of most folk when buying bikes. Mainly because they forget something like frame size, model year, forks etc. That or just post bad pictures or ask for more than the bike is worth and collection only from the other side of the country. Always worth asking questions if you’re serious about buying.

I’ve never had an issue selling bikes or bike bits by posting on here and PinkBike. Wouldn’t be asking an LBS what a bike is worth. Just be honest and price it fairly. Not saying you haven’t but that’s where the majority of folk go wrong IMO.

^^ This almost exclusively on FB. This week, pair of forks, potential buyer seems really keen and says can I come and pick them up now? Yes. Even better I've a couple of hours spare I'll drive over to meet you since you are less than 10 miles away. Err, I'll ring you back. Total silence. Contact again two days later to ask if they still want them, to get a no. No manners to even say so when I've had to put off another prospective buyer. Who in turn says they really want them but then fails to contact.
On the other hand, someone contacts about a wheelset on FB and the deal is completed within 24 hours, great contact through the whole process and so nice he got a discount.
Seems it's just about filtering out the genuine buyers from the chancers and not getting disheartened about the process.

one offered me £1500 , I said try again . He came back with £1500 🙄 . I said that’s the same as before and I declined and you haven’t seen it yet . He says “ You said try again so I did

I genuinely LOLd at this 😀 you've got to give it to the guy!

Sold a road bike last Tuesday on here lady came from Bedford to Cheltenham to pick it up but as for Facebook marketplace complete morons £1200 road bike you get offered £500 I suppose some people sell bikes there then the time I used Pinkbike and meet up with someone complete W----r .

I did have someone pull out of buying an islabikes on ebay
Next day I got the excuse that the tyres didn't look safe for their little one 🙄 so they wanted to pull out!

Anyway sold it on the second attempt

50% for a year old bike. 5-10% each year after is usually the way to go. Mine was worth 4.8, 4 years ago. Letting it go for close to 1.5. Seen a lot of expensive second hand bikes around like Santa Cruz, expecting they are going to get ~5k. Yeh alright... 😉. As you say, a lot of expensive toys bought during COVID. People must be regretting those purchases now.

Sold a road bike last Tuesday on here lady came from Bedford to Cheltenham to pick it up but as for Facebook marketplace complete morons £1200 road bike you get offered £500 I suppose some people sell bikes there then the time I used Pinkbike and meet up with someone complete W—-r .

What?

I said try again . He came back with £1500 🙄 . I said that’s the same as before and I declined and you haven’t seen it yet . He says “ You said try again so I did and I don’t need to see it I know everything about bikes “

Just realise every time you get up in the morning that half the population are below average intelligence and adjust your expectations accordingly.

If your having trouble selling, it’s priced incorrectly – simple.

Yep, it is not worth what you think it is - it is worth what buyers think it is.

I have never had a problem selling bikes and have only ever used eBay.

Buy it Now, Payment required immediately, collection only (also wait until get a promotion for low charges)
I ignore any messages as 99% of the time they will be idiots with stupid questions and/or offers. Every bike sold within a few weeks with no hassle. I reduce the price a bit each week until it sells on the occasion I got the price wrong on first attempt.

In defence of “is it still available”, that is one of the default messages FB gives you

No defence imho. It takes very little effort to actually speak to people....You know, like humans.

Sold a Capra in 8 minutes on PB. Could have sold it at least 10 times over and people were offering me me 20% over the asking to go back on my original deal. Had to pull the advert after 15 mins. Guy drove over next day, paid by bank transfer and collected.

As others have said, wouldn’t dream of selling a decent bike on FB, PB only.

I put on another thread a while back, that I think we're about to enter a glut of second hand bikes and you might start to struggle to sell. Buyers, I think are in for a bonanza.

2 years ago, all we could do was exercise - no pubs, clubs, gyms, etc. And folk went mad buying bikes, you can see that as fact as there wasn't one to be had anywhere. Cheap ones through to top end, they flew off the shelves.

But riding bikes is hard, not just compared to going to the pub. Even if you're fit, riding through the winter, in the rain and cold, cleaning it afterwards - it's commitment and effort. There's still the numbers of bikes out there but how many did you see out at 8am on a sunday morning in February just gone?

I suspect they're in garages and sheds and folks are thinking that when the weather gets better, they'll go out on it again. And when it does, compared to going to a warm gym and posing in front of mirrors, or just down the pub (or staying in bed because you were in Fleshworld until 3am), I suspect a significant proportion will start to reappear on the second hand market, even more so if incomes are squeezed as we expect. These are BTW in the main not commuter bikes either, so relatively useless for saving petrol, and that takes even more commitment that riding.

Mixed feelings. I want cycling to increase in popularity, but I wouldn't mind a bargain MTB.

Don't waste your time trying to sell on here or FB.
Just get it on Ebay. Wait until they have an "80% off fees" offer and use the fixed price with best offer format.

Just realise every time you get up in the morning that half the population are below average intelligence and adjust your expectations accordingly.

Like the guy who "won" the bidding on the last bike I ebayed... Brand new, but my situation had changed and it wasn't needed, so I put a reserve on it. If it got less than that, I decided to stick it in the attic until I found a use for it.

The kid who "won" had a bid around half my reserve (and a quarter of what I paid for it, which was significantly less than retail). Then proceeded to message me on an almost hourly basis for 3 days telling me I had to sell it to him because he's got the winning bid and it's the law and is in eBay's terms and conditions, then that his dad would come round and sort me out and take the ****ing bike. Then claiming it was used and abused (most of it was still in packaging from delivery) and it was only worth what he'd offered so I should sell it to him and he'd get his dad's card and pay immediately. After he'd already threatened me.

So I reported him to eBay and got the account closed.

I found a good use for the bike about 3 years later, still in use today.

I buy and sell tons on FB now; and I'd say I almost never use anything else now. I refuse to pay 12.5% fees to eBay, and since the switch from the forum system STW classifieds remain shit, overpriced and slow (because it's easy to post on a forum, people more likely to incorporate this ease into the price and sell cheaper). PB isn't bad for more expensive things like frames forks and whole bikes.

The market on Facebook isn't liquid. On eBay, you can easily see what something is worth by searching before you list, and therefore in some ways there is a market price being set (to which you can obviously choose to conform or not). On Facebook; who decides what it's worth? Plenty of people listing far above and below the price.

Tldr your bike is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If you don't like that it's £1500, perhaps you should have invested in something that depreciates less (or bought it secondhand in the first place).

Never had a problem selling anything that wasn’t very old, or random. Have always sold on FB marketplace or PB in the past. I just look around at what other people are selling them for and either put them up for a bit less or the same price depending on local availability.

But then as bike purchases are a big thing for me (and plan to keep them for a long time) I avoid weird looking bikes and try to pick brands that have a decent resale value.

Sold 2 on FB this year in under a week each. I think being honest with yourself about pricing is the main thing.

I pretty much use FB now as it’s quick, easy and you can’t get stiffed by the buyer who claims you sold him a broken bike and wants his money back.

Here's a perfect example.

https://singletrackworld.com/classifieds/advert/santa-cruz-tallboy-cc-frame/

mmcd wants £2500 for a tallboy CC frame in good condition

on eBay, there are several similar for ~£2000

On Pinkbike, I was chatting to one gent who said he would let his go for £1600.

If you're bloke #1, you probably think it's a nause to sell shit, but you're the problem, not the bike or the market.

In defence of “is it still available”, that is one of the default messages FB gives you

Stupid one-click prompts by FB, same for business pages - "what are your hours", "where are you located". Despite said information being on the same damn page.

But in fairness

WoT am Be5T pricE ?

@bikesandboots - there are so many people that don’t mark their stuff as sold or remove it from FB that it makes sense to ask if it’s still available. It’s quick and simple. Most things sell for the right price, the key is to look around first and not be greedy.

I think that with the huge rise in home costs, National Insurance and petroleum/diesel there will be a drop in people interested in buying stuff. Which will lead to people either stockpiling all their stuff or having to sell cheaper.

The "is it still available" could be skipped - the buyer could just ask their question or make an offer immediately, the seller would reply as such if it was no longer available.

Pet hate: "Just testing the water" SO ARE YOU SELING IT OR WHAT????

This has been done several times over the years. There used to be few apologists who used to act like it's all brilliant, like there's never any problems.

You're just not jumping through the right hoops. You know like juggling water in a hurricane on a unicycle, subject to change when the intermediary site owners see fit! It's like a triple whammy of shit dealing with corporate arseholes variable fees/terms and entitled braindead dickheads.

There used to be few apologists who used to act like it’s all brilliant, like there’s never any problems.

Well there are problems with most things but you the seller can remove the opportunity for most of those problems. Call me an apologist but I have sold a number of bikes over the years and it is better now than ever.
Only use eBay (when special fees reduction offer on) - Buy it now, Payment required immediately, collection only, scan code on pickup as evidence of pickup, ignore stupid questions as the people asking them will never buy the bike anyway.

If I really want to sell something it I keep it in "sale ready" condition all the time - so I don't need four hours to fix it up and clean it and get annoyed when the potential buyer's butler doesn't call with a visiting card the day before. It also might be worth putting a deposit on the bike that you want to secure it and remove some of the drama from this, well, drama. These are two problems in your gift to solve.

I have not sold any bike other than on here and two from a ads in local shop in 2020 sold two from here in the last month not MTBs one CX and one road maybe I will try PB look at some of the prices on there are crazy.

Can we start putting stealth ads in here now then?

Anyone after an Orange Stage 6?

Anyhoo I've got a shipment of genuine exclusive limited edition gunmetal metallic (not grey) GoPro Hero 11 "this time it actually works edition". I'll give you guys a heads up before listing and discount code so you can get in first before they're all hoovered up!