A good example:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-brompton-folding-bike-3

I have noticed the trend, but if you check the profiles, this tends to be people who never contribute to the forum as a whole, and only sell/buy stuff here, or even new members.

Knocking £400 off a £3k bike thats second hand, and telling people its a bargain? just doesnt work on here. A year ago 6that would have meant <£1500.

I know theyre happy with there being so many users on here now, but its not always for the better. [grumpy rant over]

the other thing i don't understand about the listings is that people never put pics up. "pics available on request". wtf, just put them on the ****ing thread in the first place 😡

It's not just you. I think there's some very optimistic pricing. Saw some less than mint 130mm revs the other day at more than mine were new.

Perhaps some people are using the classifieds as a way to get top dollar without incurring ebay charges, rather than a way of getting a reasonable price and doing a fellow mtber a favour, which is how I like to think of it.

Swiftacular:

I know [s]theyre[/s] ad revenues are happier with there being so many users on here now, but its not always for the better. [grumpy rant over]

Just tidied that up for you.

Whilst we are on the subject. How much for a good condition- prev gen Chameleon frame do you think? I think 195 posted.

TBH I only buy cheap bits on there and tend to offer my bits for free/swaps etc. I like the friendly nature of advice and trying cheap bits before i buy. I run some quite shonky bikes, and sometimes I just can't be bothered buying all new parts. We;ve all got boxes of random bits kept just in case, and sometimes those bits can help other people. I often look over the classified wanted ads to see if I've got some junk that someone else needs, and likewise when ever I post a wanted, someone is quick to offer me something that might work etc. Prices wise, I tend to buy /sell at the value of a few pints and see exchanges as more of a favour than a business. If I need particular bits then its Ebay, CRC or LBS.

I know we all like to swap and change components/ frames more than our shirts, so lets bring back the shonky carboot sale feel to the classified and make it less of a business!

end rant.

What size is your Cham Markus?

i think you guys are missing the point the bike industry has put prices up, last december i bought some dual air revs for £360 these forks now sell for £540 so I don't think its unreasonable for me to try and sell them at around the original price as you probably can't find them much cheaper. I think this point is even more pertinant when people are selling new goods.

Just because you also ride a bike it doesn't mean i should lose £50+ especially when some people buy off here then sell on ebay for profit. would you sell a car cheap just because the buyer also owns a car.

Obviously you can place offers or try and swap with people nowt wrong with asking.

there is a chameleon on ebay now £145 buy it now

tails - I think the prices are too high based on the level of activity

A lot of stuff never seems to sell & is constantly re-posted
That tells me it's too high
Something only being worth what someone is willing to pay etc.

The thing is, if something is overpriced it won't sell. STWers are too savvy for that. If you want top dollar, go to Ebay as it's full of mugs. I know this because I've sold stuff for double what it's worth on there, and I'm pretty good at it. But these days Ebay's charges have gone through the roof. I relaised this last year and have basically given up selling on there and sold all my stuff here, for less money. If you offer at a reasonable price and are prepared to accept reasonable offers, it works well and I doubt I loose much in the long run, even after donating a few quid now and then. But people are coming fresh from Ebay and thinking they can get big money for stuff. Nope. Won't work here.

Whilst we are on the subject. How much for a good condition- prev gen Chameleon frame do you think? I think 195 posted.

sorry i see your trying to sell and i dare say yours is better condition than the one on ebay, yeah i reckon around £200 to £250. Chameleons hold a bit more value than other alu frames for some reason. I sold a first gen one for £160 a year and a half ago.

The thing is, if something is overpriced it won't sell

PP - That's basically what I'm saying
stuff isn't selling - therefore overpriced

BTW - Revs are still available for £330 new

i agree with that peterpoddy ebay is the place to sell items of value. I sold some bits few months ago, one brand new item reasonably priced inc recorded postage. But people feel you pull your prices from thin air then try cut your price in half, no thanks i'll sell on ebay and make more than i advertised for on here and perhaps the buyer will end up buying brand new anyway. I would prefer to sell on here but not for a £50 loss i'm unemployed gotta make every penny i can.

Thats understandable, i just think traditionally this place has been people selling bits to fund bits.

Im sure you didnt mean it in that way but[i]I would prefer to sell on here but not for a £50 loss i'm unemployed gotta make every penny i can. [/i] reads like youre actually trying to make money out of selling bits.

Its not really what the classifieds was intended for, i believe. You're probably better off on ebay anyway.

BTW - Revs are still available for £330 new

that is a amazing price for maxle revs, is the seller making a loss??? next best price i can find is just shy of £4 ton.

Also does the vendor have stock I believe this happened recently to someone with xtr cranks bought them cheap online seller said none in stock which is a bit unfair.

I can't be sure they have stock but they've always had stuff when I've bought off them online

http://www.bikeoutlet.co.uk/products/Rockshox_Revelation_426_Dual_Air_White_2009_Maxle_Lite-830-0.html

Its not really what the classifieds was intended for, i believe. You're probably better off on ebay anyway.

I'm not saying i'm trying to con you out of money or sell for a profit but some people can't sell stuff for a song, just because you are also a bike rider.

i don't believe this forum is a car boot or LBS where you can pick up something for nothing, it may have bee in the past but not now.

I can't be sure they have stock but they've always had stuff when I've bought off them online

yeah i did see them when i googled it, i have no plan to call them to check, and good on them thats a top deal but are they making a profit thats verging on half price.

if you dont like the price make an offer ....

if they have had no interest i generally find they accept ... unless its a silly offer....

[quoteBTW - Revs are still available for £330 new

But they won't have any sort of guarantee, will they?

Its like the winstanleys price on Hope Hoops, i think it was in the region of £230. Trade price is £207 (i have a hope invoice in front of me).

Most online based retailers will be able to make something at these prices, as they have lower overheads.

The mark-up on most off-the-peg bikes is huge. I think the profit margin on GT, for example, is in the region of 53% in a lbs.

Really explains why these online retailers get the business they do.

and tails i never said you were intending to con anyone, in fact, i said "im sure you dont mean it in that way."

if you dont like the price make an offer ....

that seems spot on to me i gives you the chance to offer your value and the seller the opportunity to accept or decline.

and tails i never said you were intending to con anyone, in fact, i said "im sure you dont mean it in that way."

yeah i understand 😀 i just don't feel that say STW, pinkbike, MTBR are small marketplaces where we all know one another. I would like to sell bits on here rather than on ebay and say knock 10-20% off but i would be really pissed off if i then saw it on ebay for what i wanted to sell for but didn't because i felt the buyer really needed it.

But they won't have any sort of guarantee, will they?

??

Of course they will

Although I'd happily sell on here for less than eBay because of both the expense and hassle of using ebay.

I agree its gone that way, and that was the crux of my argument in the first place. I dont think it was the way the classifieds were intended (past-tense) to work.

I think for the majority of us, i recognise names, and have dealt with many on here, on many occasions. I have donated things for free, and accepted cheeky offers, but generally only to people i recognise, or who seem genuine (good ratio of posts in bike & chat forums).

The best example of people not "getting" the way STW works recently was that persistent gentleman with his Evil Sovereign, listing it about 30 times in a couple of weeks, all at the same price, then getting irate when people told him it wasnt going to sell.

But they won't have any sort of guarantee, will they?
??

Of course they will

How? Guarantee goes to original purchaser doesn't it?

the other thing i don't understand about the listings is that people never put pics up. "pics available on request". wtf, just put them on the ****ing thread in the first place

100%

sold a few things recently and only ask what i think are fair, bargain prices based on cheapest price they can be had new, and condition. I agree theres a moral difference between community sites like this and Bikemagic where I offer stuff "cheap" or swapsies, and Ebay. I bought and sold loads of stuff on MTBR in the late 90's when I lived in the US, and a guy in san francisco (>2000 miles away from me) posted me a Litespeed frame on trust, saying "if you like it send me a check, if you dont send it back"!

Had a NOS Fox FloatR shock on here for £70. Had a bit of interest which then fell through. Stuck it on fleabay with a low starting price and no reserve and it went for over £100. No wonder fleabay encourages profiteering (or people treating it like a business), and thats having a knock on effect on people who havent used forum classifieds.

ps I always post up pics!

You can bag yourself a Bargain Cube 100 AMS in the classifieds - not overpriced at all, 🙂

yeah i would also only trade with a name i recognize, or at least check they were a regular poster. that evil was funny as he could have sold it in bits and easily made the money, poor guy did get some unwarranted abuse though.

I think the profit margin on GT, for example, is in the region of 53% in a lbs.

guess again .... its alot less !

One thing missing from the classifieds forum is the ability to ignore users, something that is a function on [url= http://www.sailinganarchy.com ]Sailing Anarchy[/url] - although there are more wingnuts and a lower tolerance level over there.

I would have found this quite helpful for sifting out the users in Classifieds I don't want to buy from, either because they constantly relist the same stuff at silly prices (ie, Mr Evil Sovereign seller) or haven't proven totally trustworthy in the past.

That said, this isn't as much of a problem as the people on eBay who jam as many brands or part names as they can into a listing so it shows up on searches for other stuff.

As said above, I try to post pics with a listing, and have sent stuff to people for free quite happily in the past, too. People should be free to post as much stuff at silly prices as they like up in the Classifieds, but we should also be free to ignore them. 😀

How? Guarantee goes to original purchaser doesn't it?

The one's for £330 that you were responding to are new from a shop - as per the link

If you meant to quote the 2nd hand ones tails was referring to - I guess not

Well that was the reason my lbs gave to me for picking GT and dropping Saracen and Merida, cant remember the exact figure, but was about that.

not getting into a trade price arguement on a public website but i can assure you if GT or any other quality brand was doing over or near a 50% margin between disty and shop floor we would all be selling them .....

Id have dropped saracen the last time just for being saracen - they followed the market through the floor with there shite- looks promising for madison bringing them back from the ashes though , what ive heard and seen looks good

Youre more than likely right, i cant remember exact figures.

As far as Saracen goes, I couldnt see how theyd fit in with the other brands they already have, seemed a strange choice for Madison to bring them on board.

persistent gentleman with his Evil Sovereign,

I remember him! His total history was 'Evil Sovereign for sale'.

psychle -its a large so 18" seat tube, 23/23.5inch (from top of my head) top tube. I want a medium.

The bike outlet forks do have the usual warranty, I bought some Lyriks from them at half price, they didnt have them in stock but were got from the importers and delivered within 48 hours. When I sell on here its for what I consider a reasonable price. Their are still the same people on the new site with different names who are always buying and selling. To be honest I would rather bin stuff or give it away than sell to them and wouldnt touch the stuff they are selling on principal.

Tracey

If it's 53% mark up on GT I bet my boss would have them tomorrow. Giant is (approximately) 35% mark up after tax. Then staff have to be paid, electricity and phone bills covered etc. etc. That makes it hard forsmall shops.

I never sell on ebay, always on here. I find that I never get what I want on ebay for a lot of things, and I usually do on here and like to think I do things at a reasonable price.

I agree, I thought the going rate for second hand started at 50% rrp and that's by rrp I mean the cheapest you can find it on google, not wht your lbs sells it for. Sure I saw some second hand slx cranks on there for £80 the other day, why? I can get them fo £90 brand new, worth no more than £50 to me second hand.

Luke - you sure its 35% and not 35% margin?

and if it was 35% margin then i might have to get Giant. pretty generous indeed.

The funniest thing is some people here buy and sell seemingly more than an average BS.

Tracey - Member
... still the same people on the new site with different names who are always buying and selling...

Hairychested - Member
The funniest thing is some people here buy and sell seemingly more than an average BS.

[i]still the same people on the new site with different names who are always buying and selling...[/i]

me! me! you have the options in your profile section dude!!!

TBC- It might be less, but I know it's certainly not more than 35%.

Hora (I assume), what options do you mean ?

Sad thing is it's all about individuals and opportunity, you will always get those that want this to be a friendly bike community selling enviroment, and those that want to grab it cheap and bang it on ebay. I get ****ed off by seeing the same names diving it a reasonably priced kit, as I'm sure they couldn't have enough bikes to hang it off, but the classifieds relies on individuals, money rarely brings out the best in some folk, so you tend to get community folk or grabbin' ****ers. But if you use the classfieds you have the choice who you trade with.

luke/rolf - i was trying to avoid posting specific margins on here thats the last thing any shop needs but youll be lucky to be on 35% with giant unless you are large volume shifter multi chain branch (i know you have 2 or 3 shops mind)

also i agree about the anything free folk ... ie i wouldnt sell/give to taka on principle ...

i must admit to buying things i find reasonably priced on the classifieds but if i buy it its destined for my bike .....

On another forum I use posting in the classified section is limited to those who have been members for 3 months and have contributed 100 posts on the talk board. There is also a forum for user feedback, one thread per user.

Markus Penguinious - Member

A good example:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-brompton-folding-bike-3

I wouldn't normally bother to respond to this but since you've used my ad as an example I feel it's only right to put my side.

I wouldn't regard it as overpriced, it's what I paid for it, perhaps too much but you'd have to spend over £700 to get a Brompton with that spec.

If you think it's too much you don't have to buy it! If nobody buys it I'm obviously asking too much and I'll have to make the decision to drop the price or stick it onto ebay.

I've bought and sold quite a lot of stuff on STW over the last 5 years and always felt that I price my stuff fairly and that other people I've dealt with have done the same. It's what makes the classifieds tick.

Cheers

That's hora being hora.

Posting the jejames link was a really ****erish thing to do- I've no idea whether it's the same spec or not, and a JEJames webpage doesn't mean that they have it in stock, or at that price anyway.

I'd report him to the mods if he did that to an ad of mine.

Thanks, never been called a dude before, always a first. Their are few dealers on here, name change and all who think that because I'm a girl I'm ripe to been ripped off. Its easy to spot when you look at their last posts and its a page full of buying and selling with little else to add to Singletrack. I'm sure there must be a way to get rid of them.

Tracey

Surely the way the classifieds was supposed to work was "someone offers something for sale, someone else buys it - or not". End of. I can appreciate that some might lament any changes in the type of trades but hey ho, these things evolve and it's generally all legit.

tracey who are these people i know of one person i wouldn't sell to unless he paid asking price as i want my goods to go to someone who uses them and not a reseller, where as on ebay i couldn't give?

That's hora being [s]hora. Posting the jejames link was[/s] a[s] really[/s] ****er[s]ish thing to do[/s]

Crosses fingers...

Never sold on ebay, look for the vultures who are in fast for a cheep deal, they seem to be trolling the classifieds. A few years ago I was offered what I thought was a reasonable price for some thing for sale. Said item went up on ebay before I was paid for it and when it didnt reach the reserve, my selling price, the buyer used every excuse and pulled out of sale. Still wheeling and dealing under a different name
Must be a way if we all unite to get rid of them

Tracey

Must be a way if we all unite to get rid of them

i guess just don't buy or sell to these people but what i thinks reasonable you may not and vice versa., and i guess if someone offers the asking price whomever they i would sell.

[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/lizard-new-bike-almost- ]On a lighter note I have rejoined the chameleon club!![/url]

Agree on most points of this thread, and whilst it's perhaps a bit idealistic that people all 'behave appropriately' when it comes to the classifieds, I've just spotted something that's got my goat a litte.

I wouldn't normally rise to this, but seeing one user (aforementioned on this thread) who appears to be selling an albeit cheapo, low rent front mech in a very recent Classifieds thread at some 22% markup from the deal I cut him to help his cheap bike build does rankle somewhat.

Ho.

And indeed hum.

Ah what the heck, it's only a £2 profit. I'll get to bed I think.

So we have a thread about overpricing. Someone posts a link and gets flamed? Its a 3 speed and in stock at Evans as well. To me it looks like a 4 yr old bike with £150 off the new price? If it was £700 4yrs ago- You've only had it a year?

Crying out loud its not the end of the world is it? Report it to the mods- for what?! I also always start my prices high- but if no one buys I repost with lower and lower prices until someone does. Case in point was my Chumba frame recently.

Who said anything about reporting it to the mods? I was just pointing out that a Brompton with this spec, rack, lights, folding alloy pedal etc would be over £700 now. If you can find it cheaper point me to the website and I may have to adjust my price. As I say in the ad I just want to recoup my costs, I'm not a dealer just someone who bought a bike and isn't using it, surely that's not a crime.

So we have a thread about overpricing. Someone posts a link and gets flamed?

Flamed?

You're quite the fragile little blossom aren't you?

scaredypants - Member
Hora (I assume), what options do you mean ?

click "edit" then "display name as"

Hora you once bought a frame off here kept it for less than a month relisted it on classifieds for more than you had paid for it and linked to the original sellers pictures.
As on other issues you cannot take the moral high ground.
Prices I agree are too high generally. I have been after some forks but people are trying to sell second hand forks for about what they paid for them 2-3 years ago (because they are dearer now than then) and in some cases for about 30% less than new not at all tempting. You should sell stuff as a percentage of what you paid as STW is about passing on baragins within the community.
If you want to max out go to EBAY.

Markus Penguinious - Member
scaredypants - Member
Hora (I assume), what options do you mean ?
click "edit" then "display name as"

Shame, I was hoping you knew a way for me to see what somebody's prevous names were

Junkyard, I'm not perfect. I'm like Nick Leeson released from jail teaching debt management skills...but it but if something isnt selling I'll drop the price or slap it on fleabay. True on forks I'm after some Revs. On the not selling to some STW'ers out of principle...its money not a Mafiaso-soap opera!!! 😀

Just found some used Rock Shox Sids for sale for more than new ones at CRC. I know that some may want top doller for their no longer wanted kit, but trying to sell used stuff for more that new is taking the p£ss.

People seem to ask ridiculous money for full bikes, at the beginning of the year I sold my 15 month old 575 with full xtr etc for less than £1100, and then people come on here trying to get more than £2k for an Orange 5, similar age and lower spec. It makes me chuckle, but annoys me at the same time...

look at the chat forums. Notice how there are a lot of tossers on here spouting bullsh1t. Fair assumption that there will be a lot of tossers on the classifieds selling overpriced stuff which they describe as being in far better condition than it actually is...

Like the guy selling THE helmets for more than CRC, and trying to say they were cheap.

The use of capitals throughout the classifieds singles out a lot of the schysters(sic?).

Prices do seem to have risen, but not sure sales have.

I sold my 9 month old Wotans for £300 (which is what i asked) on here about 9 months ago.
There was a guy trying to sell a pair last week for almost £400 that were 2 years old.

[i]People seem to ask ridiculous money for full bikes[/i]

Personally I wouldn't try and sell a high spec full bike on the classifieds (say with a value over £1000): better to split or sell on eBay. The classifieds to me is all about swapping components and tweaking your bike: its doubtful if a high spec full bike will have every component choice a buyer would be after so if they do sell, they tend to get split anyway. Not impossible but I would think its very rare to get a good price on a high spec full bike.

There are a few people suddenly registering, posting twice then selling something. They then say they've posted on here 'for years' on the old forum. I know because after the IWH fraudster I pretended to be interested to see what these new sellers were upto..

Hora, you're a curtain twitcher and a gossip.
It's up to other people how they want to price their goods and the final price at which they sell. It's not your role to act as some sort of perverted consumer champion and demonstrate to people the error of their ways. You have already admitted that you subscribe to the 'start high and drop the price til it sells strategy' - what's the fundamental difference between raglansurf's ad and one of yours, and did it deserve your intervention in the way you did?

You're a malicious gossip and stirrer, prone to inane and uneducated speculation and the drawing of ill founded conclusions as seen by your last post and many like it over the past years, both here and at chocolatefoot.

I feel sure that if your real life behaviour matched your online persona you wouldn't have survived to adulthood.
😈

[center]Gossip, intrigue and subterfuge is where its at. This is my online hairdressing salon :mrgreen:.

How is CF? Last time I was on there was 2005? Are you discussing how many pairs of sunglasses dialledmike can own/get into his car? 8)

I get annoyed when someone asks for 'dibs' on your classified goods, then won't answer emails.
PITA!

To the OP: funny you should start this thread as I'd noticed a similar trend. There seems to be a lot of posts now which get zero responses - presumably because some of the prices being asked are, indeed, a bit steep. I've never viewed the STW classifieds as anything other than a proper marketplace though - I don't get this "we're all bikers therefore it's all at mates rates" thing. Mind you, some of the stuff that changes hands over on mlehworld at no/little cost does follow that line. I guess that's based on it being a much smaller community and one where almost everyone knows everyone else.

I think the recent price increases has resulted in a bit of speculative pricing too - but that's just the rules of supply and demand.