How do you sell a bike?

[Ham]

The (now SS) Pompetamime is gonna be sold, I have no experience at all buying or selling bikes.

I don't know how to set a fair price for it. I don't know where to sell it. I prefer ease of process over maximising cash - maybe there's a shop in Hackney that would do it on commission. eBay? Gumtree? I dunno.

[Torslanda]

Not a bloody clue!  It's not something I do a lot of.

Seriously, in my case it's a matter of not losing money. I don't refurbish kids' bikes, for example, because the parts cost the same as full size bikes. A couple of tyres and tubes, new cables, grips and the like and suddenly you've spent more than the bike's worth. Given that kids' bikes - especially boys' - tend to have a hard life cosmetically, it's impossible to recover the costs.

In your case I would take the original cost and reduce that by 50% for the first year, then 30% per annum. So if the bike was 800 quid new and you've had it for 3 years. That's 400, 280, 200. (ish)

Then add in the costs of maintenance, refurbishment and any upgrades you've done. Make an allowance for what makes the bike unique and interesting. Do an ebay, Gumtree and *other* forum search for similar bikes that are being offered. Ask yourself what is it that makes *my* bike better (or not) than *that* bike. It may be cosmetics, it may be *yours* is unique, it may be upgraded over standard.

List the features and benefits, it may be super comfy over long distances, it may be outstanding as a commuter, etc.

Pitching a price is hard. Too high and everyone laughs. Too low and everybody wants to know what's wrong with it. Generally if you're within 80% of the highest you can find for sale that's a good ballpark to attract someone who wants a bike like yours. Most importantly don't pitch for what you want. Negotiation is a dance that everybody hates but has to be done. If punter feels he's getting a bargain you have more chance of selling so pitch it higher than you want and take a lower bid. No one EVER sells their bike when they put 'no offers' in the ad . . .

HTH

[Torslanda]

I wouldn't sell a bike on ebay. It's a great place to buy stuff but you will lose 20% of the final value to ebay & PayPal. If you auction it with a low start you're risking it going for 99p. If you set an opening bid near what you want for the bike then don't be surprised if no one bids or just one bid ends the auction. ebay will take 10% commission & PayPal will charge the same. Unless you're prepared to post the bike you are limiting the market to someone who is your size, wants that bike and can collect.

Gumtree will get a wider local audience but you still need someone your size etc. Other forums and Facebook groups will put your bike in front of people who will be interested. LFGSS for example.

[dim]

I've sold loads of bikes, and the best place to sell is on Ebay using the 'Buy it Now' feature ....

decide what it's worth, raise the price to cover the 10% ebay fees plus paypal fees (i.e. if the buyer insists on paying with paypal), and offer collection aswell as a courier option (but make it clear that the buyer must arrangeanfd pay for his own courier/man with a van, and that you will not box/pack the item)

gumtree is crap .... only sell bikes on there that are sub £100 (old hybrids and old mountain bikes)

what does often happen though selling on ebay, is that someone will buy the bike off ebay, then when they collect, they try to drop the price and pay less.... so, advertise the bike properly and list all the defects etc and if they try and get the bike for cheaper when they collect, tell them to sod off

[fd3]

I think "Make me an offer" is a really good way to shift stuff on eBay.
Personally I have two bikes I would like to sell and one which I would consider selling.  I have made some pretty crap posts on a couple forums and left it at that - if you are not in a rush to sell it could be worth simply posting on a forum, as you then have no overheads for eBay/PayPal.

[Cudzoziemiec]

For absolute "ease of process" the easiest is going to be cash converters. Then you have to bear in mind whether you're happy for your bike to finance a fence. Or try Gumtree.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Gumtree is a great place to sell stuff. Downside is be prepared to be deluged by arseholes offering less than the asking price.

[hatler]

I'd start here. Bikes do sell through these august pages. Plus you'll get an honest assessment of what it's worth.

I think eBay's good if you are selling a commoditised product (something like a Specialized un-modified machine for example), but for anything even slightly out of the ordinary it's less predictable.

Do the CTC have a Classified board ?  Cycle Chat ?

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I sold my Brompton on ebay.  It fetched an astonishing amount, probably very close to its purchase price when I bought it (mid 90s). I'd used it to commute for quite a while and didn't exactly keep it clean but soap and water made it look pretty decent.  The buyer was very happy!

Were early Bromptons a cut above?  I still have Mrs A's, scarcely used of that date (not for sale). 

[ACyclingRooster]

The (now SS) Pompetamime is gonna be sold, I have no experience at all buying or selling bikes.

I don't know how to set a fair price for it. I don't know where to sell it. I prefer ease of process over maximising cash - maybe there's a shop in Hackney that would do it on commission. eBay? Gumtree? I dunno.

How did you acquire the bike in the first place ? Was it stolen or gifted ?
Do some research and if necessary compare it with similar/the same as sold new today.
Take some really close-up images and fill the frame of the camera to maximise visual impact.
Focus in on the original selling features of the new/current equivalents today.

Remember the fees to both E'bay and PayPal will cut a sizeable chunk from your listed price - Gumtree does not have fees unless you chose and alternative option to advertise it.

[Ham]

How did you acquire the bike in the first place ? Was it stolen or gifted ?

Bought for real money, but now converted from Alfine 8 speed to SS, frame is a pretty new replacement, as is finishing kit.

[Biggsy]

PayPal will take 3.4% + 20p, not 10%.  So the total eBay and PayPal commision will be about 13.5% (unless adding unnecessary listing extras), or just 10% if you're given cash on collection*.  IMO that's a cheap price for the amount of advertising eBay generates.  However, you can possibly save that by advertising on this forum!

* Still allowed, although you have to provide a PayPal option.

[ACyclingRooster]

How did you acquire the bike in the first place ? Was it stolen or gifted ?

Bought for real money, but now converted from Alfine 8 speed to SS, frame is a pretty new replacement, as is finishing kit.

Hi again Ham. Thereby you have a potential issue - finding someone that would be happy with the bespoke nature of your own fettling work.
After taking some very explicit/specific images put it on E'bay at a figure that would have been close to or what it cost in the first place and test the water !!!
It can always be withdrawn with a suitable reason for doing so.

When I had Flat-bar Road Hybrids several of which I built myself from the frame-up I was always in favour of the Shimano ST-R224 and ST-R220 and indeed do still have a brand new pair for when I get so old that I can no longer cope with drops.

A couple of years back I bought the Campagnolo equivalent of the Shimano offering,even bought keen they were not cheap - the are still in the box unused.

[Samuel D]

No one EVER sells their bike when they put 'no offers' in the ad

This may be true with used bicycles for which there is not a widely shared idea of worth. But for things that people generally agree on the value of, I have found that slightly (trivially) undercutting the advertised going rate but saying the price is firm and fair, works very well. In other words, advertising a firm price of X gets more bites than advertising a higher price that you’ll end up dropping to X anyway.

Bicycles are tricky, though. There are so many ways to wreck them. I am loathe to touch any used bicycle for this reason. Upgrades are nearly always downgrades or otherwise unappealing to me, and how can you trust the work was done correctly? Most cyclists cannot even be trusted to tighten bolts to approximately correct torque. A complete description of the condition of a bicycle would run to several pages and is never given by the seller. Photos are almost always useless, bicycles being large but having many small parts that must be studied closely to establish wear and tear. Etc.

[Gattopardo]

Something like that I would try LFGSS also more details ta

[zigzag]

for a bike to sell at a good price it needs to look presentable and have a good description and photos. e.g. first thought when looking at your bike is that "i will need a new wheelset, so i need to factor that in when deciding". decent used ss bikes sell for £100-200 (check completed listings on ebay), unless they are something special. upgrades loose their value significantly so it's worth selling them separately (e.g. a £100 flexy seatpost will probably add only £20-30 to a bike's value).

[Kim]

I sold my Brompton on ebay.  It fetched an astonishing amount, probably very close to its purchase price when I bought it (mid 90s). I'd used it to commute for quite a while and didn't exactly keep it clean but soap and water made it look pretty decent.  The buyer was very happy!

Were early Bromptons a cut above?  I still have Mrs A's, scarcely used of that date (not for sale).

I think it's more a case of Bromptons being in sufficiently high demand that they're the strongest currency BRITONS have.  Common sense barely comes into it.

[fd3]

Also, if you are looking to try and sell here or on lfgss you may want to offer the option to split, if someone wants the wheels, cranks, frame etc. separately.  Chances are if you try and sell a shed bike you will get about the same for it as you would for just the frame, might work for your ss.

[jsabine]

How much of a priority is getting some money for it? If simply clearing the space without hassle is more important, maybe one of the charities that refurbs bikes with/for homeless people or refugees could find it a new home.

Failing that, I'd take some decent pics and advertise it here or on LFGSS. I wouldn't expect either audience to quibble about the fact it's been stripped and rebuilt in a different form.