Classic & Vintage - C/L Buyers are Driving Me Crazy This Week, but then; Redemption!

OK, so it was going to be pretty simple this week. Post a couple of bikes and a trainer, and sell them. What could be hard about that? The first bike was a modern Trek, boy, did I get A LOT of response! Ended up with four appointments back to back.

Yes, this bike is going to sell FAST!

So go figure, call from buyer #1: canceled; call from buyer #2, canceled; call from buyer #3, CANCELED; call from buyer #4, FREAKIN CANCELED!

Then tonight, I guess all of the planets were aligned. Appointment #1: on time, full price, sold. Appointment #2: on time, full price, sold. Appointment #3: on time, full price, sold....

Welcome to the "wonderful" world of C/L. How has it been going in your market?

I haven't managed to sell anything to the locals on CL here.

One frame I sold went to a guy in Massachusetts that flipped it on eBay, and a Trek 720 I had sold to a guy vacationing from Maryland. My two Treks were sold at swaps held by an LBS and a local Trek dealer after getting flakes from Massachusetts and one local low ball offer.

And a forum member from Massachusetts bought the Klein Attitude Comp that I had.


I haven't seen a whole lot worth buying on the NH CL either. I picked up my 1984 Paramount in Massachusetts, my Fuji Touring Series VII in Maine, and the one bike I got in NH was my PITA Raleigh Supercourse off a garage sale ad.


It's like this area is the calm around the storm in Boston.

nothing high end sells here from what I have seen, mountain bike parts sell much better. go figure

Hit or miss. My pricing is way off though.

I only have a touring bike listed at this time. I've had several inquiries, but no serious interest. I did have a person interested in it today, but I talked him out of it. He wanted a tri/road bike. My touring bike would have not met his needs so I encouraged him to look elsewhere.

In the Detroit area, bike have been harder to sell. I've been able to sell my bikes, but it seems to take much longer this season. On average, it take 2-3 weeks before a bike sells.

Also, I've had to contend with someone flagging my ads. Either they don't want me in that market, or they are disgruntled that rejected their unrealistic offer.

All these auction/picker shows are making it so I have to inflate the sale to get my minimum price. I did get a reseller who 'Bundled' a deal on 3 bikes. He paid full price for the advertised bike and took two fixers at a bargain. I did need the room. I've also collected a finders fee on a couple of bikes. All the chase and none of the work, I like that.

it is funny that the local markets seem a little worse because my stuff up on ebay lately has just gone for ridiculous amounts of money. $44 for tri color downtube shifters for example.

I had a Centurion mixte listed for four weeks. There was only one person that contacted me before it finally sold, he wanted the bike shipped. They seem to be a hot commodity everywhere but here. I do better on Mountain bikes.

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss286/brian3069/Picture1038.jpg

I decided this summer (OK, my wife decided for me) that I needed to thin out the fleet a little. I posted several bikes on the local CL as well as on re-cycle.com. For a month I got nothing, aside from the usual emails from frauds. Then all of a sudden it was like everyone decided at once they desperately needed bikes and every stinkin' one of them sold within 36 hours, every stinkin' one for the asking price and no dickering. I noticed one bike needed to have the RD adjusted, put it up on the stand, turned one of the limit screws a quarter turn and the guy was so floored that I did this he offered to pay me an additional ten bucks. Turns out that not every CL buyer is a total flake... who'd a thunk it?

I'm currently on hold right this minute with Ebay, trying to finish out a cancellation on an Indonesian buyer who requested not once but twice for me to claim a false (as in low) valuation of the black anodized Campagnolo crankarm pair I just sold.

The first time, I simply informed him that it was against Ebay policy and illegal - he'd asked me to value it at $50. Apart from the customs issue, that would be stupid of me in case of loss in the mail. I'd only be covered up to that amount. The crankarms sold for nearly $200. His reply was to say, okay, make the valuation for $100. At that point, I emailed back telling him my intention to cancel the transaction and make a Second Chance offer to the second-highest bidder as I had lost confidence in dealing with him. I reported the fraud attempt to Ebay last night.

I request a cancellation, noting my issue. He says he will not allow cancellation. Ebay tells me to ship item. Huh? He broke Ebay's own rules and they tell me to ship to this buyer? So, I called to talk to a "real person" to figure out why Ebay won't even support a seller who is trying to follow their own policies.

The customer service rep is a birdbrain, I swear...

DD

well never said Ebay buyers are any better than cl buyers, just said they pay more.

well never said Ebay buyers are any better than cl buyers, just said they pay more.

Yeah, the buyer is a doof, but Ebay? Since when did they not respect their own policies?

As of now, I'm finally getting the final value fee back, but had to jump through hoops for over an hour to get it.

Enough to make me think whether or not it's even worth it anymore. But then, how would I get my "goods to market"?

DD

Typically for the last two months, I have been posting two bikes at a time (two separate ads), they have been selling in a day or two, and then I post the next two. I am kind of set on a pattern right now, work on two at once, market two at once, and repeat. I had a period that seemed like months where nothing was selling. But in the last couple of months, everything has sold, at prices as strong as ever. As far as pricing, my prices are just like my responses on the valuation threads, no higher, no lower.

My two projects on the rack right now are the Grand Jubile mixte (picked up a couple of weeks ago) and the Specialized Sequoia (one of last week's pickups). I have plenty more in the to be rehabbed queue. I need to refocus on the duplex rehab for a while (no heat for this winter, that needs to be fixed), so bike work will slow down big time.

I can tell you here Cannondales always get a strong response.

The last two weeks bike posts on CL are overpriced junk. I put a Cannondale up today (rode it to work) at a decent price and had buyers crawling out of the woodwork to buy. I wish I set the price $50 higher. I had a guy in Charlotesville (3 hour round trip) want to take tomorrow off to drive up for the bike.

The buyer met me at work with is friend and they drove me home so he could buy the bike. He had a Cannondale he bought from a sleezebag off CL for $130. 27" steel bolt on wheels, loose crankset (missing bolt), crumpled top tube with crack, filthy. I gave him a credit because I could use the DT shifters, stem, drop bars, levers, and cheap wheelset.