Barrettscv 

I had a shopper come out and ride a bike I'm selling.

I asked him to bring cycling shoes, he showed in in gym shoes and blue jeans (it was 65f out).

He needed to ride the bike. No problem, except he also needed basic instructions. He needed instructions concerning shifting with brifters, so I showed him and rode along side with him. I coached him to keep his hands on the hoods or drops, but instead kept his hands on the cross bar. Then he complained that the bike felt too small. His pants got caught in the chain.

He also told me that he completed the RAGBRAI last year. But he was out of breath after 3 miles at 12 mph. No hills involved.

I didn't think I had to operate a cycling class just to sell a bike.

Then he tried to low-ball me.

Are they all like this?

noglider 

No, they're not all like that. It's annoying to have the experience you had, but don't expect people to be like you and know what you know. You might be welcoming someone like that into our fold. And if you're nice, even if the deal doesn't work out, he might come back. Or he might send someone to you.

This weekend, some folks came looking for a bike for their 7-year-old. I happened to have one. He still hadn't learned to ride a bike, so I took an extra hour to teach him. He did great. I enjoyed it. But I had the luxury of time. The family were awfully nice, and I love teaching stuff like that.

Barrettscv 

Oh, he tried to tell me how "these" tires without any tread on them don't provide traction. I explained that bike tires don't need tread and are safer without tread.

Chicago Al 

Sorry it went that way. You would THINK that someone coming to look at a pretty high end bike would be more knowledgeable than that. Especially having ridden Ragbrai (or so he says). Out of breath after three miles??? How is that possible riding around Chicago???

FWIW I've had plenty of flakes who didn't show up, but in selling about 15 bikes, everyone who has actually come by has been pleasant to deal with and all but possibly one have bought the bike they came for. Quite a different class of bikes though, nothing over $200 so no one showing up who needed to prove anything. Also mostly female buyers, definitely easier to work with in my experience. Besides being pretty and everything.

big chainring 

I've sold a lot of bikes to people just like what you describe. You have to figure anyone in the 20-35 yr old bracket grew up on BMX and mountain bikes. And I'm finding a lot of 20 somethings really never rode a bike. They were carted around in cars to school and to soccer practice. My kids are like that too. They dont depend on their bikes to get them around like I did when I was a kid. Its a car that gets them everywhere.

I sometimes am just befuddled by how little most people know about bikes and especially vintage bikes. Thats one reason I'm finding it difficult to sell anything on CL lately. Its all about price. I have a Raleigh on Chicago CL know and am having few responses and those that do respond are obnoxious. I dont even return their emails. Early in the season yet. But in previous years I was selling more and making easier sales.

noglider 

I think when you're selling, you should know the customer. Lowering your respect for him just because he's out of shape and unknowledgeable doesn't help either of you.

Barrettscv 

You’re missing the point. If the buyer is a noob, he should not make multiple false claims just to assert himself and to diminish the product. It's like a bad used car salesman in reverse. Teaching a child to ride a kids bike is fun. Teaching an adult who claims he rode across Iowa last summer, well, it’s a lie.

I’m not calling the guy out for being out of shape, I’m calling him out for being deceitful.

noglider 

Are you sure he was trying to cow you into dropping the price? He could have been plain ignorant. But I wasn't there, so I'm not claiming to know.

gomango

Sometimes it works out well.

Last summer my kids had a bike listed for an hour on CL.

A young lady emailed and asked to see the bike.

She arrived within an hour and a half of the posting, took one look at the bike, and asked if we would take $25 less than asking.

Her mother was embarrassed, and said she would pay the difference!

Done deal! I loaded it into their minivan and they were off.

Two hours after the original posting.

Makes me feel like the kids didn't ask for enough, but they were happy.

Of course, it doesn't usually go that smoothly.

JunkYardBike

No, they're not all hopeless.

monsterpile

Most people are great. You went above and beyond what mot people would do and you can feel good about that. If you are asking a fair price for the bike you will get a good buyer soon enough and it will be more than pleasant.

Flying Merkel

I've had relatively few idiots show. Mostly people just flake. One pure moron test rode a Trek hybrid I was selling. He shifted from the small rear sprocket all the way to the largest in one motion, stood on the pedals with all his 200+ pounds of fat, and broke the chain. Told me he didn't want the bike because it was a pile o' crap and too expensive.


On the other hand, I did have an Indian girl show up & test rode a Schwinn Collegiate. The most breathtakingly beautiful women I have ever seen. Didn't buy the bike, but she gave it an honest try. Huge brown eyes & long lashes- she could have had it for whatever price she named.

rnt654

At least you got someone to show up. I one had one person offer me weed for the item I was selling on CL. I think you really went out of your way to show him how to ride the bike your selling. Which is fine if it didn't waste your time. It's craigslist anything and everything is possible. He could have just gone to a bike shop and they would have been more than happy to help him and they get paid for it.

Barrettscv 

That's what I need, Lady shoppers! The only problem is the bike is a XL (58 ST, 59 VTT). I would probably get the football coach from Glee.

noglider 

I've had a lot of women buy my bikes. You're right. It can make the experience quite pleasant. I sold one to a local college student. Very nice. She even came back.

Amesja

Raise your prices. That always works. Raise them and keep the riffraff out. You get fewer people calling, of course, but the ones you get are actually serious. Then when they low-ball you at least you know that you are high and you can find a happy medium. If you start too low then you have no room to maneuver. That's how things work.

Eileen

That may be the ticket. I just sold my Trek 4300 yesterday and had listed it for much more than my bike geek pals had offered. The first person to inquire about it showed up & bought it for exactly what I had hoped to get for it. It was a dad buying the bike for his 11-year old son. It was nice to see a non-rider (the dad) actually not buy a heap of crap from the big box store for his kid.

toytech

I have had pretty good experiences when they actually show up that is... just sold my Raleigh Grand Sport for top dollar and no bargaining at all, the couple who bought were quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic too.

AZORCH

I get tired of the "I'm really, really excited and this is exactly what I'm looking for, I'll be right over" crowd who never show up. I've stopped rearranging my life and schedule around these folks. The ones who show are usually very sincere, if occasionally uninformed, and the event generally goes well. I hate the know-it-all's who text lowball offers without seeing the product - usually something I've labored over extensively - then waste my time setting up a meeting that never takes place. If I do hear back from them, it's usually some lame sort of "I had an emergency appendectomy a little while ago, but I'll be out of the hospital in a month or so and if the bike is still available, well maybe..."

Really? Really?

Chombi

You should have pushed him off the bike after the short ride and said......."NO BIKE FOR YOU!!!" and sent him on his way!

Chombi

RubberLegs

So far, my only dealings with CL has been watching and attempted shopping. Had inquired about a few different bikes and had the sellers NEVER return email!!! Flakey goes both ways. Then again, I am looking at lower end road bikes, perhaps these sellers don't have a clue, or don't want to be bothered by questions about what they are selling.
My other issue with CL is that we have a couple local CL Hawks, or Vultures, who snap up anything with a decent price, shine it up a little and add $200 to it! I have seen a few I would have pulled the trigger on, good bike, good price...but GONE by the time I hit the button.

Poguemahone

I only use Craigslist to sell really cheap stuff and give away free stuff. Every now and then I put somehing more expensive on, but much of my posting is limited to these two things. They tend to go really, really fast. In the last year, I've given away two bikes I found placed out for trash pickup. Those went immediately.

I also use Craigslist to look for decent but underpriced stuff. There's a price point locally where stuff does not move. It's right at 200$ or so. Pretty nice stuff will just sit at that price point.

Though I did sell a small, celeste, Italian Bianchi for 450$ about a year ago-- multiple callers on that one.

tmh657

Exactly. I won't accept text messages anymore. At first I thought it was sort of convenient for me and the buyer, (to send an address perhaps) but have found that most texters are kids looking for something to do for a few minutes to pass the time and have neither the money or intention of buying anything.

khatfull

I've sold three via local CL. Two I took the bike to the buyer. One came to the house. All bought the bikes without fuss, maybe a little bit off my asking price. Everyone likes to dicker, I do too so I oblige.

The one young man that came to the house, exceedingly nice. We went off for a ride around the neighborhood for about a half hour. Talked about the Twins. Pleasant time and the bike performed flawlessly (of course). He bought it at my asking price. As I do with those I've sold bikes to on eBay I offer to check it over after they've put a few hundred miles on it...for cable stretch, that sort of thing. Nobody except this young man has taken me up on it. He e-mailed me a couple months later, I said sure I meant what I said and he brought the bike over to the house. I threw it in the stand, showed him how to adjust RD and FD, check for chain wear, how NOT to over lubricate a chain, adjust brake pads, etc. We went out for a short test ride again. As he was packing the bike back in his truck he says "Here you go." Two of his lower level season tickets for a Twins game.

CL ain't all bad.

cb400bill

So far my dealings with local CL have been mostly good. I've sold 6-7 bikes and bought 2-3.

Every single time I have had someone come look at one my bikes they have purchased it. Only once have I had to discount, too. Yes, I've had the occasional no show, but that comes with the CL territory. What I don't like are the inquirers who try to price negotiate via email, without even first looking at the bike.

More often, I've had issues with what I think are flaky sellers. I can't count the amount of times I sent emails to sellers who never respond. Of course, maybe the emails get caught up in their spam filters.