1. I still have good luck on C/L, sold two bikes this week.

+1 I delete any email that says: "Is it still available?" And I put that in my ad. "Sorry, but due to all the scammers out there, I can no longer reply to "is it still available?"

+1 Disposable email is nice.

+1 Not everyone wants or appreciates vintage bikes. So we are really selling to a niche, particularly locally.

+1 I will respond to legitimate looking email. Some people (me included) don't like calling, so email works for them as well. On the last step of the process, I tell them to call me when they leave, so I make sure I am there waiting and that the bike is still available. Most of the time, I meet at a public place, somewhere with a decent parking lot for test rides. Most of the scammer email is pretty obvious thank goodness.


Craigs List is free, as such, I set a lower expectation. And in the end, I get a lot of good buyers on C/L. Just ignore the scammers, that' comes with the "free" part of C/L.

No bids or lousy bids on ebay (or no sales on C/L)? Take a critical step back at how you market items. I see a lot of mediocre marketing, that costs the sellers quite a bit of money. While I love lousy marketing as a buyer, as a seller, it will cost you money. My rough rule of thumb on value is that half the value is due to the presentation and marketing of the item. Nothing is automatic.

Also on ebay, I start items at a price that is acceptable to me. So even if I only get one bid, I am good with the outcome. Ebay gives 50 "free" listings a month, so unless you are selling close to that amount, reposting an item a couple of times is no big deal. I sold a piece of computer software recently (garage sale find), starting price was $9.99. Week one, no bids. Week two, no bids, week three, ten bids, $45.