Originally Posted by
wrk101
I've even bought bikes from lazy flippers. There is one in Charlotte, guy sells over 200 bikes a year. But he doesn't know bikes, and he doesn't do any work on them. Of course, he makes a sweet profit without turning a wrench, so his strategy is working pretty well. Occasionally, he will get an older bike, higher end, that needs work. He buys cheap, so he sometimes will sell those bikes cheap. I've bought several from him. All needed work and most were missing parts.
There is a guy, actually its a couple, in my town that flipped probably 100 in the last year based on CL ads and all are 70s-90s bikes. This couple does nearly nothing to the bikes except hit em with a power washer and they list em for much more than they should sell for. Each bike listing comes with 1 picture that is usually blurry and often not even of the whole bike, and a writeup that is maybe 5 words long about how the bike is 'clean' or 'ready to ride'. The model is typically missing, so obviously the size, year, components, etc aren't listed.
Ive always wondered where they find all the bikes and also who would ever buy from them.
Its an odd mix- on one hand they are quite active as they list constantly and get new bikes thru the year. On the other hand, they are incredibly lazy with how they present the bikes. Their prices are what the bike should go for if fully cleaned, greased, tuned, and wearing all new consumables. And even then, their pricing could be viewed as high.
...maybe I just don't list what I rehab for enough, but this isn't a job, its a hobby and I like seeing vintage bikes on the roads and trails. Better to move a bike along so I can start on something new than have it sit in my garage for months while I hold out for a little bit more money, all the while responding to emails and texts, sifting thru spam emails, and reposting the same bikes over and again.