Originally Posted by
AdventureManCO
Maybe I'm too cheap, but the prices I see at co-ops are too high. They get all this for free. If it is around for more than a month or two, it's too expensive. A co-op near me has had the same Colnago for like 2 years now. Obviously it is priced too high, but the price is never adjusted. It's not the only bike hanging out for that long, either. At this same co-op, I recently tried to buy a seatpost, picked from their seatpost bin, and when I got to the counter, I was asked to pay more because it was a nicer than average seatpost. When I asked what were they expecting someone to pay for it, they said eBay has these all the time for about $70-$80, so in that range. Bin says $15. I handed it back to them so they could put a $75 tag on it and let it hang out in their glass case indefinitely. Co-ops are the thrift stores of the bike world. Nobody goes to a thrift store and expects to pay retail, and a local co-op trying to compete with eBay on prices seems like a losing strategy.
About the only good prices I see are on the complete bikes that they don't have the time to go through and garner zero interest from anyone except nerdy people like you and me. Once it goes through the hands of the co-op volunteer mechanic, it is a 500%-1000% increase in price (i.e. price btw $500-$700, regardless of the tier of the bike).
Given your name and the description of the shop, I know which one you are talking about. I have a very long association with them as a volunteer. You are mistaken on several points. First, the bikes that they retail are
not prepped by volunteers. They have a staff mechanic that does all that work and he is only one who does it.
Second on price of components, I have never heard any one of the staff asking a much higher price than the bin price. Often, they are sold for less because the shop practices a “price optional” pricing structure. You can pay as little or as much as you like. Yes, there are parts in the case that are more expensive but even those are priced relatively low for what they are.
Third, the “as-is” bikes get sold more often than the prepared retail bikes and there are real gems out on the sidewalk, along with a lot of dirt. People buy the “as-is” bike and go into the volunteer side to work on them.
Finally, yes, the shop works because people donate bikes. They then provide most of those donated bikes at either a very low cost or even no cost depending on the customer and their financial circumstances. The bikes that they do refurbish go to support people who can’t pay more for a much nicer bike. The person who donated the bike wanted it to be used for that purpose. The people who usually buy that kind of bike do so, at least in some part, to support the shop and their mission and programs.
I don’t know what the price on the Colnago that you’ve mentions is but I don’t think it is the price you’ll find in various places on-line. Consider what you would sell the bike for if you owned it or what you would claim the value of the bike for insurance. If you want the bike, buy it and enjoy it while know that the people who work at the shop are trying to do good things for people. The good things those people do has more value than a few hundred dollars.
Originally Posted by
AdventureManCO
It was $30, FYI
On a serious note, I would simply let the market decide on those prices. Put whatever price you want on it, if it doesn’t sell in a month, reduce by half, if it doesn’t sell for another month, reduce by half again, and if it still doesn’t sell it gets recycled.
Using comps to determine co-op prices doesn’t compute for me, because for an equitable comparison, you would need to find Romecs from other co-ops that recently sold, which you won’t find.
Why cut the price? It’s not like a co-op has the same pressures are retail shop selling new bikes has. Someone will come along and buy the bike eventually. There’s really no need to go all fire sale on the bikes. The “as-is” bikes out on the sidewalk can be treated more like that then the retail bikes that already have a fair amount of money sunk into them.
Using comparisons to determine prices is perfectly valid. In my long experience with this co-op and others, I generally find their prices to be quite low. As a volunteer, I can pretty much set my own price but often have to get the staff to charge me
more for the parts I buy because they are priced too low.