HALLELUJAH!

Craigslist has added By Owner/Dealer sub categories to the bicycle classifieds. Hopefully this will end a lot of the CL police wars and lead to a more civil environment for all.

Now what mis-guided Naderism the bicycles nannys revert to, or what hobbies they take up in the basement, is a matter for conjecture. I predict an increase in yahoo news story comments.

Just noticed that as well!

So stoked!

This is the best news I've heard since Wells Fargo last updated their Terms & Conditions!

I've also been enjoying the improved pictures lately.

Seeing how the existing /bik directory is for by owner listings, I'm not seeing the motivation to self police and post to by dealer.

I just saw a CL nanny posting lashing out at collector-owners who are selling bikes for over $100.

It will be chaos for a couple of weeks until it all gets sorted but, for the guys like me who sell a bike now and then, this is great news.

I just noticed that as well, Now instead of flagging for overposting you just have to flag obvious serial-sellers as miscategorized if they keep selling in the "by owner" section.

Which makes me wonder where I should post I guess, I restore and sell bikes but I almost never have more than one bike for sale at a time and always for what I consider an incredibly reasonable price which I guess is why I never have bikes sitting around waiting to be sold.


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I guess I'm a little thick today, because I don't understand what the big deal is. Almost all the bikes on CL are listed as "by owner". On the entire San Francisco CL, there are currently only three bikes listed as "by dealer". So, what are the intended advantages? How is policing going to be any different?

I am flagging this post!

Catagories are here too-still by owner (catagory for'by thief'?) The pics have enlarged too-with click on thumbnails. Can SEE a little more now.

+1

I think pretty much everyone (there's always an exception) finds it perfectly cool for the occasional restorer/seller to list a bike or two, renew the ad as needed, and call it a 'for sale by owner' type of thing. It's the 3-5+ bikes going up thrice a day that gets everybody's goat (or the shops selling the same new bikes everyone else is at the same new bike prices)...especially when the seller is sniping all the CL deals out from under the rest of us and posting immediately for several times the original price without bothering to do the truing, re-cabling, packing, cleaning and general labour to make this anything other than opportunist preying upon the time-pressed or not-so-knowledgeable. And especially if all 9 posted bikes sport non-drive side photos. Still, at least the resolution's better now....

Bike Flippah's C&V rejoice as one!

+1 And one can argue that dealer or not, the person selling the bike is the "owner". I doubt anyone in my area will list as "by dealer". On every bike I have ever sold, I was the owner. Some I owned for a long time, some I owned for a few days...

Sounds like CL missed the boat... should've made the distinction "owner/DKO"

Instead of "bikes for sale by dealer" or "by owner", perhaps the better distinction to draw would have been between good serviceable bikes, and "POC's for sale by DKO's".

I'm not so sure the changes help. The changes open the door now for dealerships to enter into the list and potentially make it harder for me to navigate. I will likely use CL's "both" setting so as not to miss potential used bike sales or mislabeled items. I made 2 great finds last season by going to a bike shop. Now I will have to sort through every shop's closeout and sale items.

Yes, I agree. It's still unclear where the distinction is supposed to be drawn. Is "dealer" supposed to mean a brick & mortar shop? If an individual sells/flips 2 bikes per year or 100, they are still for sale by owner in my book, and I wouldn't fault someone like wrk101 (who I know sells a lot bikes) from listing in the "for sale by owner" category. I don't see how this is going to separate your average Joe or Jane from a high volume flipper (is that even the point?). There is one local used bike shop that lists on CL without any reference to the store name and is notorious for bad service and selling stolen bikes. Notwithstanding that one exception, I haven't found listings by brick & mortar outlets to be a problem or an annoyance. If you check out the bike, you'll find out who is selling it anyway. A deal is a deal is a deal. I don't care where I find it (so long as it's not stolen).

me too...... I hope the Nazi's don't flag me as a dealer. I'm just an excellent hobbyist........

When you see multiple listings from the same people, repeated day after day after day, they are making a good part of their living from flipping bikes (or trying to) and to me that crosses the line from what a hobbyist does to 'thin the herd' or even to fund the bike cache. I don't even think that the casual bike buyer will care; they'll look under 'both' and maybe even prefer buying from someone who sells lots of bikes.

The distinction may actually be of more interest to the IRS, as at some point they are going to have to figure out how to get their pound of flesh from those who sell a lot of stuff but don't report it as income. The proverbial once-a-year-yard-sale they can (and do) overlook, but people who essentially have a yard sale going every day are a different matter.

Thanks for head's up! I hadn't noticed.

I sell 4-8 bikes per year, and I bet some CL Copper will flag me. It could make things worse as the ninnies interpret "By Owner" as they please...

I don't see how this is going to make any real difference.

This honestly changes nothing.

I noticed that it only goes back one day for previous listings. I don't get the dealer/owner issue? Even if you flip stuff. If you list your stuff the exact same way then I can see your listings getting flagged. Same garage door pictures, the way you describe your bikes. I can tell right away if it's a flipper as they usually list stuff the same way or put in their phone number in every ad. If that's the case then it deserves to get flagged. Change it up some!