jaxgtr

Good luck shipping a bike for under $100 now. I pulled a bike of ebay because of that and let the thing linger on CL until I found someone to offer me something within $100 of my asking. I knew they would haggle, but I figure the components alone were worth $475, so my bottom line was that. I ended up getting $500 where I was asking $600.

gpsblake

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/bik/700453194.html - Here's the ad

Honestly, that ad would be very suspicious to me if I were a buyer. I would suggest you put up your own photos of the bicycle instead of linking to another website for them.

And why would you change the wheelset and tires**********?

And the third question anyone would ask, why you are selling this bike for such a loss without hardly riding it**********

jaxgtr

This is always my first question when I see a new bike up for sale. While CL is know for haggling, it also known for fencing stolen property.

Bekologist

I'll give you $600 for it right now!

knobster

Yeah I was lazy. I put the one's from my other Tricross comp on it because I didn't want to change the tires, plus the wheels on the comp are much better.

I figured that this would be the best I could do on price. I try and price things where I don't lose too much and the person getting it is getting an ok deal. Sort of a win-win. I've never made anything from bikes I've sold. I buy a bike and if it isn't the right bike, I usually try and sell it somewhat close to what I bought it for. This is usually a few weeks after I purchased it.

knobster

Not this one. I actually have the receipt.

knobster

Yeah, I know what you mean. I sold a Lemond Buenos Aires not too long ago and charged the guy $65 for shipping. It ended up costing me $120.

shoerhino

I can see your point and I agree with you. There's no point in meeting if seller is asking more than you are willing to pay. Just so you see where I'm coming from, my bike had been previously sold for somewhere between $800 and $1100 (condition of the item varied) through eBay. In my opinion, that's a strong indication that the "market value" of my bike was somewhere between those values. I felt that my bike was in comparable condition to the lower priced bikes so I set $800 as a target.

People would email and say things like - "I'd like to come out and look and your bicycle. Would you take $500?". If I agree to that price in the email, it really only sets a ceiling on the price because the price will never go higher if the condition exceeds the expectations of the buyer. The price can only go down from there. Essentially, my hands were tied. Had the person provided some evidence that the bike was worth $500, I would have been open to hearing it but I think eBay had already clearly established that the item was worth $300 more.

In the scenario you provided, it was a waste of time for the buyer to see the item because the seller wants more than the buyer would pay for that item in any condition. In my scenario, it was a waste of time to show the bike because the buyer wanted to pay 30% less than the "market value" I could get on eBay and its only the first day of my ad. I think that the reason most people suggest low offers is that they are more interested in a deal than paying a fair price for the item, which would work if someone needed to make the sale or didn't understand the value of the item but I'm not sure that many people are will to take such a loss when eBay is typically a easy way unload a bike at market value in a short amount of time. There is mutually beneficial deal to be made but it shouldn't be too weighted in either the buyer or seller's favor in relational to the value.

I guess my statement would be better said as "I'm not sure why people make offers that are significantly less than the asking price so early in the negotiation". I understand the idea if the item has been listed for a week or two because that seems to indicate that the starting price is higher than the market will bear but starting off that way leads to a dead end. If you want the item, you should be willing to pay something near it's market value and I would guess both the seller and buyer have an idea on the market value. IMO, market value is established by what someone else has historically been willing to pay. In my case, I thought the $300 difference between the virtually guaranteed eBay price and the $500 offer was too much to absorb.

Offering significantly less for an item can work if you can convince the seller that the asking price is too high but when done without any conversation regarding the value, it only shows that you don't really want the item (because if you did, you'd be willing to pay something near market value) and closes the door for negotiation. It can also be a little insulating to have people think that they can negotiate so much from the price as if you have no clue what it's worth.

shoerhino

Another thing that is frustrating is that lowballing is the only negotiation tactic some people know. I've set starting prices for saddles on eBay at $25 + shipping (which again was darn close to the historical market value) and no one will bid on the item but as soon as the auction is over, I'll get 3 or 4 emails offering to buy the saddle for $15 or $20 including shipping.

Of course, I put then put the same saddle up on eBay starting at $10 instead and once everyone starts "negotiating" against each other by bidding instead of negotiating against me, I typically get what I asked for originally anyway. If someone would make an offer in the ballpark, we could strike a deal but everyone wants to give you half of what it's worth.

Dork Disk

Ebay fee is 3% of the final sale plus listing fees--that comes to 34.82 with a starting price of 100--(I used a calculator)

Just food for thought. I've sold and shipped 5 bikes on ebay. Selling on CL is so much easier.

donnamb 

Seriously and with all due respect, knobster - I buy and sell in your Craigslist market and I don't even look twice at the ads with no original picture. I think you'd do better with your own photo.

Boudicca

+1 on the original picture. If I can't see the bike as is, I am not interested.

knobster

Everyone is right. I'm not going to get what I want and I'm not willing to negotiate, so it's not worth selling it. I'll just keep the bike and use it to race and/or commute.

dynaryder

I've had good and bad selling on CL. There really are alot of flakes though. I was selling a brand new wheel(bought a set and only needed the front),and a guy asked if a tire and tube were included. When I said no,he wanted me to deduct the cost of them from my price. Then there was the guy who said he really wanted the bike I was selling,but it was way out of his price range,so he wanted me to cut the price in half. And I love when people compare your CL listing to an eBay listing,but don't count things like shipping cost,or what condition the bike will be in after going through the mail,or the fact that my bike has a decal from a local shop so they can get free adjustments.