jmio

I'm about to sell my wife's bike, just wondered if ebay, craigslist, bikeforums,roadbikereview.com would be the best route. does anyone have experience with selling bikes online??? thanks for your help.

ADSR

Craigslist. eBay is too costly in shipping.

captnfantastic

+1 for craigslist. I sold my 24" bmx bike on there in like 2 days, the problem is everyone and their brother will lowball you. I was asking $180 and i got offers for $110, $120... waste of my time. Anyway post for say 10% higher than you will take and go from there.

oc63rag

I'll never use ebay again due to the hassles with paypal. Paypal flat out sucks. There is even a web site devoted to bad experiences with paypal - paypalsucks.com. It's amazing what people have gone through.
I vote for CL also and definitely list it for more than you want for it because you will have to deal with haggling. A local buyer with cash in hand is the way to go.

carleton

The best way is craigslist. Deal in cash only. Local only. That way you don't have to deal with the drama and cost of professional packing and shipping.

- Take lots of pics.
- Be as descriptive as possible.
- Make a good headline like "54cm Trek 1.5 WSD road bike Ultegra/105 with computer"
- Put in keywords because some people might search for "55cm" and would miss this example ad. Add to the bottom: 53cm 54cm 55cm 53 54 55 centimeters bike roadbike road
- List all caveats like: I'm keeping the pedals and the saddle.
- If it's a really choice bike some buyers my ask for you to ship. I always state: "I'm willing to ship at the buyer's expense. After you paypal me funds for the bike I will take the bike to a local bike shop of your choosing and drop it off. It is up to you to arrange payment with them for professional packing and shipping."

jmio

thanks for the great advice, I agree that the shipping with ebay is a rip, I actually was gonna purchase some new eggbeaters, looked up on ebay and some ****ers were charging 15 to 20 dollars to ship out a 278 g pedal. what's it coming to? lol. sounds like I'll be posting up craigs list. I think i'm gonna hang up flyers around campus too. It's the 09 motobecane messenger, not an expensive bike, shouldn't be too hard to sell.

Meepers

people over charge on shipping on eBay, because eBay and PayPal only take their fees out on the auction price. they get 100% of what they charge for shipping. i forget the rates now, but lets say 2%. you sell an item for $100 and yo charge $30 shipping, you get whacked eBays insertion fee, then 2% so now your profit is down to $98. then paypay gets a whack out of it and then your profit is down to $96 (not going to get a calculator and get down to the penny) so you end up making $126. before you go and ship the item that cost, lets say $5 to ship. then you make another $25 not attacked by any fees. they don't take any fee's from your shipping. it just a way for people to combate their profits getting sucked away. but then in-turn they lose business because people don't want to spend way more than they know it cost to ship an item. but now they are trying to charge an internet tax on ebay sales, so there is another thing that will kill you.

MONGO!

ebay has started to put a cap on what you can charge for shipping for exactly this reason.

CL is your best bet, and take good pictures.

Meepers

that is good to know. thanks! i am glade they are going to combat outrageous shipping. though i am sure it is in their best interest to make more money on the sales. i personally always keep my shipping reasonable. i sell more merchandise, and in turn make more money that way. instead of re listing and paying multiple insertion fees (that you get back if the item sells, but if it never sells you are out more cash.)

eogie

Do you guys not think that Ebay is the best way to get the most money? Sure it may be a bit more of a hassle, but it reaches a much wider audience and, in my opinion, reaches a higher price. Am I wrong?

I'm speaking from a sellers point of view. I rarely if ever buy from Ebay due to high shipping prices and insane bidding battles. Craigslist is certainly the way to go if purchasing something.

carleton

I think you just answered your own question.

The opportunity cost of eBay is higher than that of craigslist. In short, eBay is just more drama. Yeah, you might get slightly more money. But sometimes it's just not worth jumping through all the hoops, shipping, waiting for your money to pass through paypal, risking a dispute from a buyer buying sight-unseen.

Craigslist is great if you live in a medium to large sized city. That right there gets you a large AND local audience. eBay probably works better for those selling from smaller cities (markets).

OneMoreGear

Craigslist. And wait until spring.

vegipowrd

I totally agree with the shipping problems for complete bikes, but do you guys still think ebay isn't worth the trouble for single components?

eogie

I hear ya. I've yet to actually complete a transaction on Ebay so my opinion may change. I have the idea of buying from garage sales and craigslist and then re-listing on Ebay. We'll see how it goes.

Meepers

i both sell and buy on eBay. more buying these days. my rule of thumb is list on Craigslist first. if it sells locally, great! no shipping to worry about, you don't have to worry about negative feedback because some one didn't read a description right. and that could lead to less selling activity if you have negative feedback. with craigslist, they come to you. that's huge. even if you mail a little less money off the bat, think about this. Craigslist has: NO listing fees, NO commission fees, you don't have to go to the post office/FedEx/UPS store, so less gas (energy/time on a bike) is used. your time is worth money after all. plus to make a good ebay add, you have to put in a little time, about a half hour an add. craiglist you can type up some nice words and you are done.

but, craigslist doesn't always work, people haggle you, low ball you, or just never contact about an item. then it goes to eBay. wider audience, and that is why there is more hastle. but it could be worth it. both great tools. use them both. start with free (craiglist) to try and maximize your profit. if that doesn't work eBay! well that's how/why i sell. works for me. maybe it would work for you to.

eidt: i hate split keyboards, i can not type on them at all.

eogie

Sounds great. I have a UPS store very close by. Nashville has a pretty good market for bikes, especially with warm weather approaching. I love finding alternative ways to make money.

jmio

yeah, i'll take the CL approach then if nothing ebay will be a last resort. I'm up in ohio so our 3 months of warm will be here soon, maybe by august.......lol.

Jawn P

Craiglist is good for ripping off hipsters. Especially with a fixed gear.

cblaster

Definitely the best advice you'll get. My girlfriend sold her old Raleigh Uptown hybrid bike for a decent amount. A woman came and bought it because she loved the "cushy seat". She actually made $10 profit after originally buying it for $60 and riding it for 8 months. The only thing I would recommend is that you insist that the buyer has to come and pick it up. That way, they can take it for a test ride so that they will know exactly what they are buying before they give you the money. That way you don't have to deal with any post-purchase arguments.

jmio

I don't wanna rip off anyone, would like to see the bike get some use though.

Live2Die

After 4 years of CL sales I'll throw out one more thing to consider, I always make arrangements with a buyer to view the item in person as said above but, I NEVER meet in my house. I will always meet at a neutral location or go to the buyer. I think it's a pretty good rule of thumb to keep people out of the loop as to where you live and what goodies you have there. I just don't want to get robbed by someone who sees something they want in my house. It happens, and it's a pretty easy way for a thief to get a peek into your house.
Also as stated above I'll always go CL first and deal only with cash. Be real cautious of cashiers checks and all the other phony things out there. take good pictures preferably with a neutral background (a sheet or blanket can work well, I like gray over white to avoid over exposure and contrast my item better), I wouldn't say to necessarily wait for spring but just realize that it may not move right away or you may have to lower your price to sell it now. I also think it's decent to provide a contact name so the buyer can address their e-mail or phone call appropriately but thats a personal preferance. Good luck on your sale!

bbattle

When I see what all the track frames are going for on eBay; it seems hard to bet against it.

It's not that hard to ship a bike. Some people may not want to buy a bike for $100 then pay $60 for shipping so Craiglist or campus flyers may be the better bet for a less expensive bike.

On your flyer, I'd put a picture of some hipster doing a crazy skid; that'll get top dollar. Even more if you can get some hottie with large "tracts of land" to pose on the bike. That'll let the guys know what this bike is capable of.

bbattle

Good points.

When someone calls and wants to check out the bike, see how interested they are then ask where they are so you can suggest a meeting place halfway between both of you. A very public place.

blankgen

Another nice thing about CL is that you might get some really cool stuff in trade. Although you have to deal with the low ****** equivalent in trades, like the guy who wanted to trade his walmart mountain bike for my AC30.

p120ud213azn

i would post whenever u can...

taht is if ur not lazy lol

if its sold.. then its sold, more postings the higher chance of selling

start higher than u expect then drop a lil when ppl ask u to