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How Did You Sell Your Bike?

5K views 38 replies 20 participants last post by  Grumbler 
#1 ·
I'd like to get some ideas on the best way to sell a motorcycle.

I'm thinking about selling my Mean Streak for a nice down payment on a new Rubicon and I need to know what is the best way to do it.

I'm not to keen on putting an ad in the paper and having strangers come over to the house and want to test drive my bike, but if I have to do that I will. Is Craig's list a good option? Or how about consignments? Do dealers still do that?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Run an ad on the Cycle Trader website - the ads are very cost effective and attract people who are looking for a specific bike. Most buyers will travel some distance to get what they want. I sold my Yamaha 650 Classic using them a couple of years ago.

Regarding "test rides" - I would be very careful about letting someone ride a bike unless I knew them or something about their riding skills.

Dealers might sell on consignment. Your best bet is to find a store that deals in used bikes but not new ones. They typically are more receptive to consignment deals. Be prepared to pay for their services - a store that I am familiar with here in FL charges $700 to sell a bike on consignment.

Hope this helps, and happy holidays.
 
#4 ·
A little off topic but...
It is a good idea to be sure the bike is secure while advertising, especially if the bike is not a heavy weight. My son bought a well used 250 dirt bike. Tore it down and R & R-ed. Even sandblasted the frame and repainted. Looked and ran like new. Put it up for sale for $ for school. It was stored under the back deck. Got a call on Sat - Someone got directions to come look at it on Sunday. They came, driving a box truck (neighbor saw it) at about 4AM Sunday. When we got up Sunday the bike was gone, never to be seen again :(
I guess I am lucky in a way I didn't wake up and employ a 12 gauge deterent!

Woody
 
#6 ·
I use craigslist a lot and I get some great deals and make great deals on it.

just remember to add a few hundred for when they talk to "down" to the price you really want for it... lol.

also be sure to post big pictures so people can see the listing. I don't know if you know anything about HTML but simply using some HTML coding will make your listing stand out big time on craigslist....

you want to use line breaks to end a line and start a new one and multiple line breaks to add spaces in between lines.

The code for a line break is:

HTML:
<br>
it's that simple.

To put a full size image into a listing on craigslist you will need to host that image at a place like www.photobucket.com . which is probably your best best for hosting pictures anyway.

If your image file is larger than 1MB they will auto resize the image to 1024x768 which is a pretty decent sized image as it is, I like bigger so I handle my photo resizing myself but I do a lot of photography and so on so I know what I'm doing there....

Once your photo is hosted you can simply copy the image code that they give you for HTML full size and then plug that into your listing and good to go.... Simple, effective and will make your listing stand out like a soar thumb giving you the advantage.

If you host your images somewhere else then all you need to do is take the image location such at:
Code:
http://www.timbufktwo.com/thisfolder/suckonmyimage.jpg
and place it into the right HTML tag to allow it to be displayed as an image such as this....:
HTML:
<img src="http://www.timbufktwo.com/thisfolder/suckonmyimage.jpg">

and you are done......

also be sure to upload an image into the regular craigslist image thing for those who like to filter for only listings with images.

This will make you stand out and win you faster sales. There are a lot of other things that you could do but to be honest... I'm not giving out all my secrets.
 
#33 ·
#7 ·
I used CL to sell my 900 classic and I had very good luck. A nice couple drove 3 hours to see it. I felt comfortable letting them test drive it once I got talking to them. I asked for their dl if they were going to test ride it. Remember this much, an agreement between two parties is a civil issue if anything happens while they are riding it. Just saying.
I also bought my V2K on CL. Drove to another state to get it. Drove 12 hours to buy 2 jetskis. All I can say is talk to the sellers and get a feel for who you are dealing with. Let common sense be your guide. If it don't feel right, don't go. Good luck..hope it works for you.
 
#10 ·
As far as "TEST" rides I've seen it posted that the buyer can only test ride if they give you the purchase price in CASH to hold while they're out. That way if they wreck it they bought it...Sounds fair to me. A serious buyer shouldnt have a problem with that. :rolleyes:
 
#11 ·
I wanted a connie so went to the cog site. Sure enough,someone had the perfect connie for me and wanted a vulcan 1600 250 miles away. Got lucky.

Consider going to a jeep or rubicon site and post.

In my case, we both got what we felt was a great bang for the buck and no middle man made money off of us.

You might get lucky.

As far as a ride, we met in the middle, so knew each other could ride.
 
#13 ·
Have never sold one, but bought mine on Kijijii, and was very satisfied. It is also free. Agree with test rider letting you hold the money while they ride your bike
 
#16 ·
Have never sold one, but bought mine on Kijijii, and was very satisfied. It is also free. Agree with test rider letting you hold the money while they ride your bike
Do you have to pick different areas with that like craigslist or does it show everywhere like ebay.

Thanks,

Frank
 
#15 ·
I do not like using craigslist. My best luck in selling stuff (and I don't sell stuff to make money, I sell stuff to get rid of it) has always been local trading papers and word of mouth. I have sold more stuff word of mouth than any other method. It seem if you have something you either know someones or a person you knows someone that is interested.
 
#18 ·
Just for grins send him an email. I betcha he 'accidentally' sends you a cashiers check for a couple grand OVER the price, and wants you to send him a money order for the overage amount and pay him back. Banking on you thinking that cashiers checks are safer than personal checks (actually no, just quicker because the money is immediately held in the senders account, but you can stop or reclaim a cashiers check just as easy as a personal check)

I know my local bank has a guy who deals with fraud stuff. Happened to my mom who was selling a car, we took the cashiers check up to the bank and they got it to the authorities. Dunno if they'll ever catch the dude, likely in another country, doing it!
 
#19 ·
My brother-in-law was selling a sportster several years ago in Kansas City. Guy calls, get direction, and comes by, Seems legit, asked to test ride it, he says ok. Never saw buyer or bike again. Cash and or DL is very good idea. At least have a buddie or 2 ride with them, incase they forget were you live.
 
#23 ·
Not sure where you are located, but KSL.com out of Salt Lake has an excellent on-line classifieds service. Don't know the cost of placing an ad, but I know a lot of people around here (Southern Idaho) watch it for cars, bikes etc. I see bikes in there advertised from around the surrounding states.
 
#24 ·
Mine was on Craig's List by a nice older local gent (was selling due to some health problems, his wife had a "caniption" every time he got on it). He didn't allow a test ride, but he did take it up and down the street so I could hear how it ran and shifted.
 
#29 ·
I would tell a buyer Ill take it to a dealer for them to give it a test ride and inspection. Take a refundable deposit to make sure their serious. As long as it didn't need anymore than a $200 in work he's bought the bike. Figure the cost of the inspection when listing the bikes sales price.

If he doesn't buy it I'll have the written inspection report to show any future buyers.
 
#31 · (Edited)
One trick is to mask your number.

For example, instead of 555-555-1212, you post 5five5-5five five-one2onetwo

You've probably noticed that in other ads. Thing is, 99.9999% of the scammers aren't going through and looking at your ads. Computer software is doing that. Often, the initial text or email is computer generated. These scam bots are looking for phone numbers, e-mail addresses, addresses, etc. When you mask it like that, the majority of those scam bots will look right past it thinking it's other data and not a phone number.

Personally, I just do e-mail only on those classified ads, or craigslist, etc. I use a junk email account (easy to make a free email account). If I get someone who is seriously interested, I'll give them my real e-mail address and my phone number via e-mail. It also makes it easier for all the people who ignore the 'no trades' part and are offering me all sorts of junk I could or would never use. I don't need a 'project car' or some scrap antique you think is valuable! So instead of me having to deal with them on the phone, I just send a polite 'no thanks' via e-mail. Then the serious buyers can give me a call (or give me their number and I'll call them). Really saves you time. Anyone with the know-how to be looking stuff up with Craigslist or eBay classifieds ought to have access to e-mail...

Personally I find dealing with that stuff online to be a pain in the butt! But you gotta work to make money. You could sell it on consignment at a dealer or just sell it outright to a dealer, or trade it in, etc. But, if you don't mind a little leg work, you can cut out the middle man and make a few bucks selling it yourself. Just depends how much more you think you'll get out of a private sale vs the time, energy, and annoyance that goes into it.
 
#32 ·
Hang in there. Tax season is here. Sometimes you end up finding people with extra $$$ in their pockets during these few months.

Romans
I never put "NO TRADES" in an add. But I usually don't put "TRADES WELCOME" either. I always entertain trade offers if they might be something of any value but I LOVE wheeling and dealing. I have a full size GMC Pick-up that I only $2,500 for because I bought a Mustang off a girl that "Needed" (I say that loosely) a new car and it had "Problems". Then after a few trades. It is amazing what people will trade when you have something they want. You just have to be patient and let them come to you. But like I said. I think its fun and enjoy it.
 
#35 ·
In addition to what has already been said:

A lot of folks in this area will say "Where do you live? I'll come look at it sometime this weekend" (or whatever). I don't agree to that. I tell them they need to commit to a time on a certain day (like 3:00 PM Saturday). I further tell them I come and go a lot and if they just show up, I may not be here and whatever they are coming to look at will either be gone or locked up. I also make sure we have each other's (actual) phone numbers. There's always a risk of someone just trying to find out where you live so they can use the "five finger discount". Nothing's foolproof, but this works for me. FWIW.
 
#37 ·
Ya, I realize some of us sound negative! There are lots of good folks out there looking to buy or sell a bike. We're just trying to give you a heads up on some of the bad things that can happen. Keep the faith.........a good buyer will eventually show up. :)
 
#39 · (Edited)
Test ride and other options on selling

Years ago, while looking for a used Shovelhead, I found one in the local shopper classifieds. We called, got the address, drove over to the seller's home, and eyeballed the FLH1200. I asked for a test ride while my bud held the cash for me.

He refused and said that the best he could do would to take me for a ride on the K&Q seat. I absolutely HATE riding on the back of bikes. He did his best to scare the crap out of me on that ride. LOL

I swapped my cash for the bike and, a couple of years later, decided to sell it. Problem for me back then were bike thieves. I would only agree to meet at a public location like coffee shops with friends.

Got nowhere and eventually sold it on consignment. Didn't get quite as much as I wanted, but the hassle of trying to sell it on my own wasn't worth it.

In March of 2003 was trying to sell a 1986 Gold Wing Interstate with 95K miles on the clock. Had absolutely no luck.

I attended a Vintage/Classic Motorcycle Show & Swap Meet that March and parked it at the public lot with a big for sale sign on the windshield with phone#/Email tear offs. Several tear offs were missing after the show.

Got call from buyer 300 miles away. A friend of his saw my bike, and gave him the info. Was completely honest about condition of bike ie warped rear brake rotor and rear tire with 1K miles left. Also emailed pics of the bike from front, rear and both sides. He sent me a deposit and picked it up a week later.

If there's any bike nights or motorcycle events in your area, it wouldn't hurt to have your bike parked there with a for sale sign. It needs to be SEEN in order to attract buyers. Good luck!
 
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