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Slick Rick

Slick Rick

Joined
Nov 18, 2006
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Mesa, AZ.
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So I decided to put some of my vintage Schwinns up on C.L. over the weekend. these are not museum quality bikes to be sure, but nice mostly original riders. There is really nothing cheap on these bikes. If resto. was in the buyers mind,A couple of these would truly only need paint and decals to be Awesome! And in the case of my customs, once agaain, nothing cheap or shabby here. So through the course of the day I have answered a pretty good stream of calls/E-mails from the listing w/no sale as of yet. I thought the last one was pretty interesting so I'll share. E-mail reads " What can I get for $100.00 ?" My reply " Something at WAL_MART that has been marked down!" :roll: Later & PEACE!!!! :mrgreen:
 
One time I was selling a very nice bike on Craigslist for $10. Some dude calls me up, and offers me $7. Being nice, I accepted that offer. Then he comes over and offers $5... and then pressures me into selling it to him for that cheap, What the heck???? I hate selling stuff on Craigslist because you never know what low life is behind that email or voice. I'm sticking to garage sales. :lol:
 
The key to selling successfully on the CL is having nice large clear photos from many angles, a detailed description of the bike and an exact price.

If you eliminate the question marks then the serious buyers usually rise to the top. :wink:
 
Yeah, I hear ya steve, congrats BTW on that Collegiate sale! Looks like that pic thing certainly did well for you, I'm sure the bike had a lot to do with it also :wink: I actually had a pic of the Schwinnister on the add for $300.00 and an E-mail was sent wanting to know "why so much ?" I replied and let him know that the rear hub, paint and maskings were right in the neighbor hood of the entire purrchase price. And that is truly the issue in a nutshell, you really can not fully appreciate the value of something until you have had a deeper exposure to it. Later & PEACE!!!
 
Steve, that is true. When I see a Stingray that says "Make offer!" I offer them $20-$50... well its like I don't know what you want for it. Heck!, somebody said make offer to this bike and I got it for $5!

fleamarketfind19.jpg
 
Listen to Steve. Listen to Steve. He with out a doubt knows what he's talking about. I consider him a craigslist pro.
His motto is shiny shiny chrome, clean it till your fingers fall off..... Buy cheap sell high.
 
Ha Ha...you're funny James. :lol:

I have had a few goofy inquiries about bikes on the CL, but that just comes with the territory. For the most part people have been okay.

I have had a few people call me on the way to my house to let me know they are coming and then they never show up. :roll:

You just sort of have to expect this kind of stuff from the public when selling stuff. If it upsets ya then you just need to focus on collecting.

A few other pointers would be to make sure the bikes are rideable and that they are clean. The combination of this and the large photos makes selling stuff really easy.

It always gives me a good feeling when people come over and are amazed at the condition of stuff...that always makes it fun and a little harder for them to haggle. :wink:
 
My response when people wont give me a price and say make me an offer. Well if you want me to sell it as well as to buy it i guess i will try to sell it cheep.
 
Rat Rod said:
It always gives me a good feeling when people come over and are amazed at the condition of stuff...that always makes it fun and a little harder for them to haggle. :wink:
Click to expand...

lol!!! Steve you minds well say to the buyer before he comes over, "Make sure you bring some sun glasses because I just got done polishing the chrome"... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
i have had nothing but good experiences using CL.
i guess you really just have to qualify the buyers, or sellers.

if you really want to buy something on there, call right away and show your interest, and ask relevant questions. try to look at the bike(product) before you make any offers, decisions... if the seller is an idiot, and the details are really vague, i usually back off there.

as a seller, great photos and great descriptions are necessary.
qualify the buyer. if you leave your contact phone number, and you get emails, those people are probably not too serious.
if you get lowball offers before someone has actually see the product, those are the pain in the ... people.
 
i dont want to hi jack this thread but i need some cl advice... i've sold more then 150 bikes this summer to about 130 very happy people. I had one complaint all year, i sold a beautiful specialized rockhopper for 100, the girl losened the stem toraise the bars losened then to the point of the wedge bolt falling out the bottom of the fork. she then lost the nut and bolt and called me to tell me the bike was broken. i told her i'd look at it. i fixed it but then she said she wanted her money back i gave her every penny i had on me 80 dollars. now shes emailing harrassing me about 20. the way i look at it i'm out the time re-showing re listing and what i lost selling it the second time, plus i gave her a seat extra that she kept .. what am i to do. can't make everyone happy i guess
 
there was a guy in a town near me that was selling a "custom chopper" that he built. it wasnt really anything that fancy. 26 inch mtb wheels front and rear. camo paint and just not all that nice of a custom bike. he never posted a price but said make an offer, and after having it on CL for three months i finally told him that id give him $25 for it. he said yea right i was thinkin more around 300!!! i told him for that price he could keep it. then he told me that his bottom dollar would be $125. i still said no cuz it wasnt worth that much to me. i told him he could obviously weld well and had a knack for building custom bikes. but still told him to keep it and good luck selling his bike for that much. one thing i hate about CL is that some people think that their stuff is worth gold. and they want a bajillion dollars for some piece of junk.
thats my craigslist experience for ya'll

Easy E
 
One difference I've noticed between Craigslist and Ebay is that Craigslist is oriented towards a local audience. If you're selling a bike on Craigslist, it had better be something that lots of people want, and then you should have a few local people interested. If it's some exotic or rare or specialized item, there may not be anyone local that really appreciates it and you can't give it away, then.

I see a lot of discussions about the worth of a bike, about lowballing, etc. The way I look at, just because a bike is worth $500 to you doesn't mean it is worth $500 to me. To be honest, there's a lot of bikes in a bike store that I wouldn't bother hauling home if they were free. It doesn't mean something's wrong with them, or that they're overpriced, just that they're not worth anything to ME. So if you list some bike for $500 and I offer $100, don't take that as an insult to the item, it's just a recognition that I don't value it as highly as you do.
 
I think you hit the nail right on the head dude! Its very hard to appreciate anything fully with little or no exposure to it. I don't consider myself an expert on anything, but compared to many I have much more knowledge simply through exposure and practical experience. Kind of like the story of "the star of the America's". A guy attends a rock and mineral show, he notices many what appear to be Aggots, according to the seller. He is seeing what appears to be something else entirely different! He starts looking around the table for some bigger "aggots" and finds one about the size of a small potato! At this point the buyer is about to bust with excitement over the possibilities of his find and asks"How much for the aggots?" Seller replies $9.00 Buyer asks "And for the big one?" Seller say's I'll take $2.00 for that one, it's not as pretty. End result? Buyer had purchased the largest Sapphire known to exist, dwarfing the Star of India, previously the largest, by double! Now Known as the "Star of the America's" and a half a dozen smaller sapphires.Moral, Many don't appreciate or recognise a "Gem" in the rough! I guess good for us! :mrgreen: Later & PEACE!!!!!
 
I sold a chair on Craig's List without a hitch. Everything other than that had to go to re-sale shops or into a garage sale.

I had a GREAT experience at a garage sale a couple of years ago. A guy wanted some speakers I had for sale super-cheap. I mean SUPER cheap. I went down on the price to a certain point and the guy walks out thinking I'll stop him and lower the price AGAIN. No dice - I let him walk. Another guy shows up and gives me what I was asking for the speakers and is paying me the cash as the first guy walks back in with cash in hand, sees the guy paying, looks like he's gonna cry, and then walks out. Snooze, ya lose. Live.
 
cody-james said:
i dont want to hi jack this thread but i need some cl advice... i've sold more then 150 bikes this summer to about 130 very happy people. I had one complaint all year, i sold a beautiful specialized rockhopper for 100, the girl losened the stem toraise the bars losened then to the point of the wedge bolt falling out the bottom of the fork. she then lost the nut and bolt and called me to tell me the bike was broken. i told her i'd look at it. i fixed it but then she said she wanted her money back i gave her every penny i had on me 80 dollars. now shes emailing harrassing me about 20. the way i look at it i'm out the time re-showing re listing and what i lost selling it the second time, plus i gave her a seat extra that she kept .. what am i to do. can't make everyone happy i guess
Click to expand...

Seriously dude, I think you went over and above... Keep the difference for your time and trouble.
 

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