As mentioned previously, I am selling my old commuter with hub gears. Where's the best bet for selling:
- ebay
- gumtree
- other fora
- ?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Best way to sell a bike
(13 posts)- Started 11 years ago by amir
- Latest reply from LivM
- This topic is
not resolved
-
Posted 11 years ago #
-
Depends...
Bikes on ebay tend to sell for less than you might think they are worth unless 'collectible' or fairly recent in good condition.
Worth waiting until you get an email saying 'free listing this weekend' and then put a price on that you don't want to go below.
Gumtree you have to arrange to meet 'strangers' - probably at your house - which not everyone is comfortable with.
Might be worth going to Soul Cycles. Might offer you enough to make you think above is worth the hassle of (ebay) boxing and arranging carriage.
You might get appreciative response/buyers here...
There are people here who love hub gears and others with less happy experiences.
Posted 11 years ago # -
My best results have been on eBay. Gumtree always seems easier, but there are so many listed that you rely on people trawling through all the old adverts if it's not seen immediately - I think eBay is easier for people to search. You will get offers from all corners of the globe to give people a buy-it-now though.
Likely other experiences of Gumtree will differ from mine.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I sold my mountain bike, and a road frame on here within a few hours, and my wife's mountain bike on gumtree in less than half an hour.
With the Gumtree ad I did use my work's post code as I guessed there was more demand for bikes in 'Edinburgh City Centre' than Fife, required a wee bit of explaining and providing proof of purchase to the interested party, but that tactic seemed to work.
I have no other experience of selling bikes, but all 3 times was surprised at the demand for them.
Posted 11 years ago # -
One tip: you need good photos of the actual bike you are selling, including detail shots of key features, showing condition, and any damage. Coupled with a good honest description this helps inspire confidence, whether the platforn is fleaBay or EeeByGum.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Gumtree is an absolute minefield for both buying and selling. It might go within hours to a perfectly legit person or you might be fielding requests for you to meet alone in a dark alley with the bike for weeks on end. I won't say not to try it but be very very wary. Ebay is not perfect either but it's generally much harder to get stung.
I've had the best results, as you might expect, on bike specific sites. Pinkbike is good but it's very mtb orientated, not sure how much interest you'd get there. Might be better with the Bikeradar forums. If you're on facebook there's a dedicated bike sales group that's proven very popular. It's moderated so there's no nonsense posts and everything is actually local - there's another group that was originally for Scotland only, but got overrun with 'hi I know I'm living deep in the Amazon rainforest but check out my ebay listing....' type posts.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Singletrack classifieds can sell stuff amazingly quick - and there are a lot of contributors in Edinburgh. It's mainly MTB stuff, but I've sold commuting stuff there too.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I put a bike on Gumtree and got the asking price within a few days. It was less trouble than eBay but I had to answer a lot of phone calls. Oddly quite a few people seemed to want to know if it was still for sale but then when I said it was showed no further interest.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Cyclingmollie Oddly quite a few people seemed to want to know if it was still for sale but then when I said it was showed no further interest.
Its weird
I had a real spate of sellers not answering my questions
swapped from my Virginmedia account to using Gmail and I got replies.
So i wonder if there is an issue with Gumtree or VMs spam systemPosted 11 years ago # -
@custard, It seemed to me that people wanted to get an option on the bike without committing to buying it while they looked around some more. This was by phone and by e-mail (tip: don't supply your phone number). I wasn't prepared to do that but still ended up selling to someone who couldn't get along for it until the weekend. I should have asked for same day uplift I suppose.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Thanks for all the advice. In the end, I put an ad up on Gumtree along with a few fora (Bikeradar, CTC, ERC). So far I have had one vague nibble from Gumtree (about size) and 3 bites from CTC willing to pay the full price. I find these rather worrying because they are all far away buyers:
- it is harder to trust them
- how to get payment
- having to send by post/courier
Any advice?I have put a holding message up for now, saying that I'd prefer a local buyer so I'll give that a couple of days chance. In the meantime, I might try out Soul Cycles.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I just sold a trek mountain bike and an Edinburgh bikes mountain bike within 4 hours of posting the ad on Gumtree. These were for 12/14 year olds. I had another 6 expressions of interest to come and view before removing the ad.
If anybody is interested I am also selling ramps for bmx / skateboard / skates. Tow bar rack for 4 bikes - brand Hollywood. Also on Gumtree
Cheers
Posted 11 years ago # -
I saw an article on the Guardian about how bike shops are sold out of new bikes. Maybe now is the time to get around to selling on my basically unused crossbike. Bought in 2014 a few weeks before I got pregnant and never got much use, and now I ride an ebike and the shiny crossbike hides in the garage.
I'm cautious of virus transmission though with test rides / strangers turning up to view it.
Opinions on selling to Soul Cycles / Eastside bikes/ other shops?
Or is anyone on here looking for an n+1?
Suits a tallish person (6'+ probably). Edinburgh Bicycle CrossPro with disc brakes, mudguards, carbon forks. Bought for £700+ and it's done <150 miles I think. Just trying to clear space in the garage.Posted 4 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
