Selling price?

How do you guys come up with a price when selling your bike?

compare to other ones listed here and on ADVrider. double check against CL and Cycle Trader. Then price slightly lower and don't haggle. By the time I sell, I want it gone and don't want to have to deal with buyers for months just to get the best price.

WoodButcher said:

compare to other ones listed here and on ADVrider. double check against CL and Cycle Trader. Then price slightly lower and don't haggle. By the time I sell, I want it gone and don't want to have to deal with buyers for months just to get the best price.

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Thanks and definitely want them gone when I start.

Yes, I generally agree with Rusty. I do price with the ability to offer a discount in mind. Some people feel they didn't get a deal if there isn't some kind of haggling. When I was boating there were guys that would put a boat up for sale and then pay a $300 per month slip fee for a year on the brokerage docks because they didn't want to drop the price another $1500. Testing the market is one thing, but when it's time to let it go, let it go. Hang onto that $5000 bike long enough and it will only be worth the $4750 you were offered.

BTW, any bike in signature will be available, lol, if anyone has a price point for them.

woodsguy said:

BTW, any bike in signature will be available, lol, if anyone has a price point for them.

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Are you getting out of riding?

Due diligence is warranted. But weeding through the common places described gives one a sense of asking price and not necessarily fair market value.

Look at how long some of those asking prices stay up on eBay and Craigslist.

One also has to factor in the time of year. Winter and the Holidays is a terrible time to sell.

One of my pet peeves is a seller who will offer his ride at high retail and be firm on the price, but then sell it for wholesale to a dealer. And then come right back here and ask for help.

Revzilla had a lengthy article (and even longer comment section) about this, with people arguing the merits of aggressively pricing a bike and staying "firm", versus setting the asking price at a "reach" and letting you get haggled down to the price you realistically want. Obviously a lower advertised price will attract more interest and hopefully a buyer. But as said, some people feel the need to haggle, and won't buy unless they can kick you down a ways. I have met a few stubborn people like this, that even admitted my asking price was the best deal they've come across, but absolutely refused to pay an asking price to the point of getting offended I wouldn't negotiate with them.

From experience, NADA "low retail" or KBB "trade in" generally equates somewhere between average-to-high private party value, if you'd like to sell in a reasonably quick timeframe (say, a few weeks).

Browsing craigslist or cycletrader might give you a starting point, but it will also probably skew your expectations high. Search ebay or other auction sites completed listings to see what similar bikes actually sold for, not what owners are asking. You can look at CL at pricing, but also note how long the ad has been up for. If someone is advertising a bike at $8,000 and the ad has been up for a couple months, you can take away that it's realistically not worth $8,000 if you also do not want to wait months for a sale.

Timing does help- there's more buyers looking in the spring, but contrary to belief, I really don't think springtime equals appreciably higher sale prices- just faster sales. In the past I've turned down offers I felt were low in the winter, that I could do better in the spring, and ended up selling for the same or even less later on despite warmer weather. I've also heard tax refund season is a great time to sell, people with "found money" burning a hole in their pocket, but in practice I've never notice a surge of offers or interest around this time either.

Electrified said:

Are you getting out of riding?

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Not totally but cleaning my act up. To be honest, kept spending like when I worked, not working now. not in a hurry and haven't listed yet but it's time to be realistic with myself.

Or sell my car and wife isn't thrilled with that, and I'd never replace it. Hard decisions.

woodsguy said:

Not totally but cleaning my act up. To be honest, kept spending like when I worked, not working now. not in a hurry and haven't listed yet but it's time to be realistic with myself.

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I'm retiring tomorrow. Do I have to sell some bikes?

I research CL, Cycletrader and the forums history and pick a price that reflects the condition of my bike. Is it higher/lower miles than average? Does it have more stuff on it than average? Is it in better or worse shape than average. All are factored in.

I place the ad and wait for the response. If the response is high I'm firm on price, if it's low I become more flexible after a bit. I'm typically not in a position where I have to sell it so don't mind waiting for a fair price. One thing I know is that when someone show's up to look at it they'll probably buy it because my description of the bike is very accurate if not maybe underselling it a bit.

I never mind someone making me an offer even if it isn't something I'd consider. I just politely refuse and thank them for considering it.

A bike's "value" is not some objectively fixed number. Value is subjective and fluid. The exact same bike might be far more valuable to one person than to another because value flows from each person's subjective feelings, desires, and their particular circumstances. While you might do some research about past prices of similar bikes, those are not controlling regarding the value of any bike you might wish to buy or sell.

In the end, YOU decide what the value of your bike is and what price it will take for you to let it go. If you cannot find a seller willing to pay your price, that simply means that the bike is worth more to you than having less money than your asking price. Buyers decide what the bike is worth to them. If they are not willing to pay your price, then they value the money they have more than the bike. Time preference plays a BIG part in the valuation of a particular bike for both sellers and buyers. If you are in a hurry to move a bike, then you will place more value on having money in hand now over holding out for a bit more. If buyers want a bike NOW, then they may have to be willing to pay more versus waiting and shopping around for a better deal. There are other factors as well: age of the bike, condition of the bike, farkles installed, etc,... All of those factors come into play on both sides of the transaction.

Once a price has been agreed upon, it merely reflects the value of that specific bike, at that specific time, for the specific seller and buyer in that transaction. That price is then nothing more than a historical fact, just like sale prices for all other bikes. They are at best, general indicators of what people have been willing to sell for and buy for, nothing more. They help to give you an idea of what price will move a bike quickly or what price you might get by holding out. But ultimately, it will come down to you and your potential buyer.

I will look at past transactions on TWT, Advrider, and other sites. I will check NADA and KBB. I will look to see what dealers are asking for similar bikes. I consider the cost of the bike I want to buy to replace the one being sold (if I am replacing it). I consider how quickly I want/need to sell the bike. I consider whether or not I want to mess with removing farkles to sell independently for more money, or just leaving them on to serve as enticements for a quicker sell even though they contribute very little to the final sale price. After considering all that, I just come up with a price range in which I'd be willing to sell the bike. I will list at the high end of that range. I generally resist haggling unless that bike has been sitting for a while and has had little interest. If I really need it gone, I will just price it lower and still avoid haggling. I will NEVER list a price followed by OBO!! That just invites headaches.

My experience has usually been that when I go to sell a bike, the market is suddenly flooded with other bikes just like mine, with many of the same accessories, but with half the mileage! The same is true when I want a particular bike but can't afford to get one at the moment. But when I AM ready to buy, all those low mileage, low priced, and nicely farkled bikes vanish into the woodwork like cockroaches when the lights come on!

I do not get testy and ugly if someone makes a crazy low ball offer. I just tell them no thanks.

What others have said for pricing. I'd add, I try to avoid CL, it's filled with scammers and professional lookers that have no intention of ever buying.

I posted my last bike on TWT and Advrider. It sold in about a month to a fellow TWT member. I wasn't in a hurry and didn't want to deal with CL or want ad headaches.

GLWS.

woodsguy said:

Not totally but cleaning my act up.

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IMHO, the R1200RS and the R9T are two of the coolest bikes BMW has ever made. I'd definitely hang on to that RS if I were you. I bet you'd miss it a bunch.

humanrace said:

I'm retiring tomorrow. Do I have to sell some bikes?

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Nope, just my po butt has to.

This brings me to a pet peeve of mine. I will do a search of forums like TWT and often you can scan through and see what the general range of the final sale price will be either in the edited original ad or somewhere in the thread.

That said, it frustrates me to no end and makes zero sense when the seller has decided that his thread serves no more use and deletes the content from his original post leaving nothing but "Sold." Mark it as sold but leave the content please, it lets me compare my bike and accessories to yours and see what yours sold at to give me an idea of the selling price. We are a community and the sharing of information is valuable and when you delete your information from your post it's quite frustrating and selfish.

Rant off....I place more value in for sale threads than most other places, especially here because it's the market I'm selling in.

gixxerjasen said:

That said, it frustrates me to no end and makes zero sense when the seller has decided that his thread serves no more use and deletes the content from his original post leaving nothing but "Sold." Mark it as sold but leave the content please, it lets me compare my bike and accessories to yours and see what yours sold at to give me an idea of the selling price. We are a community and the sharing of information is valuable and when you delete your information from your post it's quite frustrating and selfish.

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100% agree. I notice that this happens often and it's aggravating because if the price has been left on the post, it would be very useful for future buyers/sellers as a reference.

Nice weather makes a difference along with good timing too, just my 2 cents, I'm always prepared to come off 1 or 2 hundred to make it go away, post Friday morning so folks will see it at their lunch break, when I want a bike I'll trudge through rain, sleet hail or snow to get it and that's the truth.

Marc B said:

when I want a bike I'll trudge through rain, sleet hail or snow to get it and that's the truth.

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You mean like this?

I haven't read thru the entire thread, but just a comment on another option. Some people like trading and constantly being in the buying and selling game, I hate it. The last time I decided to upgrade, I first listed on the forum and after little interest, took it out to Hank. He sold it in a couple of days, and even after his fee I got more than I was asking originally. It was well worth it.

gixxerjasen said:

This brings me to a pet peeve of mine. I will do a search of forums like TWT and often you can scan through and see what the general range of the final sale price will be either in the edited original ad or somewhere in the thread.

That said, it frustrates me to no end and makes zero sense when the seller has decided that his thread serves no more use and deletes the content from his original post leaving nothing but "Sold." Mark it as sold but leave the content please, it lets me compare my bike and accessories to yours and see what yours sold at to give me an idea of the selling price. We are a community and the sharing of information is valuable and when you delete your information from your post it's quite frustrating and selfish.

Rant off....I place more value in for sale threads than most other places, especially here because it's the market I'm selling in.

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I encourage people to leave their threads for the same exact reasons you mention. We will mark the thread title as --SOLD-- if a seller let's us know it is sold. However, we also respect that some folks just want their ad removed, so we do that if asked.

Knobby said:

I haven't read thru the entire thread, but just a comment on another option. Some people like trading and constantly being in the buying and selling game, I hate it. The last time I decided to upgrade, I first listed on the forum and after little interest, took it out to Hank. He sold it in a couple of days, and even after his fee I got more than I was asking originally. It was well worth it.

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Who is Hank?

Tourmeister said:

Who is Hank?

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+1