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Selling it aint so easy...

Post #40, welcome to the world we all live in now. I heard from the same "marina", shuck it off-they're out there. Ebay & Craigslist have plenty of flakes & waaaaaaayyyyyy more regular folks that take it in stride. I have my times that I grunt & groan with the "winners" of auctions not following through as the many warnings attest but you can always call the ebay people in India and get that phony bidder removed from the eligible list.:)
I have my bike listed on CL,IBMWR,MOA & ADV now & only had one junk email(it looked OK but filtered as junk), so maybe its a slow day in the dark continent?:dunno
The recent statement that "they could find it closer to home" still ignores the fact that there really are not that many(if any at all) MC's that are of a certain brand,model,year,condition,etc., in most rural areas. The one I have for sale now came from D/FW & I can assure you they are not to be found just anywhere. Sure, they come up every now & then but lets be real, BMW is a niche market MC & much the same for the other 1st choice buys to be found. I find that one must tolerate a certain level of distrust or caution in the other guy until we both have found our comfort zone, then once it's apparent that we are both sorta of lucid & regular folks(whatever that is?) it proceeds as in the "good old days".
I've done lots of buys/sells on ADV rider where trust is involved & never an issue yet. OTOH, I can remember some good old days dealings with some real old time crooks. There's still may be the guy in KS that kept my cash deposit on a Triumph & sold it to someone else the same week before I got paid & may his soul go to hell soon. There's also the guy that owns a local GM brand dealership in KS that shows up at my HS reunions thats dad cheated me on a 1957 Pontiac(off a BIG fancy lot too!) & he is the same guy that cheated my friend out of his BBQ business. Yes, they have always been around and not always from Africa.:banghead
 
Reading these posts...man, am I fortunate. I've sold three bikes in the past 5 years (2 Triumphs, 1 BMW) and all sold within a few days to guys at work. I work in a plant with over 3000 people. I'm well known there, as are my bikes, and I priced them a bit lower than market value. Easier to do when you're talking $5K instead of $5500, etc. I took personal checks for two, and the third brought a bank draft. I did list the Scrambler on a couple of web sites, this one and AdvRider, and even in those few days I got some knucklehead calls, so I can sure sympathize.
 
I just sold and bought, but free delivery was included in each. Sold my K13S through the regional sportbike forum, BARF, Craigslist yielded nothing real, just a ton of scams. In our area, Craig'sList is okay for small stuff, but not vehicles, in my view. Since I am in a remote area, I included delivery within a given distance. I had the bike fully up to snuff but the buyer paid the San Jose BMW shop for an inspection. They were Very professional to both of us and made both of us feel good about the quality of care I had shown the bike. So, once the inspection was done and he was satisfied, we left the bike there and drove to his credit union, they cut me a check directly and I signed all the DMV paperwork. We shook hands and off we went our separate ways. For my purchase - '06 Ninja 650 racebike, also found through BARF - Delivery was also included in the deal due to the seller's distance from the prime purchasing market. He drove over to my house from Reno, I handed him 40 $100's, we signed paper work and shook hands and went our separate ways.

The sale of the S was somewhat daunting. The market is not great, and until it became clear that the buyer would have to get a loan to cover the diffference between the agreed price and his insurance settlement for a prior bike, I was fretting the actual transaction. At that time, there were lots of articles in local papers about Craigslist buyers and sellers getting robbed of either the cash or the vehicle in the SF/SJ area. Once it became clear I would get a check directly from his credit union, I relaxed. Doing the entire money/DMV transaction at the credit union was the way for such a large sale. On the other hand, I felt totally comfortable taking possession of a never titled racebike after handing over a (much smaller) wad of cash....go figure.
 
Selling can be easy...

Easy... when the price is right.

I recently mentioned to a bunch of riding buddies that I'd ordered a new GS. One of them asked what I wanted for the old GS. I mentioned a price. They said "That's all!" and indicated an interest in the bike. A few weeks (and a trip to Death Valley) later I sent that individual an email asking him if he was serious about buying my bike. Yep. Because a ridding buddy is buying the bike I'm not stripping it bare as I would to try to sell it on the general market. Less work for me and a reasonable price for him on a well farkled bike. I think they call that Win-Win.
 
Easy... when the price is right.

I recently mentioned to a bunch of riding buddies that I'd ordered a new GS. One of them asked what I wanted for the old GS. I mentioned a price. They said "That's all!" and indicated an interest in the bike. A few weeks (and a trip to Death Valley) later I sent that individual an email asking him if he was serious about buying my bike. Yep. Because a ridding buddy is buying the bike I'm not stripping it bare as I would to try to sell it on the general market. Less work for me and a reasonable price for him on a well farkled bike. I think they call that Win-Win.

It has been my experience, buying 30 or so bikes and selling or trading 20 or so of them, that the biggest problems arise when sellers for whatever reason have too high a price on a bike, or a buyer wants a lot more bike than they are willing to pay for. When a seller has a reasonable price and a buyer has reasonable expectations as to what his/her dollars will buy it goes very smoothly.
 
Paul has a good point & it takes information/knowledge to be able to price a big ticket item just the same as a small part or it may never sell. I'll add this tidbit: When you sell a vehicle on ebay(which has lots of hits & a wide audience that includes somebodies kid in another state that bids on MC's he cannot ride cause he's 13 yrs old:banghead or the village idiot somewhere else:banghead) BUT! via overpricing the MC,car,PU or via a free classified ad there , you can get the item out there for a look by many. I've sold several items via the secondary reactions from the ads. Just put the reserve a bit high but state in the text of the ad that there is some flex so the potential buyer knows your sane & reasonable.
A large factor when selling is to have patience that many lack. An e.g. is that you will have contacts from those that didn't spend hours or even years becoming a knowledgeable buyer for that type of item-your job becomes to try to educate them as to the particulars-that is, IF! you have the patience? Part of my point is that it's all too easy to assume they will not buy based on ignorance.
Selling IS a job, not for the faint of heart. You also will meet some very nice & perhaps interesting people along the way...
 
Paul has a good point & it takes information/knowledge to be able to price a big ticket item just the same as a small part or it may never sell. I'll add this tidbit: When you sell a vehicle on ebay(which has lots of hits & a wide audience that includes somebodies kid in another state that bids on MC's he cannot ride cause he's 13 yrs old:banghead or the village idiot somewhere else:banghead) BUT! via overpricing the MC,car,PU or via a free classified ad there , you can get the item out there for a look by many. I've sold several items via the secondary reactions from the ads. Just put the reserve a bit high but state in the text of the ad that there is some flex so the potential buyer knows your sane & reasonable.
A large factor when selling is to have patience that many lack. An e.g. is that you will have contacts from those that didn't spend hours or even years becoming a knowledgeable buyer for that type of item-your job becomes to try to educate them as to the particulars-that is, IF! you have the patience? Part of my point is that it's all too easy to assume they will not buy based on ignorance.
Selling IS a job, not for the faint of heart. You also will meet some very nice & perhaps interesting people along the way...

Excellent point!
 
One thing to NOT DO...

Place your bike down by the road with a "for sale sign" on it. Actually it was two bikes, my wife's Honda CX500 and one of my two Honda CB750's. Each morning I would ride them down and park them on the grass on this road which sees a lot of riders. In the evening I would ride them up to the open wood shed where they lived during the riding months. Just dumb, but two stories:

1. The first guy who showed up interested in the CX500 had riding gear and I said he could take it for a short ride. (Guess that is another topic, but I've ridden the four used bikes I bought before I forked over the cash.) He managed to drop the bike at almost zero speed going down our driveway! He was embarassed as hell, but even before I could become outraged, he forked over the cash for the bike.

2. The CB750 story is a little incredible. I'd bought it for $1000 and was asking $600, having pirated some parts to the "better bike." (Both served the purpose of introducing me to riding; but both were oil-burning turkeys when I acquired them.) Anyway, the proverbial "thief in the night" stole the front wheel and speedo cable off the bike I wanted to sell, as well as soft luggage off the bike I was keeping. It just happened that a couple visiting us were sleeping in a van meer feet from the theft and never heard a thing. When I discovered the theft the next morning, all I could think was "why didn't you just steal the whole damn bike!" Eventually got a wheel with tire and speedo cable at a MC boneyard so I could get rid of the bike.

I have never regretted purchasing ($1500) the wondowless, lockable 8 X12 shed which for years has housed my motorcycle, several bycicles, and other stuff not bothered by freezing temps. Went to some pains when I got the shed to make sure that the pins could not be driven out of the hinges, that bolts could not be turned to remove the closing device. While the padlock is pretty good, I bet there are a lot of bolt clippers which would defeat it. "Out of sight..." works pretty well.

Sorry; I think I hijacked this thread.
 
When selling please explain to me why (I know they must be intelligent) sellers block their plate in ad pictures? We all know you can read our plates by law on the road,etc..
Can the boogerman look up your home address or what? FWIW, I never bother.
 
Can the boogerman look up your home address or what?

You betcha. To a greater or lesser extent depending on what state you live in. Some states protect that information, but some states simply charge a fee to provide it.

Like that totally restored '36 REO Speedwagon? Wanna know where it lives.. .. .?
 
As much as I Hate craig's list, it works for me. I put my mint condition 04' R1100S up for sale this weekend and the first guy to look at it paid cash and rode off with it. He got a great bike and I was happy with the price.
 
Thus the selling difference in living in the vicinity to millions of people vs. thousands, plus being in an area where they even know what it is...
 
Thus the selling difference in living in the vicinity to millions of people vs. thousands, plus being in an area where they even know what it is...

Well, I did get an email from a guy who wanted to know if the seating position on my S was like his HD Dyna. :brow

I called him and suggested it would be a waste of his time and mine for him to make the 35 mile trip over to look at the bike. We had a good conversation, he was a very nice guy.
 
So the "S" is gone, eh? We will be expecting the return of the sword and epaulets at your earliest convenience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmJPnAGUJk

Don't make me form up a posse to come after you. :laugh

I wish you would. I posted in the hex head pic thread in my usual brilliant and charming way :brow and it is big .........nothing, nada...... I'm not sure the hex head folks talk about anything other than tire pressure. They argue tire pressure like oil head owners go on and on with oil threads.

I already miss my S and the Oil head boys and girls.
 
I wish you would. I posted in the hex head pic thread in my usual brilliant and charming way :brow and it is big .........nothing, nada...... I'm not sure the hex head folks talk about anything other than tire pressure. They argue tire pressure like oil head owners go on and on with oil threads.

I already miss my S and the Oil head boys and girls.

So is it nitrogen or just compressed air? :)
 
In addition to all the other great stuff discussed here, if you want the simplest transaction, do not underestimate the value of the Front Yard For Sale sign taped to the bike. Price it right, park it at the dealership on a saturday. You'll get a local buyer, but it will take time and you have to roll the bike in and out every day.
 
You betcha. To a greater or lesser extent depending on what state you live in. Some states protect that information, but some states simply charge a fee to provide it.

And that would be the same address (or a successor address) that has been printed in the local phone book since I was still young enough to be spotted misbehaving about the neighborhood occasioning a stern call to my mother; or the address that is published every month in the BMW Owners News (ON).
 
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