Selling vintage bikes in an over-saturated market

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02-22-18, 07:55 AM

#76

jefnvk

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Location: Metro Detroit/AA

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Bikes: 2016 Novara Mazama

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Quote:

Originally Posted by miamijim

Are you @#%&*@g kidding me? There's not a snowballs chance in hell I'm going to even remotely think about delivering a $40 wheelset 45 minutes in each direction. Get a job, buy a car, pick them up. Or pedal your butt across the bridge, strap them to your back and ride home. I'll meet you on the corner of Nebraska and Fowler.

Doesn't hurt to ask, you don't really know a person's life. I sold a bike to a guy who asked if I could deliver it clear across Detroit, over an hour drive, which I did because I worked just a couple miles away from him and went there every day anyhow.

After that, I just started mentioning I could meet at either point or anywhere in-between on my listings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clubman

Who gives a Rivendell to Goodwill??

Someone who inherited it from a deceased relative who knows nothing about it?

02-22-18, 01:36 PM

#77

badger_biker

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Location: Rural Western Wisconsin

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jefnvk

After that, I just started mentioning I could meet at either point or anywhere in-between on my listings.

I also do that and having a vehicle I can slide a bike in the back without any disassembly makes it nice and easy for me. I live about 30 miles out of the main metro and few buyers would venture out that far. Easily 80% of my sales occur about a block from my work in a close suburb or along my commute home.

I've noticed a slowing of sales the last year and a half in my area and have become much more selective in my uptake because of that. It has to be a big margin if I'm going to go through the trouble of getting a bike prepped now. A trade off for having more time to ride the ones I've accumulated through my "hobby".