Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I'm looking to sell my Miyata 110. I've had it posted locally on CL for a week. I could drop the price but I'm wondering if this is just the wrong time of year to sell a bike on CL.

My intention all along was to try on CL for a week or two and then go to eBay with it.

What do you think? Is it the season? should I try eBay or am I better off waiting til Spring?

Amani576

How desperate are you to sell it?
-Gene-

KonAaron Snake 

I've done very poorly with ebay (people deduct the shipping from what they want to pay) and have had much more luck with craigslist. I just sold my Miyata 916 in Philly for what I'd consider fair value (440) in perfect shape with many new parts.

gomango

My kids sold three bikes this last week. Two Continentals and a Breeze. They have a Schwinn World that is going tomorrow. Granted, these are not budget busters, but will make their new owners happy toodling around the local campuses.

tmh657

It's not the wrong time of year for SoCal. Sorry that doesn't address your being in NJ but..
I listed a bike last week and had the usual low ball offers. Re-listed a few days later and the "appropriate" buyer found it in a few hours and paid asking price.
I haven't listed a complete bike on ebay yet and kind of dread having to do that. If it were me I would wait on it.
Perhaps the right buyer hasn't found it yet.

krems81 

seems kind of slow in chi

thirst

I have had pretty good luck with CL.

I check SOLD listings on ebay and get a range of sale prices including shipping and then price it accordingly on CL with an OBO.

thirst

wrk101

1. A Miyata 110 is too low to be attractive to ebay. Buyers tend to deduct shipping in their bids. Lower end bikes have a tough time overcoming such a deduct.

2. I sold three bikes this week at my regular pricing. I am not seeing a slow down.

3. Not sure how large your market is, I sometimes need to repost a bike a few times to keep the listing current. Do you have multiple bikes to sell? I prefer listing bike A for several days, then take it down and list bike B, and so on.

4. I do not wait til Spring. I post one bike at a time, all year round. If there are no buyers, so be it. But you never know when someone will be looking for a good vintage bike.

treebound 

Slow in Milwaukee, not even a low ball offer on a $200 bike. I juist picked up a flipper at lunch so I'll be testing the sub-$100 market in a few days ust to see where the season and the economy has people. I had to almost give away a sub$20 bike a few weeks ago, (ed Williams FreeSpirit that just needed oil on a cable to make it a rider/schoolbike. I gave up on another one, no name single speed, that didn't sell for $10 so it went to a thrift shop where a buyer probably rode it home. Strange market at the moment.

If it won't sell whole locally then offer it on the ebay as a frameset to save shipping fees. Otherwise squirrel it away until April if you have the room to store it.

Mine are about to be hung from the rafters like bats in the bellfry so I can get a car in the garage. Maybe I'll wrap a couple in plastic and hang them in the trees until springtime.

bigbossman 

Good advice, here. Especially 1 and 4.

That being said, I've only got 3 buildable frame sets right now, so I won't be selling anyting anytime soon.
But the Viscount I just finished a week ago went for the asking price, and it was ugly.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

well perhaps the 200 i'm asking is too much to ask...it is after all just a 110. However its like-new. Everything is repacked and adjusted, new brake lines and housing, new tires...I'll try dropping the price a little perhaps.

JunkYardBike

It's the size, too. I'd say $200 is optimistic, but it leaves room for the buyer to negotiate, which, in our region at least, is a given (unless it's a college kid - they are so impossibly naive!). I had a completely overhauled Centurion LeMans RS for sale recently, same size as yours, listed for $225. It took a couple weeks, but it sold to a tall college kid. I had about 3 inquiries about it in total. You just have to be patient, and maybe lower the price just below the $200 threshold.

wrk101

Price is on the high end, for a lower end bike with a very large frame.

I try to avoid extra large frames, as the market is smaller and the value is lower. It took me a year to sell a similar sized Schwinn Super Sport. Of course, I just picked up another XL frame two days ago. When will I learn....

I would ask $170 for that bike around here, and I would pop it onto C/L every couple of weeks (and take it down a week later). Repeat the cycle until sold. I would not wait until Spring.

FWIW: When I finally sold that Super Sport, I had another guy looking for a similar extra large frame a couple of days later. You really don't know when someone of the right size is going to be looking. Fortunately, in my case, I had an XL Schwinn Prelude that also needed a home.

KonAaron Snake 

I'm in the Philly market and it's maybe a little highish, but not exorbitant. As you said, it gives a higher ceiling to start negotiation. I'd just keep plugging away...eventually it will sell. One thing I've found is that price you ask for doesn't really matter that much anyway (within reason)...people either want it or they don't. If someone wants it, they'll offer what they consider a fair offer.

I considered my 450 price on the 916 high'ish, but I got a great kid who loves bikes, and he wanted it. Just wait for the right buyer. One other tip...explain who should be interested and what you see its use as...example...great commuter bike for a student who wants a dependable ride and can't afford new prices.

gomango

Helpful posts. I should have mentioned we are in the $100-$125 range. The kids are putting the profits away for their winter soccer training. Proud of them for doing this obviously. We post whenever we have bikes. Although the local board is getting really crowded, and some large sellers/shops are reposting as often as every other day to keep the postings near the top. Folks around here don't think highly of over-posters on CL.

KonAaron Snake 

I certainly wouldn't consider myself a large seller...I've sold 6 or 7 bikes and a few parts this year...and I do relist every other day until the stuff sells. I see nothing wrong with it as it is in line with Craigslist's Ts and Cs. More of the spam in our craigslist is caused by the incessant arguing about whether or not a certain seller is over charging than from actual over posting.

awc380

Funny...I've been having exactly the same problem up here. Miyata 210, though.
Must be the winter coming or something...

badger_biker 

Totally agree in Mpls area also with the large sellers reposting their overpriced crap in less than 3 days. I'm almost to the point of not bothering with CL anymore. I wish the reposting limit would be extended to a couple weeks. I don't have time to keep reposting just to have a fleeting chance of being on the first couple of pages for a few short hours. I'm almost ready to give anyone who replies to my postings a prize just for finding them. I'm not selling at a high price and have good bikes which makes it irritating.

sailorbenjamin

I'm holding my bikes till the snow melts. Parts go on sale 12/24 so all the drunkards will spend their xmass money on New Years Eve.

randyjawa 

I sell bicycles all over the world and I have traditionally found that sales and prices do drop at this time of year and I think the one thing that most drives this change is the ** ** ** season. Yup, people are not looking to spend their hard earned cash on bicycles for themselves when they know that they will be purchasing a lot of anything for anyone on their list(s).

However, this is a good time to sell components. Tis the season to be jolly and buy for the other guy. Components sell pretty well on Ebay and I will not spend much time focusing on complete bicycles until March has come and gone. Then, look out. I will be busier that a man with one leg in an a** kicking contest.

wrk101

While I wish C/L would curb the sellers that post 10 crappy bikes, and then relist them daily, I think it is fine to list one or two bikes, let them run for several days, then pull them down, and repost a week later. And if you put your pictures into the text of the ad themselves by using a hosting site such as Flickr, reposting takes about one minute.

gomango

Badger biker has the right feel for this in our market. It has really lost the pizzaz due to the overposting, although overall it is still an effective service because it is the only game in town. There are gems to be had, just very few $200 Colnagos like there were a few years ago. Those are market forces at work folks.

krems81 

I don't think $200 is unfair for a full rebuild. I try not to sell myself short out of desperation. I know my price is fair, and I try not to wholesale it to move it along, because a lot of work goes into restoration. The way I see it, the bike is really worth a lot more than I'm asking after the work I put in (many shops would charge $200 just for your labor and parts!).

Some might think its worth less, but those aren't the customers I'm after. I look for the guy/girl that wants a full rebuild, and the silence and reliability of a fully rebuilt bike. If you help them understand the value of the rebuild, $200 doesn't seem as bad. Its all about drawing contrast between this and your average used bike.

That said, the market in Chicago is slow as Keanu Reeves right now.

golfer007

I am in the Portland market and things have really been slowing down. I recently posted a Bridgestone 400 conversion a few days ago and I have gotten 2 bites so far. I list my things on the higher side, but that is because I rebuild everything typically and make sure they are better than new. I tend to find very nice bicycles also.

But I looked into the whole Ebay thing and it really doesn't seem like it's for me. I get the fees, but I don't at the same time. Pictures are like 16 cents a piece, you have to pay a closing fee, and opening fee or something along those lines. I have a fixed gear I want to get a min of 600 for is why I thought Ebay may work because CL isn't or hasn't in the last 2 months with this one.

old and new

Strange, 110s are OK, some are better than OK. What year's yours Craven ?
Seems that so many new members struggle to find bikes that even ****ion.
Some members like you sit on some very good bikes. Don't know what you want for it but any 110 that works and isn't in rough shape is worth 150, more for a later one; for a cust. that requires a bike needing no work that is. Just read the newbies