Problems selling my bike - am i alone?

[Temporaryescapee]

I’ve tried to sell my travel bike on the forum but it has not worked well for me. Have i just been unlucky (or stupid!), or have others had similar challenges?

Buyer no 1. Agreed to buy and paid a deposit in Jan 2020. Asked me to store until Nov 2020 with balance of payment then. Not ideal for me but I agreed and took the bike off the market. Then covid happened so offered him a refund mid 2021 so we could both move on. He declined as he still wanted the bike, now in Nov 2021. So kept it for him, insured over that time at my cost (£400). He then came back in Nov 2021 and asked for a reduced price as the bike was now nearly 2 years older, then disappeared when i didn’t agree and asked him to pay the balance.

Buyer no 2. Nice chap, but had all sorts of (insurmountable) problems trying to transfer the cash from his overseas bank account to pay. So sale fell through yesterday after 5 weeks of trying.

Am thinking better just to sell it locally now?

[mark manley]

I sold three bikes on Ebay last year including two airhead BMW GS without a problem, although I know you can be messed around there as well but you can set a time limited for full payment and collection and move onto the next highest bidder if that fails. It sounds like you have tried to be very helpful to people in what is a difficult time for travellers and it has not worked out well for you, Ebay charge a fixed fee for selling motor vehicles and you at least get some idea about who you are dealing with so that would be my suggestion.

[chris gale]

You sound like a decent fella...all I'd say is seller beware. Whilst u try and help people out u leave yourself wide open to a scam......was the deposit one an overseas buyer ? Dont want to paint everyone with the same brush but in these times there is alot of it going on . Best of luck with the sale

[Threewheelbonnie]

I've been a salesman for 25 of the last 47 years and lesson #1 has to be learning to say no to bad deals. You want cash and the bike gone and while there has to be flexibility on both, neither of these people had a firm grasp on either, so I wouldn't rate them as buyers.

There are plenty of fantacists, chancers and time wasters and you've found two of them. It happens, don't worry.

Ive sold on E-bay and you get the lot. Gaddafi's gold, "My brother can sell it for you for a small commission", "Does the sale include the garage I can see in the photos"...Just firmly but politely tell them to go away, sit tight, clearly state what you expect/want and an actual customer will come along (unless the price* is wrong). Don't worry about the loonies, when they aren't bugging you they are trying to order Pizza in McDonald's or negotiate a discount with the tax man.

*Price has no relation to cost or value. Your old bike is worth what I can get another for that I view as similar. If I intend to let my kids ride it until its broken, the fact you spent a fortune on shocks and a big tank is meaningless. Adverts where they list what they spend just labels them as gullible. You set a price based on what everyone else is offering and know a cut off point below which you'll keep it or set it on fire. Unfortunately any overland features may have little appeal to most buyers.

Andy

[Temporaryescapee]

Thanks for your thoughts

First buyer was a Brit - we had a number of phone conversations. A genuine traveller, and no one could predict covid, which was what scuppered the original plan. But when that challenge came he seemed focused on what he wanted, without much thought to a fair outcome for both of us (appreciate not everyone is like that - I just prefer to start from the presumption that they are!!)

Second was a nice guy from the US. He had all sorts of issues physically making a transfer of funds from the US to the UK or RSA while he was physically in RSA. No hard feelings towards him there - disappointing not to get it done, but scuppered by issues you don’t have with a simple local sale (the bike is in RSA).

On the extras point i get that. I was pricing at normal market price, which i tested in both UK And RSA so don’t think this has been the issue (my ad is on the forum so feel free to challenge that). My aim to sell to a traveller was as much emotional (id set the bike up for it) as it was financial.

[Temporaryescapee]

On the deposit point it was £250 which I kept, so at least that paid a chunk of the insurance bill

[markharf]

You got a lot of good advice here in a very brief time.

Not a lot of people traveling at the moment, so if you're selling a bike away from home and hoping a traveller will buy it, this might be difficult. If you're at home, just sell locally.

In my not-so-extensive experience, people who can't come up with cash (and that's CASH, not a bank check or a PayPal deposit) are usually scammers. Although there may be valid reasons for someone to ask you to hold a bike while they make travel arrangements, the most likely outcome is that they won't complete the purchase even with the best of intentions. "It's two years older now" is kind've comical, but I hope you kept the deposit.

That goes doubly for someone who claims to be trying their best but for some reason the bank transfer won't go through. That bank transfer will NEVER go through. Just tell them the bike is on the market and you're accepting the first cash offer. Don't try to accommodate, and don't waste a lot of effort on them.

Much more straightforward to have someone show up with a pocket full of cash. If they like the deal, they hand over the cash and you sign over the bike. The same scams are run by locals, so the same cautions (no bank checks, etc.) apply.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Edit to add: I price stuff cheap because I like to see it go away. You might try that and see if it works for you--losing a bit of money that only existed in your imagination anyway can be worth it if it saves messing around endlessly. But not everyone sees it that way.

[Temporaryescapee]

Originally Posted by markharf

"It's two years older now" is kind've comical, but I hope you kept the deposit.

it was (and i did)…… And yet on the phone call where this was said i found myself agreeing to review the market price while at the same time inwardly thinking “are you taking the p*ss”!

It made me seriously reflect about my tendency to people please. I am now reading an interesting/helpful book called “having the courage to be disliked”. Otherwise i wouldn’t have posted this chat for fear the individual concerned read it and got upset

[Tomkat]

Depends on the bike, condition, mileage and asking price of course. And in winter the market is slower with prices often a bit depressed.

The advice I always give people who ask this question (and there have been a lot) is ignore what you think it's worth or what it has cost you, what matters is what the buyers think it's worth. If you are willing to hold on to it until spring you may find more buyers and better prices, but if you want to sell now, the best way is to auction it on eBay. There are still time wasters out there, but by and large once the hammer drops it's sold.

[markharf]

Well, if the bike is in South Africa, it's actually mid-summer right now.

OP, I know well that tendency to people-please. At its extreme, it leads to an inability to even *know*( oneself, much less show it to others). In milder forms it merely gives rise to a lot of reflexive accommodating responses which, in the end, seem to serve no one. It's good to have a few standard scripts to follow to allay those tendencies, e.g., "First person who shows up with cash takes it."

I've concluded that there are motivations for buying, shopping, and selling which don't really work for me. For example, some folks seem to shop around endlessly as a means of generating a sort of social life, or to try on different fantasies about who they might be someday. Unless my goals are similar ("Gee, this is great! I meet so many fascinating people while I'm trying to sell my motorbike!"), I want to weed them out as effortlessly was possible.

Enough from me, I think. Good luck with your sale!

Mark

[chris gale]

If u want the max return for ur money , I would spend the next few weeks stripping it back to as close to standard as poss . I would Ebay the parts , u wouldnt believe what some people will pay. By then the weather will b turning and u can sell the bike . Tbh most of these extras are worth fxxk all.......unless factory fitted ,as a dealership if it had ohlins on we would have those off and Ebay them , but most of the time bits fitted on bikes devalue them.....think blue bar ends , screens etc on a gixer

[*Touring Ted*]

Deposits.

To me it's a cash down-payment and a guarantee to complete the transaction in an agreed period of time. Otherwise you forfeit your deposit.

There is simply no point of a deposit if it can be returned with a change your mind.

You're being too nice. And when you're too nice to attract people who will exploit that.

When it comes to buying or selling anything, I find the only way is to honest, direct and resolute. It really is the best way for both sides.

[BlackTR48]

Sounds like they were unlucky not to close the deal. Guess you are a good seller to buy something from.

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[Threewheelbonnie]

There is also a matter of law in common law countries regarding deposits.

Goods are offered, accepted and any sort of cash changes hands and you have a contract. If you get real idiots there will be noise about this, so better to be clear.

Make statements in the offer (advertisement) like " Deposit of 10% to be paid to on purchase with balance to be paid inside 30 days. Deposit will be used for storage charges if the balance is not paid, will not be refunded and the bike will be offered for sale to other purchasers"

Clear language is better than any attempt at legal stuff.

On E-bay I always state that the auction will run to the end (i.e. don't bug me about buy it now), that collection in person is not offered (you aren't coming round to haggle or bring it back when buyers guilt sets in) and foreign shipping is not offered (I might change my mind on this now E-bay act as customs broker).

This will put some buyers off. It's the sellers decision if they are prepared to secure the sale by cutting into the margin by offering service after service. I often get customers asking if I don't want their business. I'm straight, I don't want their business on unfavourable terms and its better we all move on seek out customers/suppliers we are compatible with. If you depart on these terms the option remains to return when one party decides the deal offered wasn't so bad.

Andy