Advice on selling

londoncommuter

Has anybody advice on the best places to sell a frameset. I've got a brand new frame I was going to pass on rather than build up myself so thought it would be great for someone who is after that make and size to save money and I'd only take a small loss (it is new, no 10 summer miles nonsense so it would be a bargain for the right person).

The issue is, with a high end frameset, in one size, the market is tiny. The manufacturers must sell a handful a year so what are my chances of a potential purchaser a) spotting my ad in the first place and b) being anywhere close by.

I've put it on here, Gumtree and Pinkbikes but I'm not sure the traffic on any of those is high enough and the ad soons drops out of sight. Any other strategies?

Really not interested in Ebay as there's no point wasting money on commission or postage as that expense makes selling it pointless and I might as well just keep it. I'm just selling it on a whim really.

Stick it on ebay with a stupidly high reserve and hope the extra advertising clout means someone spots it and offers to do an outside ebay deal?

I got quotes from some of the specialist re-sellers but they're ludicrously low so again daft as I'd buy another three for what they offer!

Sorry for the ramble.

dannbodge

Try these guys: https://roadcycleexchange.com/

They buy high end bikes/framesets and components.

londoncommuter

Dannbodge wrote:

Try these guys: https://roadcycleexchange.com/

They buy high end bikes/framesets and components.

That's who I meant with re-sellers. I was being polite by not mentioning them but have just blown that! I sold a bike to them around three years ago and got a reasonable price. Bit of a kicking for me and reasonable mark-up for them so it seemed fair. Great service though and I'm not knocking them it's just maybe brand new frames are a bit out of line with what they normally sell. Seems some of these places are actually authorised dealers as well so they'd never offer a decent price for somethings they can get at 40%-50% discount or whatever it is anyway.

Midlands Grimpeur

I always use ebay to sell high end frames and other components. It is a small market as you say but all you need is one genuine buyer which I have always managed to find. I stick stuff on at a reserve price which is the minimum amount I would be prepared to sell at and always do collect in person (helps weed out the time wasters).

One thing I would say though is be realistic around what you expect to recoup, even a new and unused frame is unlikely to tempt anyone unless it is about 75-80% of the original price. I have sold plenty of stuff that is in excellent condition (albeit second hand) and never expect to get more than around 60-65% of what I originally paid for it. Just my experience though, others may price higher with success.

alistaird

So I normally use eBay but generally for low value items. I do notice more and more Facebook groups for bike selling and also if it's a lightweight frame you could try Weightweenies...

A

ben@31

http://www.findthatbike.co.uk

mfin

What is the frameset? It would help for giving advice. (Please don't say it is a Trek).

Also, another strategy is to put it on ebay with an opening bid or buy it now which is way too high, then make it very clear you are open to offers and put your phone number on there 'for any questions'. There's no doubt ebay probably has the biggest exposure. Of course you could advertise elsewhere too and say so.

I should never imagine in my wildest dreams that anybody would do it, but you could then negotiate outside of ebay on the phone if you want, and take the listing down completely forgetting or not knowing where the enquiry came from.

londoncommuter

mfin wrote:

What is the frameset? It would help for giving advice. (Please don't say it is a Trek).

It's a Kinesis Granfondo Ti V3 so fairly niche. It's a 51cm which is not the most popular 54/56 size so again limiting the number of people at any one time looking for one. I'd listed it here:

viewtopic.php?f=40091&t=13085978

Could be a great deal for the one person a month who buys a 51cm titanium Kinesis rim brake frameset.......