How much is it worth?

I’ve made a bike up and want to sell it, but I’m unsure what’s it’s worth. Is there a site I can go to for an idea or just post on here the full specs and one of you wonderful people can give me a price guide.

Comments

  • steve_sordy
    steve_sordy Posts: 2,443
    I have a similar dilemma.

    I bought a bike for my grandson and stripped it, repainted it, rebuilt it with all new parts. It is now three years later. Is it a 3-year old bike, or is it just an old frame with 3-year old bits on it? What is certain is that it is no longer what it was when sold as new and no longer has an easily identifiable value in the market. It is unique and therefore difficult to price.

    What I'm thinking is to add up all the cost of what I spent, less the cashback from selling off the old parts, then apply 3 years depreciation. But that makes it ridiculously cheap and a complete giveaway. Advertise it at too high a price and get no sale, meanwhile the clock is ticking and the bike is steadily getting older!

    But then you NEVER get what you think a bike is worth when you come to sell! :'(
  • robertpb
    robertpb Posts: 1,866
    I would look at it from the point of view, if you bought a new frame then bought all new parts it would be more expensive than buying the complete bike in the first place. So stripping the bike adds value secondhand, there's always someone wanting to build a frame up for the love of it.

    As for value, just look on the internet to find out what the parts are worth secondhand plus the frame, the whole bike is worth less than sum of that.
    Now where's that "Get Out of Crash Free Card"
  • billycool
    billycool Posts: 833
    List the spec on here and post a photo.

    I'm sure that one of us can offer an opinion.... :p
    "Ride, crash, replace"
  • steve_sordy
    steve_sordy Posts: 2,443
    robertpb said:

    I would look at it from the point of view, if you bought a new frame then bought all new parts it would be more expensive than buying the complete bike in the first place. So stripping the bike adds value secondhand, there's always someone wanting to build a frame up for the love of it.

    As for value, just look on the internet to find out what the parts are worth secondhand plus the frame, the whole bike is worth less than sum of that.

    I agree, I have done that a few times. But what a fag it is! :( A lot of effort and what extra value do you actually get? You'd probably find that you earned less than the minimum wage. :'(
  • steve_sordy
    steve_sordy Posts: 2,443
    edited January 2020
    A few years ago, on the MBR forum (now defunct) one of the members tried to raise money for a child with a life threatening illness. It was a good cause but it didn't go well.

    He had a bike frame and asked the Forum members to donate kit so that he could build up a bike and then sell if to raise funds. There was initial suspicious from a few that he was just a scam artist after a cheap bike. The fact that he was a large guy and the bike was a small frame helped to reduce suspicion, but not all of it. Sufficient donations of kit rolled in that he was well on the way to complete the bike. He got the MBR magazine interested and they persuaded Mojo to donate a brand new Fox fork for the hardtail. The whole story was reported in the magazine. Then came the sale on eBay. The seller really believed that people on eBay would pay well over the odds for a bike built up from second hand parts (and a new fork). He thought he'd get £10,000!!! (It was for charity!!) o:)

    The result was that the top bid was so low it wouldn't have even paid for the fork! The seller ended up withdrawing the bike from sale and giving the same amount of money as the top bid to the child's parents out of his own pocket. So he ended up with a cheap bike. Unfortunately he revealed that he would remove the fork and sell it separately. The whole thing ended in acrimony with severe and sustained abuse being heaped upon the guy.

    But the real story is that you NEVER get what you think a bike is worth.