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So decided to sell my RM Altitude, listed here, Pinkbike and FB marketplace Four days ago.
Have had a few low ball offers, a lot of is it still available from Facebook, where I get the distinct impression that nobody on there knows anything about bikes.
It’s priced correctly as it looks to be the cheapest full carbon 2018 bike on Pinkbike but do more expensive secondhand bikes take longer to sell ?
I’ve only got experience of selling bikes up to £600, as this was my first decent Mtb I’ve had.
Given that all the world has a Facebook account, yes most of them know SFA about bikes.
It’s priced correctly
It might be the cheapest listed, but the listed ones not sold may be too expensive.
I've sell a couple of top spec full bikes recently and a shed load of top end kit.
Priced it to sell, probably less than I thought it was worth, but working on the fact that it's better of sold than stuck in the garage.
Every thing has gone, some stuff in less than a hour, most in a couple of days
I've sold s lot off stuff lately very quickly (including 2 bikes) definitely a seller's market.
Facebook definitely has its share of ... Well idiots. Was selling a brand new purple hope chainring and a guy messaged me saying he was interested but wasn't going to pay £30 as you can buy "3 of them with the pedal arms for £50 brand new".
4 days doesn't seem all that long to sell a higher end bike (price dependant of course). There's going to be a much smaller percentage of people looking for a carbon full sus bike than an average alu hardtail.
Is Sunday still the go to day for selling stuff? Always used to be when I sold stuff on eBay.
Ultimately it depends on well priced it is.
Similarly had little interest in selling a well specced and little used Bird Zero. I made the mistake of initially pricing it too high, but have readvertised it at probably the right price but not a sniff. Not sure whether to knock another chunk off it or just wait and see..
I had a nice carbon hard tail frame and forks for sale, on here and pink bike, lots of requests and offers some hilarious (do you do mates rates...er no I do not know you ...to I will give you a PS2 and a IPhone for them...)
Finally went to eBay and it sold for more than original asking price plus covered fees and post and package.
Think I’ll play the waiting game with mine, when I shared it to the RM FB group, a few people said it was priced too low or about right.
It’s listed at 42% of the RRP in 2018.
You can check what they sell for on eBay here
And yes it will take longer to sell a used £3000 bike ethane a used £300 bike was it is clearly a lot more money, a bigger decision and there are many choices
When you say FB marketplace, do you mean the ‘sell anything’ generic platform or have you joined some more specific MTB buy/sell groups? Think you can add a listing to up to 10 of those.
I’ve never had much luck on FB as it seems to all be kids or chancers, sales for expensive stuff always comes from here or PB, normally takes a couple of months from first placing the ad.
As above, marketplace is hard for normal MTB'ers to view your ad if they're more than 10 miles away, there are many groups on there that do the buying and selling, but be careful, never give out your address, or even your postcode, make sure you also don't have your facebook account handy with easy access to pictures or info showing your address.
And yes it will take longer to sell a used £3000 bike ethane a used £300 bike was it is clearly a lot more money, a bigger decision and there are many choices
To add to this, buying new at that kind of price comes with a warranty which would be part of my decision making process.
Interestingly I sold mine half an hour ago after dropping the price a bit so I guess I was being a bit over optimistic on the value.
To add to this, buying new at that kind of price comes with a warranty which would be part of my decision making process.
And finance options, and C2W.
Delivery options too, collection only limits your market.
As Argee mentioned, don’t give your address out. Lots of cases recently where sale agreed over FB marketplace, the buyer doesn’t turn up and the seller is later burgled.
Have sold 4 bikes on here in the last 2 months but also had some complete W-----s Hay ho the bikes I did sell the people were great getting a bit dodgy these days.
Conversely I’ve found far too many people wanting to sell 3 year old £4k bikes for £3k+. Never. Gonna. Happen.
It is definitely a sellers market at the moment but you have to be realistic.
There is an V1 Ibis Ripley for sale on here and Ebay and if I thought I could sell mine for £3250 I would sell at the drop of a hat. There is no way it will go for that.
Maybe £2.5k tops but I reckon I would be better off selling mine for parts and mine is better specced too.
It is a sellers market albeit one that is slowing and if the bikes you are comparing it to have had Covid Tax added there's a decent chance they're over priced.
Saying that, my mate sold his Camber for more than expected in less than 24hrs and had loads of interest. Like said above though, you are playing to a different market at 3k so I'd expect potential buyers to be a bit more savey.
Think another issue is that Rocky Mountain is not a universally recognised brand outside of STW.
Prob why your mates camber sold quick, maybe I should call it a Specialized mountain bike ie special for mountains...
Two things for me: "Collection only or could arrange short distance delivery within 30 miles."
Limited market.
And....
I could spend ~£700 more and buy a brand new Canyon Strive with similar spec and full warranty.
£2100 is still a great deal for your bike. The problem is, there's lots of great deals out there - and you get a bike no one else has ridden, and with warranty.
You just need the right buyer who wants your exact bike, with those exact parts - and it's a total bargain for them .
Until then, you'll get folk fishing for a deal because they can't afford £2k - so that £2799 Canyon isn't a problem, but their wallet is.
Hold on 🙂
Just check out new prices on RMs at the moment too - Pauls cycles have 30-40% on all their RM stock just now which makes your s/h one look a bit pricey I'm afraid -
It all comes down to price and "reach" in the end - eBay is your friend as the market is so big - be prepared to post it too and your reach will be even further, and thus your price a bit higher
I've sold two bikes on eBay in the last few weeks for a lot more than I was asking for here......
Yes you can get same model on Paul’s for £3500 (which is what I paid for mine) FYI on paulscycles there is a 10-12 day lead time and the cheapest altitude is £2800 for an alloy one...
Anyhow looks like it might of sold on FB...
Or not *#%$€¥ !
When I sold my RM Altitude carbon (2018) earlier this year, I parted it out.
Get on a £1 selling fee's weekend on ebay (currently running now I think) and part it out. Normally you would probably get as much as selling as a whole, if not more. Currently with all the crazy covid prices, you may get way more!
either way, the bike will be gone and your pockets filled!
I sell quite a few used bikes to raise money for charity.
Something you learn quickly, is that BSO's are actually what most of the buying public think they want.
£400 for a bike is considered buying something that will "last you" for a new bike.
Anything that's special, or niche, takes a long time to sell, as you have to find the right buyer.
Facebook market place is great for selling anything that your low rent bike shops, who sell tons of Oxford/RSP stuff would usually stock, provided all you've had to do is adjust some stuff, do the odd repair etc.
The easiest market to sell into, is kids BMX's for less than £50, followed by retro BMX's at specialist events (VW festivals are brilliant for getting rid of old bikes).
Proper MTB's are a hard sell, it's easier to sell a Voodoo or Boardman than it is an Orange or Orbea for example.
Roadies don't tend to buy old bikes, so I don't tend to do much beyond make them fit to ride and flog them as quickly as I can for virtually no money.
It's worth more to my charities, if I split expensive bikes down unfortunately, which I hate doing as I end up with good stuff sitting around that I then need to bolt mismatched stuff to, in order to clear space.
As you've identified, you're selling a premium bike from a niche brand. This narrows your market considerably so you need to mitigate that as much as possible.
First thing I'd be doing is taking way more photos, and make sure they are really good quality. There shouldn't be a square inch of that bike that a potential buyer can't have a really good look at. Wide shots of the bike from every angle i.e. left/right/front/back/cockpit. Then closer shots of the fork/wheel area, bottom bracket/cranks/linkage, and rear wheel/mech. Finally get some nice detail shots of the componentry and any attractive frame details.
Second thing is get a bike box and a bunch of pipe lagging and bubble wrap. Not being able to ship it will be slashing the number of potential buyers.
Lastly more blurb. What's the story of the bike? Why are you selling it? What is it like to own and ride? Last bit particularly important as few people will have experience of an RM so you're asking people to take a punt. Add a link to geometrygeeks or something too.
Got to make an effort. You cannot sell it the way you would a £600 bike.
Good luck!