What's new

where to sell used bikes?

pedal-strike

Speeding Up
Jul 26, 2011
98
5
Happy New Year, guys!

So, anyone know the best place to list some used, high end bikes? Yahoo Auction? I'm asking for a friend who's looking to unload a few bikes.

Thanks!
 
Yahoo Auction is good though you need to be able to use Japanese fairly well and read up on shipping options. You can see the prices other people are paying for similar bikes though.

There is also a Classifieds section on this site that is worth a try.
 
There's Cycli, but I'd guess they don't buy at very high prices. You could also try Craigslist Tokyo or even EBay. If they're small-normal sizes though, Yahoo Auctions may be your best bet.
 
Happy New Year, guys!

So, anyone know the best place to list some used, high end bikes? Yahoo Auction? I'm asking for a friend who's looking to unload a few bikes.

Thanks!

...how about using the Classifieds section on this very website? We get a lot of daily traffic, of the kind of people who would be likely to spend money on decent, high end equipment.
 
Purely to let anybody else know who is considering using our Classifieds section, and a bit of general information / trivia that may be of interest, the most popular areas of the TCC website, by visitors each day, are;

1. Front page of the website (www.tokyocycle.com)
2. General Discussion Forum
3. Classifieds section

After that, the traffic varies depending on what is being discussed at the time, with the current popular threads taking positions 4 and onwards. The profile page of Franz seems to remain a point of interest too, and is always in the top 20 somewhere of pages visited.

So, if you are thinking of selling something bicycle related, advertising it on TCC will definitely get it seen by a lot of people at the very least.
 
And I am just curious what your friend is selling knowing you ride an 'IF' frame.
 
After that, the traffic varies depending on what is being discussed at the time, with the current popular threads taking positions 4 and onwards. The profile page of Franz seems to remain a point of interest too, and is always in the top 20 somewhere of pages visited.
Franz for the memory.
 
Yahoo Auction is dicey as a seller. Typical buyers will nitpick anything endlessly and threaten 'claims' . If you do plan to use it remember to adversely describe your article which is completely opposite of what you'd generally think to say (like all the good stuff about it). So -- for your, ahem, high-end bike, you'd probably start by describing:

Used and previously ridden high-end bicycle. It has ordinary appearance with paint chips and scratches in various locations. (Then describe each scratch, chip, dent or otherwise non-new appearing point). Photo it so it looks far worse that it actually is because for certain whomever buys it will complain bitterly that it is 'faded' or the chrome seems 'corroded' , etc. In fact, it's best just to label it as 'junk' , then you will receive far less hassling messages and potential 'claims' if you do sell it.

Surprisingly , this will not affect your selling price. People will pay what they have in mind to pay regardless. And if it is truly a desirable product, the price will be right. But I would expect about half of what you could get by selling it on TCC, to be honest. Don't forget, as well, that bikes over 54cm are hard to sell in Japan. And even if you have a real jewel, there simply may not be any audience for it. Again, TCC is much better if you're selling a larger size bike or frame set. Beyond that you might check some of the boutique shops that sell higher end heritage bikes as they will typically have customers that are collectors as well.

Also - there are a lot of buyers on YA that continually phish for such bikes and then try to scam the seller by lodging 'complaints' and 'claims' . I caught out such a buyer on some parts I was selling. When researched their past purchases I found very distinctively the pattern and filed a reverse claim with Yahoo. They sided on my behalf and also confirmed my suspicion of such activities.
 
Yahoo Auction is dicey as a seller. Typical buyers will nitpick anything endlessly and threaten 'claims' . If you do plan to use it remember to adversely describe your article which is completely opposite of what you'd generally think to say (like all the good stuff about it). So -- for your, ahem, high-end bike, you'd probably start by describing:

Used and previously ridden high-end bicycle. It has ordinary appearance with paint chips and scratches in various locations. (Then describe each scratch, chip, dent or otherwise non-new appearing point). Photo it so it looks far worse that it actually is because for certain whomever buys it will complain bitterly that it is 'faded' or the chrome seems 'corroded' , etc. In fact, it's best just to label it as 'junk' , then you will receive far less hassling messages and potential 'claims' if you do sell it.

Surprisingly , this will not affect your selling price. People will pay what they have in mind to pay regardless. And if it is truly a desirable product, the price will be right. But I would expect about half of what you could get by selling it on TCC, to be honest. Don't forget, as well, that bikes over 54cm are hard to sell in Japan. And even if you have a real jewel, there simply may not be any audience for it. Again, TCC is much better if you're selling a larger size bike or frame set. Beyond that you might check some of the boutique shops that sell higher end heritage bikes as they will typically have customers that are collectors as well.

Also - there are a lot of buyers on YA that continually phish for such bikes and then try to scam the seller by lodging 'complaints' and 'claims' . I caught out such a buyer on some parts I was selling. When researched their past purchases I found very distinctively the pattern and filed a reverse claim with Yahoo. They sided on my behalf and also confirmed my suspicion of such activities.
Yahoo has always worked great for me! 700+ transactions with only 1 nut job encountered.
 
Buying or Selling? YMMV. It definitely favors the buyer, IMO. As for buying, I've nary a problem using it.
 
Me too. I tend to find that people who buy cycling stuff from me tend to be more well mannered and prompt payers than those buy general items.
 
I've never bought or sold a whole bicycle on Yahoo! Auction. I personally would not want to buy something so mission-critical without a face-to-face relationship with the vendor. And as an occasional vendor I imagine wrapping and shipping would be a nuisance.
 
A member, but not much of a buyer, never a seller.

Add "no claim, no return" to sales talk? Or does that ruin your chances?
 
"No claim, no return" should be what any sane seller puts on their listings.

I've sold a bunch of stuff on there, from handmade guitar pedals to a 35kg non-functioning analogue synthesizer (bought to repair, shat myself when I opened it up and sold it on) and never had any issues at all thanks to that disclaimer.

I have heard you'll get pounced on if you misrepresent things in writing ie stating they're in excellent condition when they're scratched, but I don't think the photos are scrutinised as heavily. I mean, christ, plenty of the photos I see on listings look like they could be used as album covers for My Bloody Valentine they're so blurry.
 
"no claim/no return" has never hurt the auctions I have listed. Complete bikes aside, I find yahoo auctions a great place to sell slightly used cycling clothing or gear. Fair prices, no hassle. Just be honest in your listing.

For the couple a complete bikes that I have sold in Japan, craigslist or this forum seem to do the trick.

.....I do like cruising yahoo auctions to see what people try to sell bikes for. I will admit that many locals price their used bikes way WAY too high. Unfortunately most bikes do not hold their value all that well. i.e., trying to sell a 3-4 year old Time with Ultegra with a starting bid of Y300,000 etc.
 
Back
Top Bottom