Questions about Ebay

Hi all, I am trying to sell my 1973 Commando. Had anyone had any experience with selling on ebay? Is it worth it? And how does it really work?

Probably selling a vehicle as your first experience would be tough.

There is also a "for sale" section on this site. Might be a good place to add the bike, as this is a Norton based site

Also British Cycle Supply has a page for advertising bikes for sale Link for their "for sale" page
http://www.britcycle.com/Bikes/bikes_for_sale.php

Both sites draw a crowd that is interested in what you have for sale

www.britbike.com has an active flea market also

Normal sales on ebay costs you 10%. I think there's a cap on 'vehicle' sales but read the fine print, then if you take paypal, they get nearly 4%. Personally, I'd try the forums first, and Craig's List which only asks for donations. Ask for cashiers check or cash. I've had good luck with CL for some items (Leica camera gear, 03 MIni and 08 Saab), but not all. I'd go ebay last resort. You'll probably sell it before that. I see a lot of sales getting done on CL with Nortons if the price is fair.

I typically put running bikes up for sale on the forums, THEN e-bay.

I've had excellent results with e-bay, but you NEED to be VERY descriptive and include lots of good detail photos, and especially one side-on, close-up shot of the complete bike from BOTH sides. (try not to crop the tires off the right and left sides of the photos, and have a clean background)

EXAMPLE (not a running bike)



Funny, but the original photo I pasted in here does NOT have the tail light and fender cropped!

I have it on Craigslist and on here. I should repost it here again because it was anout a month or so ago. Thanks I will post it on the britts forum and as last resort i will on ebay.

I copied your link and posted a note about it to our local Norton chapter (DVNR) board. Good luck with the sale. (Was surprised to see that you still have it. It's a nice bike.)

Russ

Be sure to cover your number plate if you advertise on ebay. I had a visit from the local feds after someone on a bike similar to the one I was advertising, and with a copy of my plate, did a runner from a gas station without paying. The police were satisfied it wasn't me as at 61 I don't tend to ride in trainers and tracky bottoms :lol:

When I was selling my old BMW on Ebay a few years ago it went the full time, plenty of questions were asked but no bids, when it finished I started to get callers offering way to low of price as well one person and this is a old trick said he will put the money in my paypal account with a extra $1000 to pay the shipper as he was working on a oil rig at the time and can I send the extra money to the shipper, what fools do they think we are, he kept sending me emails saying the money is in my paypal account and to open the paypal account through the email, of course it was a fake paypal invoice, but it looked like the real thing saying the money was in my account, but the first thing I did was to go to my paypal account directly and what you know no money at all, I knew it was a scammer so decided to play him along and replied to him saying the money wasn't there, he kept insisting it was and he kept sending me the fake paypal invoices and he started to get angy because I haven't sent the shippers money, well after that I sent him a email to tell him it was now in the police hands for investergation, funny never got any more replies from him, so be awere of the fakers and scammers that try to rip ebay users off.
Other than that I have has good results using ebay as well have brought many Norton parts off ebay, my BMW sold a few days after ebay time ran out but it was a genuine ebay person who was asking me questions about the bike who was intrested but couldn't make up his mine before it ran out of time, I got the price I was asking for it at the time.

Ashley

I have sold several smalls on Ebay and it all worked out OK. Dont know if I would want to try a car or bike. Watch out for those oil rigger guys. One of the guys at work had one try to buy his lawn tractor.
JMHO

I've bought and sold lots of stuff and sold several bikes on eBay without a problem. Ebay and Paypal fees take a big bite but you'll get top dollar for your bike. Take lots of high quality pictures from every conceivable angle and be as descriptive as you can. Probably best to set a reasonable reserve price and be prepared to ship the bike if the seller requires it. Usually that's the buyers responsibility. I think fall/winter is historically a slow time of year for vintage bike sales and that might be reflected in your selling price. Spring / Summer would be better.

Craigslist is OK but you'll get lots of weird-o's e-mailing you low-ball offers and goofy trade offers for beat-up quads or Jet Skis which can waste a lot of your time. I don't think you'll get top dollar for your bike on CR because you're limiting yourself to a local area.

Just my $.02

mschmitz57 said:

I've bought and sold lots of stuff and sold several bikes on eBay without a problem. Ebay and Paypal fees take a big bite but you'll get top dollar for your bike. Take lots of high quality pictures from every conceivable angle and be as descriptive as you can. Probably best to set a reasonable reserve price and be prepared to ship the bike if the seller requires it. Usually that's the buyers responsibility. I think fall/winter is historically a slow time of year for vintage bike sales and that might be reflected in your selling price. Spring / Summer would be better.

Craigslist is OK but you'll get lots of weird-o's e-mailing you low-ball offers and goofy trade offers for beat-up quads or Jet Skis which can waste a lot of your time. I don't think you'll get top dollar for your bike on CR because you're limiting yourself to a local area.

Just my $.02

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I agree with all you say. I sold a collector car on E-Bay that the seller after his money appeared in my PayPal account had a car shipper pick it up for taking it across
the country. I gave the truck driver the signed title transfer documents.

A huge benefit of E-Bay is it covers the entire country and maybe overseas if the buyer is willing to arrange shipping.
I have a multi year selling and buying history with EBay with a 100% positive feedback, which added to my credibility as a honest seller.
But if this is the first time you have sold on E-Bay or a slim history or a negative feedback history you may find potential buyers hesitant to bid.

I find that LISTING the bike at or near my "reserve" and using BOLD/ALL CAPS/RED font to spell out "NO RESERVE" is a good way to list a bike.

I also state in the listing that "starting bid IS the lowest I'll take" keeps turkeys from e-mailing me asking what is the lowest I'll take to end the auction.

P.S. Contact J.C.Motors and Keyboard Motorcycle Shippers and get door-to-door shipping quotes to opposite ends of the country, and include those in the listing. It helps.

I agree with the previous posts.

What I do ? I post on craigslist and forums first ... then post on ebay. Craigslist is good, but you many more "viewers" with ebay.

I have sold several bikes, and cars on ebay ... good results on all. As previously stated, be honest and post lots of good pictures.

In my CL adds, I put in them that I won't accept low ball offers, don't even try. It seems to work for me. And Ebay doesn't always get the highest price. The Saab I was trying to sell, I did much better on CL but was probably just lucky I found a local Saab fanatic, but I got 6K instead of 4K like I'd seen them sell for on ebay, I could have also taken it to Carmax for 4K and saved the 13% fees. It's all about finding someone that wants it. Make good clear, clean pictures and be straight up about it.