non cyclist, advice on selling bikes/parts

gallag

My dad, who is a big child lol loves his toys, I have talked him into clearing out some toys to make room and help finance work his house needs doing, it may seem extravagant but he has had no mortgage or bills except phone and electric and had pretty good earnings and lives on his own so thinks nothing of droping stupid money on his toys. He does not cycle being near 60 but does collect bikes and a room upstairs is being taken over by them just collecting dust. I would basically appreciate some advice on the best place to sell them, I think rhey are quite valuable bikes and all the wheels/parts lying around are also going to go. Would it be best to put them on ebay? I know he bought a lot of the stuff on ebay but have no experience selling and with the fee's etc it might be better on gumtree etc but that will obviously have a smaller market for quite a specialist range. Also is it better to sell the parts separate? Or as complete bikes?

I know this is a quite random question with little info to go on but if anybody has experience selling high value bikes/parts second hand and could advise on the best route I would be appreciative. Here are a few dusty pics of the bikes

feck sake lads

the only advice i can give you is not to rush into selling stuff just because you need the room or stuck for money believe me i've been down that road many a time, best thing is clean the gear up get a good camera a take most excellent photos because nobody in there right mind would buy something that coveed in s...t:rolleyes:
thats my 2 cent worth.

Darkglasses

Never sold anything of that value before, so I can't really offer much advice there. Have seen a good few high-priced bikes on Adverts, seems to be more often than not a waste of time.

Make sure you clean them all thoroughly, and take the photos correctly (From both sides, but take pictures of all important details from the drive side, close-ups on gears etc.). No glare!

Also, make sure you have all the important measurements done beforehand. Also have full information about the specs ready to go, not just "Shimano gears" etc.

Oh, and get them out of that awful room!

smacl

Additionally, for more expensive items such as these, make sure you can furnish verifiable proof of purchase / proof of ownership prior to advertising, as most people will need this.

petethedrummer

gallag wrote: »

Also is it better to sell the parts separate? Or as complete bikes?

I'd put them up as full bikes. The sort of people who would buy parts will see bits they want and offer you money for them. You can then consider splitting them up.

Is it just the 2 you have or are there more?

Carpenter

I would give my right arm for the first 1

gallag

Darkglasses wrote: »

Never sold anything of that value before, so I can't really offer much advice there. Have seen a good few high-priced bikes on Adverts, seems to be more often than not a waste of time.

Make sure you clean them all thoroughly, and take the photos correctly (From both sides, but take pictures of all important details from the drive side, close-ups on gears etc.). No glare!

Also, make sure you have all the important measurements done beforehand. Also have full information about the specs ready to go, not just "Shimano gears" etc.

Oh, and get them out of that awful room!

Yeah, I will clean them up and take better pics if I have to build an add, and thats the good room lol, man mum and dad divorced about 30 years ago and he has never lived with anyone else in that time, have you ever wonderd what life would be like without a wife to say things like "dont buy that, its a waste of money and you will not use it" or "dont knock that wall down" or "jesus, dont use a chain saw in the house" he is the answer, a ****ed up house filled with expensive things that he doesn't really use, he also has a massive stamp collection worth more than the house and a hifi stuff wort thousands, spent £4000 on a pair of speakers ffs and they are just collecting dust not even wired up.

gallag

petethedrummer wrote: »

I'd put them up as full bikes. The sort of people who would buy parts will see bits they want and offer you money for them. You can then consider splitting them up.

Is it just the 2 you have or are there more?

There are three bikes and loads of brand new parts, loads of them round spiky parts the chain goes on (technical term) brakes etc every thing titanium or carbon.

seamus

If there's a tonne of stuff, it might be worth trying to find someone knowledgeable who'll come in and catalogue the stuff for you and possibly advise on a guide price.

"Round spiky thing for the chain" probably won't grab quite as much attention as, "10 speed ultegra cassette".

gallag

seamus wrote: »

If there's a tonne of stuff, it might be worth trying to find someone knowledgeable who'll come in and catalogue the stuff for you and possibly advise on a guide price.

"Round spiky thing for the chain" probably won't grab quite as much attention as, "10 speed ultegra cassette".

So its not a ninja star :-) I assume my dad would have a rough idea of the parts etc, more wondering things like sell as complete bikes or parts, best place to sell, what they are worth etc
I assume ebay might be my best bet? Would these kind of bike sell better on the continent? Is posting a bike expensive?

Wishbone Ash

Some cycle porn there!

When most of us refer to our father's bike/bikes - they're usually the black Raleigh variety.

TheBlaaMan

I'm wondering is this a wind-up along the lines of the 'forgotten-bugatti-in-the-locked-barn-out-the-back' variety. Seriously though, sounds like some nice stuff there........get some knowledgeable help, but be careful not to get ripped off.;)

happytramp

Step 1. Correctly identify, photograph and label each bike/part.

Step 2. Find out the part/bike's value. Use Ebay, chainreaction.com, or ask on here for a guide.

Step 3. Decide how you want to sell them, ebay, adverts.ie, gumtree etc

The important thing to remember is that to get the absolute 'best' price for them will require substantially more time and effort than getting a merely 'good' price for them.

Many people choose to forgo the time consuming, trouble filled, pain in the neck that is Ebay. A lot of the time it's far easier and more time/cost effective to sell face to face. Via adverts sections, web forums etc. If you have the time and commitment to put into selling all your stuff on Ebay then go for it, however if you want a quicker more straight forward option go with Adverts.ie, bikeradar, or the adverts section on here.

Beasty

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

When most of us refer to our father's bike/bikes - they're usually the black Raleigh variety.

Not when my kids talk about them, they're not ...

... but interestingly I've never seen my dad on a bike (I guess in his day it was a matter of jumping on the tractor or horse to get to where he needed to). Apparently my grandparents on my mother's side used to ride across the North Yorks Moors on a tandem though.

ROK ON

Op

Those bikes look pure ****e tbh. You would do well to sell them.
They seem to be made of some sort of plastic.

I will do you a favour and offer you €20 for the wheels.
Can't say fairer than that.
I need a spare wheel for my turbo trainer bike.

bcmf

ROK ON wrote: »

Op

Those bikes look pure ****e tbh. You would do well to sell them.
They seem to be made of some sort of plastic.

I will do you a favour and offer you €20 for the wheels.
Can't say fairer than that.
I need a spare wheel for my turbo trainer bike.

Dont mind him. He hasnt a clue.
Though in fairness the wheels in the first pic are crap and prone to breaking.
I will come and pick them up off ya for a crisp €50 and will help you cataloge the rest and will take away the bad stuff and 'ahem' dispose them for ya.
No need to thank me. Its just the kinda guy that I am. Helpful and all that.

kumate_champ07

Id be interested in cataloging the parts if you want? Ive pro camera equipment and an ebay account with 100%(239) positive feedback if you wanted to do it thru ebay.

gallag

bcmf wrote: »

Dont mind him. He hasnt a clue.
Though in fairness the wheels in the first pic are crap and prone to breaking.
I will come and pick them up off ya for a crisp €50 and will help you cataloge the rest and will take away the bad stuff and 'ahem' dispose them for ya.
No need to thank me. Its just the kinda guy that I am. Helpful and all that.

I feel terrible, I had the cycling community pegged in my mind as road hogging savages with no regard for anyone but themselves intent on harming us poor motorists, then people like you and rok on open my eyes, your generosity is only matched by your compassion. I could not take advantage of your obvious benevolent nature so put that crisp €50 away good sir :-)

I think I will collect the bikes and parts and remove from my dads building site, clean them up and catalogue/price them as advised, I will then check completed listings on eBay then try to sell them local for a discount to reflect savings on ebay/PayPal fees and postage.

As a side note you cyclists are bat **** crazy, you guys spend stupid money on these pain bringers, I tried to sit on one of the bikes and felt like the seat molested me, who the hell would want a carbon fiber seat??? These bikes are crap, I want abig wide padded leather seat with springs, I got a good mountain bike with full suspension and disk breaks and whacked a gel seat on it, that was better than this carbon nonsense!

Thanks to all for the advice.

Darkglasses

gallag wrote: »

I feel terrible, I had the cycling community pegged in my mind as road hogging savages with no regard for anyone but themselves intent on harming us poor motorists, then people like you and rok on open my eyes, your generosity is only matched by your compassion. I could not take advantage of your obvious benevolent nature so put that crisp €50 away good sir :-)

I think I will collect the bikes and parts and remove from my dads building site, clean them up and catalogue/price them as advised, I will then check completed listings on eBay then try to sell them local for a discount to reflect savings on ebay/PayPal fees and postage.

As a side note you cyclists are bat **** crazy, you guys spend stupid money on these pain bringers, I tried to sit on one of the bikes and felt like the seat molested me, who the hell would want a carbon fiber seat??? These bikes are crap, I want abig wide padded leather seat with springs, I got a good mountain bike with full suspension and disk breaks and whacked a gel seat on it, that was better than this carbon nonsense!

Thanks to all for the advice.

Haha keep us updated! It might be worth trying to sell some of that stuff on the adverts section here, but be advised that it is against our rules to have an ad on the adverts section here at the same as another website like Adverts.ie or Ebay.

Jocry

Just take a look at the Joke C4's for sale on ebay, well specifically the yellow one in Italy

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Road-Bikes-/98084/i.html?ssPageName=RSS%3AB%3ASHOP%3AUS%3A100&_nkw=C4+Joker

Wishbone Ash

Beasty wrote: »

... but interestingly I've never seen my dad on a bike

I have great memories of my dad heading to work on his bike and especially that ridiculous mounting manoeuvre that all men did then - half way to work before getting the leg over. As small children we were fascinated with his bike and the 3 speed gears (presumably Sturmey Archer set up). I used to walk downto the end of our road and wait for him to come home from work. He would give me a lift home on the crossbar. It was the bees knees at the time!

I was particularly impressed that he could mend a puncture on the road using tools from his saddle bag. I recall being distressed seeing his face sliced open after a spill sometime in the early 70's. My mother didn't seem particularly bothered!

He's in his late 70's now and shows great interest in my bikes but constantly shudders at the narrow saddles. "Would you not get one of them wide leather saddles for a bit of comfort" .