Tips for selling a bike

CrazyRabbit

I don't have much experience in selling motorbikes (last 5 were stolen), but I'm currently selling mine.

I was hoping to get some tips/advice if possible.

Should I stick with cash only? If not, how do I best handle transactions?
Should I allow test drives? If so, should I ask to how the persons passport etc as insurance? What if they crash?
Are there any common scams I should be aware of?
Any other advice?

Thanks all. Appreciate any help.

MLC_biker

Cash only. Test ride OK as long as they leave their licence and full sale price as security. You drop it, you bought it! Adverts.ie, done deal, eBay, biker.ie

Cienciano

I'd definitely do cash only.
I spent 2 full days cleaning mine last one up, including touching up anything and it made a massive difference. First guy to view it bought it, a day after going up on donedeal.
Get everything ready, log book, spare keys, owners manual, alarm fobs ((if you have them) and any booklets for any extras you got. Looks better when you're selling. Take loads of photos for your ad from all angles in good light, preferably with a camera instead of a camera phone. You'd be surprised how bad some photos are. Good description with any extras, don't forget to mention stuff like tyre wear if it's good
From my experience the amount of messers depends of the hooligan factor of the bike. A bmw tourer, most people will be serious enough. Anything supermoto and god help you!
Good luck!

CrazyRabbit

Thanks for the really helpful advice. It's a light tourer (Mana 850GT) so hopefully there will be very few dossers. I already have the ads up with good photo's from different angles as suggested (I forgot about biker.ie !). And I have everything ready...manuals, documentation, spare keys etc.

Hope I get a quick sale. Wish me luck!

DubVelo

If you don't want the hassle, and you have a good bike shop that you deal with, they might sell it for you for a fee.

Personally I'd drag my heels on allowing a test drive and only 'give in' once it's clear they're really serious and the deal is pretty much done. I'd even go so far as to write up a receipt for the deposit with 'You drop it, you bought it', type terms written on it and get them to sign a copy. Might seem a bit mad but only takes a minute and then you're covered for any disputes and they've got a receipt for their cash. No room for arguments.

Beware of 'I'll just leave this stolen car/bike here as a deposit while I take yours for a spin, yeah?'. Cash only. Probably wouldn't let anyone on a learner permit go for a spin!
Beware of mysterious faults suddenly appearing on the test ride. I was reading another thread where some character had taken a car for a spin, and came back with it running dog rough offering a fraction of the asking price to take the thing off the sellers hands. He'd gone round the corner and sneakily unplugged one of the spark plug leads!

(last 5 were stolen)

F*&<ing hell! :mad:

lostboy75

Used the garage method myself, as bike is kept in mayo, and I currently live in Galway, saved a lot of hassle for me

CrazyRabbit

OMG...just got a call from a guy who asked if I would be willing to trade the bike for boat.

I guess I should have added 'No trades' to the ads...haha.

Cienciano

You might get offered something tempting though. I was offered a zx1400. Probably would be dead by now if I accepted :pac:

Del2005

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

I don't have much experience in selling motorbikes (last 5 were stolen), but I'm currently selling mine.

I was hoping to get some tips/advice if possible.

Should I stick with cash only? If not, how do I best handle transactions?
Should I allow test drives? If so, should I ask to how the persons passport etc as insurance? What if they crash?
Are there any common scams I should be aware of?
Any other advice?

Thanks all. Appreciate any help.

Bit late now but you should always use a disposable SIM when selling.

blu3r0ri0n

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

OMG...just got a call from a guy who asked if I would be willing to trade the bike for boat.

I guess I should have added 'No trades' to the ads...haha.

LOL I was offered a fully kitted out Fish&chip Van for my fz6 when selling!

CrazyRabbit

Thanks for responding on time...I am willing to pay you the asking price.due to the nature of my job and location…i will not be able to come for inspection,am a very busy type as i work long hours everyday,i have gone through your advertisement and i am satisfied with it. As for the payment..i will be paying you via the fastest and secure way to pay online(PayPal), and a private courier agent would come for the pick up after the payment have been made ...so no shipping included, so you can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in right away and also include your address in your reply.If you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set up one and setting up a paypal account doesn't take more than 5minutes...just log on to www.paypal.com and sign up. its very easy.I await your reply asap -snip-@hotmail.com ...All you need to do now is to send me your paypal email address now, so i can quickly transfer the fund to your account as soon as possible.
Thank.

This just screams 'scam', am I right?

lostboy75

screams scam so loud my ears are ringing,

https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=79673

they hardly even changed the text, now that's just lazy scamming, they should have covered that on day one of "Scamming - how to fool the gullible" its a 2 days course i hear...

Cienciano

I'd ignore everyone that doesn't contact you by phone. Scammers are always weird, never view the bike and eventually find some reason for you to send them money.
Don't laugh, some people actually do fall for it. You'll eventually see the words "western union".

CrazyRabbit

lostboy75 wrote: »

screams scam so loud my ears are ringing,

https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=79673

they hardly even changed the text, now that's just lazy scamming, they should have covered that on day one of "Scamming - how to fool the gullible" its a 2 days course i hear...

OMG...I can't believe they were that lazy.

lostboy75

exactly,
but you can see how mass produced these are. imagine if they customised them to suit the ad, yes alot more time would be involved, but would be so much more difficult to see through it. and would 'possibly' have a much higher return to the scammer.
there are a few different scam site like the one i linked to. some of them are very good, and very interesting. its good to know about them

lostboy75

Cienciano wrote: »

I'd ignore everyone that doesn't contact you by phone. Scammers are always weird, never view the bike and eventually find some reason for you to send them money.
Don't laugh, some people actually do fall for it. You'll eventually see the words "western union".

the paypal one mentioned above is quite common now as well, i have seen a few examples of it. essentially what they do is they send you a fake email from paypal that tells you that paypal has your money in a secured account, but to protect the buyer from fraud is holding the money until they are happy with the goods you sold them.
in a way this actually sounds 'fairly' convincing unless you know that this is not a service that paypal offers, or really could ever offer. paypal would basically be saying that they trust the buyer but not the sell, when in reality they dont know either party from Adam.

CJhaughey

lostboy75 wrote: »

the paypal one mentioned above is quite common now as well, i have seen a few examples of it. essentially what they do is they send you a fake email from paypal that tells you that paypal has your money in a secured account, but to protect the buyer from fraud is holding the money until they are happy with the goods you sold them.
in a way this actually sounds 'fairly' convincing unless you know that this is not a service that paypal offers, or really could ever offer. paypal would basically be saying that they trust the buyer but not the sell, when in reality they dont know either party from Adam.

It is called Escrow and is actually a recognised way of dealing between two parties.
But a bike is usually a relatively low cost item (compared to a Boat or Property etc) and if a buyer can't pay by a verifiable method then its likely dodgy.