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I like to use bike specific sites and forums to sell, instead of CL. I had mostly ridden BMWs for the past dozen or so years and used the MOA and IBMWR sites to sell.
I always get a feel for someone by talking to them on the phone. Email and text is OK, but not for getting a feel for someone. A couple of bikes I've sold, I've wound up talking to the buyer for like 45 minutes to an hour on the phone about all kinds of bikes. A scammer will not put in the effort and talk to you for an hour on the phone, IMO.
On long distance deals, in may cases, someone has to trust the other first. I shipped one bike to Michigan without ever meeting the buyer. The funds were sent first by him, then I did the shipping. Another time, I was the buyer and wired the funds to Chicago and then they shipped the bike. I had googled the seller and found him to be a bank president with pages and pages of charity work and he was quite wealthy. So I figured he didn't earn his reputation by scamming people out of a $7000 motorcycle!
I delivered a Harley from NJ to Annapolis and met the buyer in the Navy Federal Credit Union parking lot and went into the bank with him and received the cash on the spot and handed over the bike. As others have said, Cash is the way to go, especially on face-to-face in-person deals. Also, some buyers are reluctant to bring a bank check that's already made out to the seller because if the buyer changes his mind, there's fees for them to turn the check back in to the bank, as well as waiting times to have the cash back in their account.
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Sold a few bikes and cars on Craigs List. Cash only, no exceptions. Some buyers are leery of showing up with a large sum so I will agree to meet them in a public place to put them at ease. I state in my ad that I will only respond by phone, no texts or emails. Be sure to use many quality photos in your ad especially pointing out any defects in paint, etc.
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The funniest one I had was a guy who wanted to trade me a 1/2 restored Studebaker truck for a motorcycle, ya that's what I need a truck that need another 15,000$ to make it done!
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I like to buy on Craigslist and sell on EBay. I suppose it's a kind of arbitrage. But I find that this weeds out the scammers and allows me more peace of mind.
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I agree about buying seeming better than selling on CL. I'm going to be selling some bikes next spring (the fleet's getting a little out of hand) and I've thought about trying eBay...but I think I'll avoid auction sales on there. A lot of the bikes I've watched (out of curiosity, not bidding) seem to go for less than "true" market value when auctioned. I figure I'll just post a buy-it-now price, 30-day sale, tons of pics and description, and wait for the right person.
As far as payment for CL sales...since I live in a state that requires a notarized bill of sale, as a buyer I've always just suggested that we go to my bank (which almost always has a notary on duty) and handle the whole thing. That way they can see me get the cashiers check and know it's legit. And I don't have to walk around with a giant stack of cash.
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(11-02-2014, 08:42 AM)pechorin75_imp Wrote: I agree about buying seeming better than selling on CL. I'm going to be selling some bikes next spring (the fleet's getting a little out of hand) and I've thought about trying eBay...but I think I'll avoid auction sales on there. A lot of the bikes I've watched (out of curiosity, not bidding) seem to go for less than "true" market value when auctioned. I figure I'll just post a buy-it-now price, 30-day sale, tons of pics and description, and wait for the right person.
As far as payment for CL sales...since I live in a state that requires a notarized bill of sale, as a buyer I've always just suggested that we go to my bank (which almost always has a notary on duty) and handle the whole thing. That way they can see me get the cashiers check and know it's legit. And I don't have to walk around with a giant stack of cash.
Buy it Now with Best Offer is the way to go. It weeds out the riff raft, puts you in control, and avoids the tedium of an auction. I've done it numerous times, and with rare exception, makes for a seamless selling process.
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Yes, by all means include a Buy It Now choice.
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Well, the CX I mentioned in Post #3 sold in 24 hours on CL. A well mannered young man bought it with no hassles and paid me what I had it listed for.........actually I gave him a break and knocked off 50 bucks. Works for me.
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More red flags are: " I'm inquiring about the item you are selling", well come on man what item are you inquiring about??? Other red flags are they use words like "advert" and "god bless" Or "my agent", when was the last time you used the word "advert" ha ha there easy to sniff out.
A couple of years ago I was selling a kayak on CL for $900, the guy offered to pay me double if I would ship, I knew it was a scam with all the BS ( I never mentioned the kayak, he wanted the "item" so I was bored and played with him, he was like in NY but the M.O.'s came from FL, he overnight Fed X me 2 postal M.O $900 ea. ( I chuckled at the notion he spent $$$ to send them next day fed x) they looked legit btw. I took them to the P.O. and sure enough they were BOGUS. He was pissed, after a couple of angry emails he sent back I told him the FBI had tracked his domain, never heard back from him again. P.S. there's also a pay pal scam where these creeps know how to rip off pay pal but not sure how that one works.
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I've sold several motorcycles on Ebay with no problems at all (knock wood). I start with a low starting bid, and put a reserve on it for the minimum I'd take. Every one so far has easily met or exceeded my reserve. Sure, there have been a few who have contacted me about offering me half my reserve before the auction's over, etc., but it's easy to politely turn them down, or just block them. And I insist on bank transfers or cash in hand if they're picking it up. Anybody who's above-board understands, and complies; I've never had a single complaint.
I think giving as much info as possible, including any known problems, and including lots of pics covering every nook and cranny is the way to do it. People realize you're being honest and straightforward about your item, and therefore feel a lot more comfortable doing business with someone they don't know, and usually long-distance, too. It's what I'd want if I were the buyer. Unfortunately, that's seldom the case from other sellers.
Having said all this, I haven't bothered with all the craziness that is Craig's List. To me, Ebay is so easy and relatively safe to use, why bother with the lookie-loos, ridiculously low offers and insanity of CL?
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