There's a recession on, dontcha know...

....or at least that's what some wasters are counting on in the used
bike market.

I had the Thundercat up for £1295 BIN on eBay this week, and
unfortunately it didn't sell... yet.

I don't think that's out the ball park for one of this vintage / spec
even at this time of year, not least given the work it's had done
recently, but maybe TOG might think otherwise.

Anyway, I've one chap who is very interested in it if he can shift his
bike, plus another is interested assuming he doesn't end up winning
something else he's been bidding on... so all being well it'll be sold
soon enough.

I've also had two laughable offers on it this week, and both went to
great pains to tell me how they'd pay *cash* for it, as if I'd be
considering taking magic beans in full payment for it.

The second of the two spivs offered me a massive £700 for it... and
when I replied to enquire as to whether he'd prefer the polite or rude
answer, he came back with something along the lines of 'no need to be
rude, how about £750?' (and as above, went to great pains to let me
know how he'd be paying cash).

Twats.

 

....or at least that's what some wasters are counting on in the used
bike market.

I had the Thundercat up for £1295 BIN on eBay this week, and
unfortunately it didn't sell... yet.

I don't think that's out the ball park for one of this vintage / spec
even at this time of year, not least given the work it's had done
recently, but maybe TOG might think otherwise.

Anyway, I've one chap who is very interested in it if he can shift his
bike, plus another is interested assuming he doesn't end up winning
something else he's been bidding on... so all being well it'll be sold
soon enough.

I've also had two laughable offers on it this week, and both went to
great pains to tell me how they'd pay *cash* for it, as if I'd be
considering taking magic beans in full payment for it.

The second of the two spivs offered me a massive £700 for it... and
when I replied to enquire as to whether he'd prefer the polite or rude
answer, he came back with something along the lines of 'no need to be
rude, how about £750?' (and as above, went to great pains to let me
know how he'd be paying cash).

Twats.

 

<Emailed>

 

That's got to be some kind of record.

Completely un-snipped, no quote marks, just 10 characters added (I'm
counting the spaces to be generous) and even those are in the wrong case.

 

Yeah, even I can't work out, for the love of christ's fat cock how that
happened?

--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Range Rover Vogue

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Nige

Available evidence would tend to indicate a PEBKAC.

 

The work done is immaterial. I was bidding on a Yamaha 250 scooter
recently, and it failed to meet reserve. The seller had recently
replaced exhaust, tyres and speedo sender (a £100 item, apparently).

So I contacted him and asked what he wanted for it.

His reply: "I bought it for £800 a year ago, and as you can see, it's
had a lot spent on it, so I won't take a penny less than £850."

You could gold-plate the fucking thing, spending £10k in the process,
but that doesn't make it worth £10k. A fair price for a bike in decent
nick is a fair price for a bike in decen nick. If you had to spend a
small fortune getting it in decent nick, that's your loss.

Try £995. Or kick it off at £750 and no reserve.

 

c'mon - you can do better than rip off Chris Morris...

 

Or give it a good coat of ACF50, bung it in the garage, pull it out
in the spring, give it a good polish, and try again.
It is the wrong time of year to be selling a bike.

 

What he said.

 

Point is, I'm not asking for more than what the going rate is for one
of these, regardless of what it may or may not have had done to it
recently.

I've not spent a small fortune on it either... but it's now a properly
sorted Thundercat, probably more sorted than I'd normally bother to do
given the original intention was to keep it for a while.

With that in mind, and given what other Thundercats have fetched of
late, the work done is a selling point.

No... I'm not desperate to sell it, so if none of the currently
interested parties want it, I'll hold on to it til the spring, (as
suggested by CRN), and then get a sensible price for it.

The point of the original post was by how much of a margin some people
seem to think they can take the piss when making an offer at the
moment.

If you think £700 was a fair offer, perhaps you might like to look at
how much similar Thundercats have recently fetched on eBay.

 

Oh, I can appreciate that... and had no other bikes of a similar spec
sold for the sort of money I'm asking for this, I'd admit defeat.

But they have sold, so I'll try for a bit longer before I accept I
might as well use the fucking thing for and then try and get rid of it
once the weather improves. ;-)

 

If someone is trying to start a haggling process they probably aren't
expecting you to accept their first offer: you're asking £1295, they've
initially offered £700 so perhaps they'd meet you in the middle at just
under £1000 which is close to what TOG suggested.

 

*If* I were desperate to get my money out of it, then *maybe* I'd
accept around a grand for it... but given I'm not, and other bikes of
a similar age / mileage are currently fetching £1200+, I think I'll
bide my time for now.

 

Or even better if you have some cash to invest, buy its replacement now
at winter prices and wait until spring to sell.
Sounds like a better return on investment than leaving money around at
the negligable interest rates the banks are currently paying.

 

Dunno what age/mileage yours is, but a quick eBay 'completed auctions'
check shows bikes have sold for as little as £700 (25k miles, looked
serviceable) to a high of £1550 (45k miles, one owner from new, fsh,
immaculate).

So £1300 is at the higher end of what bikes have sold for.

I get put off by BIN auctions, anyway. I suspect I'm not alone. I'd
stick t up at £995, like I said. Put a reserve on it if you want.

 

And people asking for 1300 and actually having got it are subtly
different.

 

1999 T plate, 30k miles with service history and totally standard.

....and located in Ireland.

Fine, if you're based over there, else you're looking at something of
a relatively expensive and time consuming mission to get it back to
the mainland.

Bar one service missing, mine also has full service history and has
done 30k miles.

Couple of small marks, but not out of character for one of these at
the age / mileage its one.

Another went for £981... no service history, more miles, 'a few dings'
and a broken fairing bracket, plus slightly older.

Then there are some that fetched £1200, including one three years
older with slightly less miles, but which came with an aftermarket can

So with all that in mind, I don't think £1295 (take £1200 if waved in
front of me, hence why I set the auction up with a 'Best Offer'
option), is that outrageous... especially as I'm open minded when it
comes to whether or not I end up throwing in the ART can I've also got
for it.

And going back to what you said earlier regarding any work done to
something, are you suggesting if you saw two bikes of a similar spec,
age and mileage, and both of which were within feasible reach of where
you are, you'd not be more inclined to go for the one which came
freshly serviced and fitted with new tyres etc?

See above.

Some people don't - some people prefer the idea of being able to buy
something straightaway, without waiting to see if they *might* win the
auction... that, and the 'Best Offer' function means you can normally
negotiate a lower figure, anyway.

And like I've shown above, they're realistically fetching £1200 in a
similar condition / spec, of late... never mind the work this has had
done to it acting as a sweetener.

It's now advertised elsewhere... if I can't get £1200 for it, it'll
just get used and then sold in the spring when prices firm back up.

'simples'

 

The replacement is sitting in my dads garage... and I get to use it
when I want anyway. ;-)

He'd like the money for that sooner rather than later, hence why I'd
prefer the Thundercat to go now, not least because I have little
interest in riding it, whereas I really enjoy riding the GSX.

Oh aye... I've got a decent sized garage I could fill with bikes now
as well, but unfortunately not the capital to keep tied up in them for
months.

 

Well that's exactly the point of my original post; had the cheeky ****
not bothered to come back with an increased offer of '£750... and in
cash' and waffle about 'the mileage being too high' after I'd asked
him if he'd prefer the polite or rude answer, then I'd not have felt
compelled to vent steam about it on here. ;-)