How weak is the sellers market right now???

Discussion in 'General VFR Discussions' started by 98stage2, Jun 3, 2011.

  1. 98stage2

    98stage2 New Member

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    I'm selling my 5th gen and am surprised at how little interest I've gotten on it. It's posted here and on CL and after 91 views here and 3 weeks on CL I've had a total of one guy interested. :frown: I'm asking $3900, with "asking" being the keyword. Any thoughts on what others are seeing out in the market?
     
  2. Davis5g

    Davis5g New Member

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    How many miles are on your 98? I paid 3000 for my 99 in august with 12,800 miles on it.
     
  3. Lgn001

    Lgn001 Member

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    I'd say the price is right about in the ballpark for other 5th gens listed (~3200-4000 in California), but it is a tough time to sell. Actually, it's been pretty bad for the last few years. Our local Craigslist see's about 100 ads a day for bikes, and about 300 for used cars/trucks. That doesn't include the dealer ads, just private party.

    I suspect our politicians aren't being completely honest with us about the recovering economy.
     
  4. 98stage2

    98stage2 New Member

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    19,000 miles. Never dropped, wrecked, abused, etc. I hope you got a smoking deal and that that's not indicative of what I need to be expecting. :(
     
  5. 98stage2

    98stage2 New Member

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    @Lgn001, I think you're right about the unemployment numbers. Read an article yesterday about the true number being closer to 11%. I'll link it if I can dig it up in my history... I thought the price seemed fair for a starting point as well since it's such a clean bike. It's almost disheartening.

    Found the link:

    More job seekers give up, reducing unemployment - Yahoo! News
     
  6. tinkerinWstuff

    tinkerinWstuff Administrator Staff Member

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    I watch the yellow 2000 VFR800 a lot. They go for $3000-$3400 in my market.

    I meet with private sector business owners on a daily basis. Business is up - turn off the news and get back to work.

    In the last two weeks, I can't tell you how many people have told me they've hired people, added shifts, and are exporting products. I know one business who laid off (because their product won't stand on it's own and they're waiting on a govt contract).
     
  7. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    I was thinking you needed to be closer to the $3000 mark myself. I've seen many 94-97 models go for $2500-$2800 here in SoCal from CL and Ebay lately. Many more bikes here in SoCal, sure, and many with more miles on them since we've got a 12 month season, but the 98s and 99s that I've seen listed are closer to $3k on both sites.
     
  8. 98stage2

    98stage2 New Member

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    So it looks like I used "unusual or exceptional" examples when I priced it... back to the drawing board it would seem.
     
  9. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    I'd personally go back if only b/c you've had it listed for 3 weeks with no sale. Me? If it's still in the garage in a warm-weather riding climate after 7-10 days without a sale or at the very least PLENTY of interest/calls/offers/visits with cash in hand, I've priced it wrong. Three weeks without a sale means I'm too far off the mark if I'm selling a bike. I like stuff to go within a week at most usually, or at least have a flurry of interested parties and multiple calls from each of them at that point.
     
  10. havcar

    havcar New Member

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    Economy aside, I've been following RSV4's and Agusta F4's for several months on ebay and it doesn't appear as though anyone is willing to pay anywhere near actual value. From what I've gathered of late, unless it's a steal, it won't sell. Of course, there are always the guys that are asking far too much to begin with, but it doesn't seem like you're that far off - maybe $500-$700.
     
  11. tinkerinWstuff

    tinkerinWstuff Administrator Staff Member

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  12. 98stage2

    98stage2 New Member

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    I thought I was a little on the high end at $3900, but expected to get some lowball offers that I could meet in the middle and still come out happy. This has just been perplexing... reduced it to $3700 so we'll see what happens. *your Denver CL link makes me sad* I fully expected to get $3500 out of it no problem...
     
  13. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    I sincerely hope I'm waaay off, but I don't think -$200 is gonna get it sold. Instead of going thru the "meet in the middle" BS, why not just price it for what you want ($3200?) and stand firm. When I've sold bikes/cars/big stuff, I naturally got the "would you take $x for it?" calls. I simply told everyone "If you don't bring (my listed price) with you, don't bother showing up." Knowing what you want and holding firm can make this go a lot smoother/faster. Let's buyers know you know what it's worth and cuts out the BS and time-consuming "haggling" too.

    If you want $3500, list it for $3500. And only take $3500.
     
  14. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    One more thing about your specific bike that may/may not be hurting your potential sales:

    Is that wing image a decal that can be removed? Or is it painted on? Either way, that might be helpful in the listing (in case it's a decal and potential buyers can remove it).

    If it's permanent/paint, that could be a little of your problem as well. From my limited view of selling used vehicles for 20+ years, custom-painted/personal stuff takes a lot longer to sell and only very rarely does one recoup the investment, if ever. Much harder to find that person who shares the sellers unique tastes. This was really apparent in the 80s when folks would "customize" their bikes/cars/trucks with odd paint choices (purple/glitter/candy colors), add lowering kits (cars, mostly), detailed paint "flourishes" like pinstriping, lettering, non-removable decals, extreme sound systems, etc, and then try and sell them saying, in effect "The car/bike is worth $5000 stock, and I've got $4000 in paint, lowers, stereo, etc, so I'm selling for $9k."

    Um....no. You still have to find the person who LIKES all that stuff, and even then you can't get 100% back on the investments. A purple Escort GT is still a hell of a lot harder to sell than an identical white one.

    Your idea of looking @ comparable year models is the right way to start, but that's for an OEM bike paint job. I would think that you'd have to reduce your price (by the amount you paid to get the wing logo painted on, if it IS painted on?) to get yours to a sell-able price. The thinking is that your buyer would have to know that if he wanted to take it back to stock look/paint (after all, he'll have to sell it as well one day, and might run into the same issue) he'd have the $ wiggle room to do so after buying it from you.

    You could, of course, get lucky and find the buyer who likes the wing and is willing to pay for it. Hopefully that's the case.
     
  15. WilsonFourTwo

    WilsonFourTwo New Member

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    It's odd......I patiently waited 3 years to find (locally) a 5th Gen worth buying, but in the past year there have been around a dozen more.

    That said, they seem to (eventually) sell and the market price ($4000 - $5500) has been really stable. I still feel like I stole mine. :)
     
  16. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    Oh. I looked up your posts and see that the wing is a decal. That's good. Wonder if you'd get more responses if you took them off and sold the bike OEM style. What do you guys think? I know personally I'd look closer @ a bike/car that had stock paint if I was in the market for a specific model/year and knew what I wanted. Thoughts?
     
  17. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    That in USD?

    And you waited 3 years for a sale? You have patience, that's for sure! Most buyers wouldn't wait 3 months to ride! They'd just change their tastes and buy something else.
     
  18. WilsonFourTwo

    WilsonFourTwo New Member

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    Prices are CDN. We just don't have the volume of bikes up here, which really drives the prices.

    As for the wait.....the 5th Gen VFR was the one that pulled my into riding. Honestly, I wasn't in a huge rush to ride and it's amazing how time flies when you think "Just wait another 30 days.....". Not a biggee, got lots of other distractions around here!
     
  19. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    Good point. Shorter riding season factors into that as well, I suppose. All the used bikes for sale are put up @ a rush @ the same time when the weather breaks after folks tweaking them for sale all winter long. Lots of bidders at the same time, all looking to ride and thinking that particular bike might be the only one they'll see, and if they don't move on it the riding season could be spent WAITING instead of riding.

    Down here in SoCal, if you don't see what you want, just hold off a bit, or check out a larger area/different cities. Folks sell all year and upgrade all year, so your wait usually isn't long. Plus, if you're looking for a specfic recent-model and/or color bike you usually have enough to pick from to get a little "who's got the better deal?" war going between them if you've got the stomach for it.
     
  20. havcar

    havcar New Member

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    I'm with ya, wgregt: I would be much more apt to buy any bike, not just a VFR, without any paint mods or excessive (any) decals. I believe that holds true for most of the people I know and ride with.
     
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