Could use some help with asking price?

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knightscape

knightscape

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Jul 29, 2013
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I've decided to sell off my first 2 stroke and I could use some help figuring out what I should ask for it. I want to be fair and at the same time not leave money on the table. I picked up this bike for $35 with the inoperable motor included and rebuilt it a couple years ago. It's an old unknown frame, nothing fancy. It's a 49cc the motor has a new Jug, Piston, NT carb and has been broken in, runs solid fires right up and rides good, does about 26mph. It looks kind of ratty, the paint is beat, slightly dented tank, some rust on the bars, small tear in the seat, that kind of stuff. I've seen nasty bikes on CL with asking prices of $250, there aren't really many for sale in this area. I've got probably $150 in the bike total, and that's mostly wheels and a new jug. New jug was more than I paid for the whole bike :) This is what I'm talking about:

 
GoreWound

GoreWound

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Clean it, then take another picture for the ad.
if you can find a white sharpie to retouch the wheels do that too.
then ask for 400 dollars, if you aren't getting lots of bitesfo to $350.
 
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dtv5403

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My personal opinion, $400 is way too much. I'm not trying to sound like a duck, but you said yourself it's a used, unknown frame and a rebuilt engine. The only new parts on it are the ones you installed. You may see those nasty bikes at an asking price of 250, but that doesn't mean they are selling for that. I do acknowledge that you put time and effort into it, and I do feel that you should get more back than you put in, if I were in the market I would not go any higher than 3 bills. I'd probably make an initial offer of 250. it's your run of the mill basic two stroke kit bike. It looks decently put together, I just don't see anything making it worth 4 bills. As I said, not trying to sound like a duck. Just giving my honest opinion. I'm sure others will feel differently.
 
knightscape

knightscape

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LOL, $400 would be nuts. Yup, there's absolutely nothing notable about this bike, it's a stock kit in every way. I guess I'll give it a good wipe down, take some glamour shots (lol), post it for $250 and see what happens.
 
crassius

crassius

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price depends almost entirely on your area - some places, fresh builds with new bike & new kit are under $300, other places, anything running goes for $450 or more
 
Tony01

Tony01

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Sell it for as much as you can. 250 I think you'd be sellin yourself short. Think about what it costs to buy everything new plus the labor of building it and working out the quirks. I say list at 400 and see what happens.
 
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dtv5403

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beginner01 said:
Sell it for as much as you can. 250 I think you'd be sellin yourself short. Think about what it costs to buy everything new plus the labor of building it and working out the quirks. I say list at 400 and see what happens.
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This bike isn't new. He said he's got about $150 in the bike. At $400, he's charging almost double for labor what he's got in parts. Looking at this bike, it's not worth that. He even agrees. He's not out to rip anyone off, he just wants to make some money back. The $150 he's got in it plus $100 for labor I'd say is fair.
 
Tony01

Tony01

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dtv5403 said:
This bike isn't new. He said he's got about $150 in the bike. At $400, he's charging almost double for labor what he's got in parts. Looking at this bike, it's not worth that. He even agrees. He's not out to rip anyone off, he just wants to make some money back. The $150 he's got in it plus $100 for labor I'd say is fair.
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A fair price is what the buyer and seller agree on. He is not forcing anybody to buy it. The government imposes a progressive tax on you: that's not fair. His interest is to make the most money. List it for $400. If it runs reliably, there's not much better transportation you can buy in that range. The cheapest moped will be double.
 
Davezilla

Davezilla

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That bike would go for $400 to $450 over here if it runs reliably, but depending on where your at and what kind of demand there is that price may not fly...
I might advertise it for $350 and negotiate down from there, my guess is it'll sell for somewhere between 250 and 300, if you think 350 is too high then set the price at 300 and negotiate down. You can't negotiate up if you set the price too low but you can always go the other way...
 
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dtv5403

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beginner01 said:
A fair price is what the buyer and seller agree on. He is not forcing anybody to buy it. The government imposes a progressive tax on you: that's not fair. His interest is to make the most money. List it for $400. If it runs reliably, there's not much better transportation you can buy in that range. The cheapest moped will be double.
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Looking on Craigslist in my area, I found mopeds for different prices, a few going for over $1k, but also a few in the $400-500 range. Many people say a fair price is what the buyer and seller agree on. I entirely disagree. A fair price is what something is actually worth, if the buyer agreed to pay more that does not make it a fair price. The OP happens to agree with my assessment of the bike. And what the government does is irrelevant to this discussion. You are right that he isn't forcing anyone to buy it. But when you say "list it for 400", the sounds like instead of offering advice or an opinion, you're straight out telling him what to do, and he has already stated that he agrees 400 is not a fair price for that bike. Just because a bike is well put together and runs, does that automatically make it worth $400? Perhaps for a brand new bike and brand new kit, which this is not. I think some builders believe their labor to be worth more than it really is, especially for a simple project like a China girl cruiser. If we were talking about a fully custom bike that required a higher level of skill, the labor might be worth more. To my way of thinking, the more skill required, the more the labor is with. Its why a welder, for example, gets paid more than a McDonald's worker. If he did something like build his own wheels, use non standard parts or mod the engine internally, the labor would be worth more. He did not.
 
xseler

xseler

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Apr 14, 2013
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dtv5403 said:
Looking on Craigslist in my area, I found mopeds for different prices, a few going for over $1k, but also a few in the $400-500 range. Many people say a fair price is what the buyer and seller agree on. I entirely disagree. A fair price is what something is actually worth, if the buyer agreed to pay more that does not make it a fair price. The OP happens to agree with my assessment of the bike. And what the government does is irrelevant to this discussion. You are right that he isn't forcing anyone to buy it. But when you say "list it for 400", the sounds like instead of offering advice or an opinion, you're straight out telling him what to do, and he has already stated that he agrees 400 is not a fair price for that bike. Just because a bike is well put together and runs, does that automatically make it worth $400? Perhaps for a brand new bike and brand new kit, which this is not. I think some builders believe their labor to be worth more than it really is, especially for a simple project like a China girl cruiser. If we were talking about a fully custom bike that required a higher level of skill, the labor might be worth more. To my way of thinking, the more skill required, the more the labor is with. Its why a welder, for example, gets paid more than a McDonald's worker. If he did something like build his own wheels, use non standard parts or mod the engine internally, the labor would be worth more. He did not.
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However........if I were hungry, an order of Mickey D's french fries would be worth more to me than having my widget welded.

Having worked in retail all my life, there is nothing more true than "the customers ultimately set the price for everything". We may guide the prices, but not really controll them. If I don't like the price, I just won't buy it.
 
GoreWound

GoreWound

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knightscape said:
LOL, $400 would be nuts. Yup, there's absolutely nothing notable about this bike, it's a stock kit in every way. I guess I'll give it a good wipe down, take some glamour shots (lol), post it for $250 and see what happens.
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do what you gotta do man, it's your bike and your sale.
I took a wander around your local craigslist and saw several bikes very comparable to yours listed for around $400. even if those bikes are actually selling for $250 after negotiations you still aught to list yours for $400 just to get that. regardless of asking price having the bike look nice in the picture is almost as important as what state the bike is in (take the picture with a pretty park on a sunny day in the background)

lot's of comments in this thread seem to be from the point of view of how much YOU would like to SPEND on this bike when the real question is how much would HE want to GET for it. a completely different thing. Not to mention the fact that market forces vary from place to place, and this affects the value of items in those places when compared to each-other.
if you think the bike is only worth $200 but you sell it for $400 congradulations, you are a good buisnessman. this thread seems to have gotten really heated over one or two hundred dollars that none of us are spending.

good luck with the bike whatever you plan to do, I hope you make a profit.
 
knightscape

knightscape

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Jul 29, 2013
340
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Maine
Haha, thanks for all the discussion on this guys. Like I said at the beginning, I'm not in this to rip someone off and I can see the rougher points of this bike that don't show in the photo. I just want to get some garage space back and if I get a little cash back for it too, sweet. I'm actually going to save any money I get from this sale to go towards a motorcycle license class and going to start working on a little bigger build... 20 years ago my mother asked me to promise her I would never get a motorcycle. I'm very glad 16 year old me had the foresight to say, "Mom, I can't make that promise right now." If I can sell this thing I'll follow up the thread. I'm out of town for the week, so hopefully I'll get it posted up next weekend.
 
Mike B

Mike B

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knightscape said:
20 years ago my mother asked me to promise her I would never get a motorcycle. I'm very glad 16 year old me had the foresight to say, "Mom, I can't make that promise right now."
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I built gokarts when I was a kid. Minibikes too. The only way I got to have a minibike was Pops thought I'd learn something building it.

Always wanted a motorcycle. Rode all my buddies motorcycles. Pleaded for a motorcycle.

"You will have no motorcycles while you live under this roof" Voice of God.

So after I left home I got a motorcycle. Then more. Right now I got 4 in the garage.

I'm still alive. They're dead. Have fun!
 
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