Prices of 2nd hand bikes

[Clinton1]

Do more research, ask more questions and this won't happen. There are plenty of good deals around.

 

I hear you but you can ask all the questions you want but those giving you advice will be equally in the dark when it comes to realising if there is some hidden fault or if there has been excessive abuse of the bike which is not quite visible. Only the seller is truly aware of what the bike has been through and, again, if you buy in the second hand market there is no returns policy.

 

Nothing wrong with second hand if the selling price reflects the risks taken in buying.

[Caerus]

You also need to be aware of what someone might have paid, hence the possible overinflation. You buy something from your LBS, lets say a crankset for R3000, but someone else paid R1800 from an online shop. The person that paid R3k will most certainly price the part more then the man that paid R1.8K.

[jules1976]

Its a very contentious point gents . all items loose value with the passing year and some owners value their bikes more than they are actually worth because of the fact of the amount of money spent in keeping that bike up to date making various component upgrades over the years. i think that is the biggest problem in the second hand market. Also lots of riders build bikes from scratch and sell them as second hand and thus the value of these bikes with limited kms on them are priced rather high as compared to a old bike with vast kms on it, thus creating differences in the second hand market. ..... Just my two cents worth

[zerocalves]

Well over the last three years prices have actually come down on complete builds, parts are still expensive if you upgrade. In 2010 you could buy a giant anthem alu frame for R10500 now you can buy the carbon 2011 frame for 8k. that same carbon frame if you wanted it in 2010 would have costed you 17k. Basically we buy cause we want the latest and gratest, the market knows this and sells everything at over inflated prices for current models, and next year when the new stuff comes out they sell the previous years model, at proper market values, that way they make a crap load on the new kit, while getting rid of the old kit and still showing a hefty profit sheet.

Yes and with the advent of the 29er era, the bottom is dropping nicely out of the 26er market meaning that there are some serious bargains to be had in the second and first hand if you are not hell bent on riding a 29er

[RiderX]

If they manage to sell them at those prices, then the price was right. If you're selling to a broad and ignorant market, then you can overcharge.

 

I personally don't think it's ethical, though.

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with charging as much as you like for your second hand bike. Those that have tried to sell a second hand bike will know that it is extremely difficult to get anything close to the original value of the bike when selling since the market is saturated.

 

The buyers have a wide range of bikes to choose from and will from their side always try to negotiate a price lower than advertised. Sometimes so much lower that the offer becomes ridiculous, wastes the seller's time and becomes dependent on the seller being desperate for money. Is this behaviour from the buyer unethical?

 

My opinion is when buying anything secondhand one should atleast have some idea of the value of a new model and look at lots of different options. Someone hunting for a second hand bicycle on bidorbuy is already on the web and a simple search in google will bring up available bikes on thehub as well. So it becomes very easy for the buyer to do the research required before making the purchase decision. Being ignorant in this regard is the buyer's mistake and unfortunately in business this means you loose out.