Dealer debate

[Graham S]

Interestingly when it comes to dealers buying bikes and hiking the price. 

I had my eye on a bike that was R35k on the classified section and was listed as a Large. 

Was a bit outside of my budget but it looked great and I'd justify the price. It sat for aaaaaages.

 

Then a dealer bought it and it was relisted for R10k LOWER than what the previous owner was selling it for but it was listed as a MEDIUM. 

So the previous owner had it listed as the wrong size and more expensive than the dealer. 

I sent the dealer a message to confirm the size and it was infact a medium. Which is too small for me which is a pity as the price was perfect now. 

Extremely rare occurance but thought I'd add that to the thread. 

[corrie.kuilder]

1 hour ago, NotSoBigBen said:

Not everyone that you refer to as 'dealers' identify as such or would like to be categorised as such either. Perhaps to avoid paying some dues that they should to BH classifieds?

I've been burnt by them myself 😳

That is true, and should something happen, in a civil and/or criminal case, it is found that the person is in fact a registered business owner, that owner can be held liable, because any business owner/dealer that is registered in terms of the act,must have a register if items are bought from another person. The owner/dealer then must declare to any potential buyers that the item is indeed second-hand ( not "as good as new" or "Demo" ect). This goes for Bicycles in whole,components and accessories. Other than the Consumer protection act, the Second-hand goods purpose is also to protect buyers of second-hand goods, and to regulate the movement of second-hand goods through businesses. Anyhow, dealers just need to be aware of this, and I hope Matt & co are also aware of this.

[Furbz]

My take: the ad was up, you had your chance to contact the seller and secure the deal.

If you were to slow or um'd and ah'd, or its was outside your affordability then thats really not the dealers issue.

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Furbz

[Mongoose!]

3 hours ago, corrie.kuilder said:

228.24 kB · 2 downloads

 

This is very interesting. 

as per above Government Gazette no 32087

‘‘dealer’’ means a person who carries on a business of dealing in second-hand
goods, and includes a scrap metal dealer and a pawnbroker;

 

Guess Bikehub should protect its community to ensure all dealers are registered, but what law / act forces Bikehub to do it? 

Bikehub is only the advertising platform in this regard

 

[Shebeen]

13 hours ago, RossTopher said:

I'm loathe to even poke this bear, but here goes.

Been keeping an eye on the classifieds the last few months with some friends looking for bikes. Setup alerts, sent them links etc, but the moment you even sniff a decent deal, a dealer swoops in a it's back up online before the dust has settled at some crazy multiple.

What's the general consensus here, should dealers be limited so say 25 listings, or maybe max net value across listings. 

I know some will say it's good for sellers, but they aren't even getting a good score, the dealers are just going in for anything fair/undervalued (imo) and then driving up the used market value, that only they can supply, making it really difficult for people to meet their needs/wants in budget. 

Just seen one 46% higher than it was listed privately yesterday

 

 

[Shebeen]

12 hours ago, RossTopher said:

Absolutely,  the classifieds are there for people to do business, and the dealers pay for the usage, I've no issue with the process, but A. be reasonable with your margins, or B. let the courier start his bakkie before reposting it at 1.5x. 

I suppose its just borne out of frustration that by the time you've counted your pennies and had a word with yourself about priorities, its out of range. 

ok, being constructive now - if you want to snap up a bargain on the bikehub

*work out what you want

*sign up as a premium member

*filter multiple searches so that as soon as something is up for sale you get an email/notification that something is listed in your price bracket

*strike whilst the iron is hot!

 

 

I'm not sure what the limit is for dealers (who also pay for the privilige of that status) but there should maybe be a delay for their notification.

 

[117]

You dont have to be a premium member to get the email alerts, currently. 

A simpler way will be to open the comments up again on the adverts, that way you could cry foul if an advert is washed up the monetary department

[fanievb]

In 2021 sometime, I asked @Matt about an ignore button for the classifieds, similar to the one in the forums.

He indicated it was in the planning, but I suspect the idea got dropped.

I scroll adds for bargains or something specific I need, with the amount of dealer listings it becomes a pain the ass to filter through all the over-priced (sometimes re-listed) dealer "specials".

The problem with current filter options is that you exclude all dealers, which is not always what you want as some dealers actually know what they are doing and offer real bargains, hence ignore the dealers which imo add zero value.

[Shebeen]

56 minutes ago, 117 said:

You dont have to be a premium member to get the email alerts, currently. 

A simpler way will be to open the comments up again on the adverts, that way you could cry foul if an advert is washed up the monetary department

correct, but isn't it limited to only 1 search for non premium member? That's useful but not as powerful as having a few running if you're after a certain bike frame + wheelset + brake system.

[117]

Not sure. I'm non premium so let me see if it sets up

[Lynnwood Cyclery]

So we will reply as a dealer.

Although we dont particularly deal in Second hand bikes we do from time to time get a good bike in that we then trade in on a new bike and then try to sell on the Hub. But buy in (from the hub) is not what we do best, so leaving that for second hand dealers.
Almost all of the deal we post, gets lowballed by another secondhand retailer within minutes.
We have stopped replying just because its way to much admin.

We as a store offer a 3month "warranty" on the bikes sold. If there is any remainder of a Specialized second owner warranty left we honour that too. Whichever is a longer period.

[Matt]

We're following the debate with interest.

We've always taken the stance of the market will decide in terms of the price a given seller will accept and what a buyer is willing to pay. And we still stand by that with respect to the general debate about resellers, pricing, etc.

However, feedback here around lowball offers in particular and an influx of recent complaints about these does have us questioning how to better approach this. 

Historically the assumption on our side was that on balance "a low offer is better than no offers", but feedback here and from users directly makes it very clear that this doesn't hold true. In some instances no offers would be better than a low offer and an all round better experience as a seller. 

We are actively considering solutions and welcome further feedback here or via help@bikehub.co.za

[thebob]

@Mattas a first step, would it be possible to have a check box or similar when creating an advert to say whether the person posting the advert is happy for dealers to make an offer?

[Mongoose!]

7 minutes ago, thebob said:

@Mattas a first step, would it be possible to have a check box or similar when creating an advert to say whether the person posting the advert is happy for dealers (and private users using the same ip address as a dealer account)  to make an offer?

corrected 🙃

[RossTopher]

thanks all for the input. really interesting to hear the many experiences and different thoughts. both individuals and bikeshops suffering from the lowballing, and as pointed out, the price hikes with zero value added.

I use the Dealer filter, but as mentioned, this cuts out the many quality dealers who ask fair prices, and still includes accounts on here not registered as dealers but reselling en masse.

The post was sparked by a particular case yesterday where i got sent a link to a dealers add. The price isnt even that obscene, it's jsut that i'd seen the bike listed privately a day earlier, prior to the 46% hike.

[Kom]

i was watching this ad for the last couple of days

before --> https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/624393/s-works-epic

after --> https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/560962/s-works-epic-l-12spd-axs-carbonwheels-sidsl

At least bikegarage left the power meter installed, and at face value, R70k out and R75k in is not a crazy markup. Im sure the price traded up front was probs closer to R50k, but that wouldve been any hubbers chance to take.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Kom