So you’ve decided it’s time to move that beloved steed on that’s served you so well over the years - but where do you start? You want to make sure you get the best return but you also don’t want a load of hassle. We get asked all the time about the different aspects of selling a bike. Where do I sell my bike?, How do I sell my bike?, How much is my bike worth?, How do I get paid?
It can be a bit of a minefield. Today we start with the question of where to sell it.
Where can I sell a second hand bike?
1. At Cycle Exchange
The best place to sell of course is at Cycle Exchange. It’s hassle free, friendly, honest and fair. We give you a quick price and can arrange collection if you can’t get to us. All the info is detailed on our sell your bike info page.
If the retail price of your bike was originally £1,200 or over we are definitely interested. We also allow you to Part Exchange, which we price higher than a straight sale, for that we can look at any bike. Part Exchange means you are putting the value of your bike against one you are buying from our stock for sale or one of our partner stores.
Selling to us is not for everyone though, we do need to make a margin as a business, so you may want to try and get more for your bike privately. See some ways below to sell privately.
2. Sell your bike to a friend or acquaintance
The easiest (and probably best) way to sell your bike is to find someone in your network that wants to buy it. So many bikes change hands this way especially if you have friends who are getting into cycling and want to try it out at lower cost than buying a new bike. If you join a cycling club you’ll probably end up making friends with people who are buying or know someone who is looking to buy.
Pros
• Low hassle and should be easy
• No seller fees involved – all funds go straight in your pocket
Cons
• Working out a valuation can be tricky
• If something goes wrong with the bike, could be awkward.
3. Sell your bike on EBay
Probably still the most popular platform for private sales in cycling. There are quite a lot of enthusiast buyers on there ready to snap up bargains. It’s a global marketplace too so you can sell pretty much anywhere if you are prepared to pack your bike up. On EBay it’s really important to describe and photo your bike very well. Bright photos and lots of detail especially for used bikes that have wear and tear. You do not want to be getting into a heated debate over descriptions with a buyer. EBay is all about reputation, top rated sellers get more views and bids. Negative feedback can kill your chances of selling again.
Pros
• High volume traffic, global reach.
• Long established platform with in-depth information on the quality of buyers and sellers via their history and performance.
• Seller and buyer guarantee protects both sides.
Cons
• Fees are relatively high at 13% +
• It can be time consuming to create quality listings and answer all the questions.
• Bikes are a bit of a pain to pack up for shipping and if you do local collection only it limits your reach and means you have to deal with meeting potential buyers.
4 Sell your bike on a classifieds site.
Classifieds sites like Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace and various others offer a cheap way to advertise your bike to a wide audience. You can also find various cycling specific classifieds sites like Bike Soup or Preloved. Although this is quick and easy it’s not always a safe way of selling and we wouldn’t recommend it for higher priced bikes.
There are lots of scams that happen on these sites and some are frequently showing stolen items. If you are to meet someone then you need to make sure it’s going to be a safe interaction. That said if you know what you are doing and are sensitive to the pitfalls it can be effective.
5. Sell your bike on a Forum
A forum we would classify as a specialised classifieds site. It usually has the benefit of membership or a level of focus on a particular area that makes it more open to scrutiny and unlikely for scams or stolen items to appear. There are lots of cycling forums and they often have classifieds sections. Some of the bike enthusiast sites like road.cc or cycling weekly have their own forum sale section too, which are worth checking out. You can also find Facebook groups that have controlled vetted entry to private bike sellers.
