Ebay is a nightmare for time wasters it really gets on my nerves at times. I seldom sell on it only really buy from it now, had a few cases of being messed about I just sell stuff on the forums now much better and more reliable folk to deal with.
The trouble with selling things online since the internet was invented is that everything can be done at arms length, anonymously, people never have to confront the person they are dealing with and don't have to face the person when they mess them about or let them down. Selling vehicles has always been fraught with messers but these days it just brings out the idiots, chancers and scammers. I have found the serious people will always ring with questions and want to come and have look. Classified ads are the way forward and if using ebay then without the 'best offer' option as this really means 'insulting offer' to some people.
Your buyer is suffering from the psychological condition known as,"Buyers Remorse" Happens to most people on occasion...especially when there is a significant period between placing the order and receiving the goods,(all that time to worry about whether it was the right decision or not,after you've committed to buy) I would tell him he can only have his deposit back if he makes the trip to view...once he sees the bike he'll fall in love and it'll be Goodnight Vienna... If he says he won't come then he's a chancer...and deserves to lose his deposit...
Very true I had a friend who was selling a 1098s recently - he told me that he did not understand it - two people had viewed the bike , made an acceptable offer, shook hands on the deal and dissapeared, never to be seen again. They obviously suffered 'buyers remorse' when driving back home, or when their wives said "you bought WHAT!... don't you know we need the kitchen re-doing this year?" . Or their mate who told them they paid too much, or there is a better one on Biketrader.. or maybe they thought they had an adrenaline rush (don't we all when buying?) or simply streched themselves too far and wwould rather , quietly , back away. My friend's mistake was not to take a deposit - don't let them leave without commitment otherwise there is an 80% chance you will never see them again. I heard a story of a prospective buyer who made an offer and said he had no cash on him but he'd pop down to a local cash point and bring back £200 in readies. That was in 2003 and the buyer is still waiting for him to return...
Ooh, tell me more..? I've sold two bikes blind on ebay, no problems at all. The ZXR went within 12 hours of posting the ad, funnily enough to the brother of my work neighbour. The second, a Triumph Sprint, was sold to a guy that at least asked a few questions about the bike first. He cocked up the payment first time though, using his wife's business card by mistake (I reckon he's a bankrupt). I thought 'here we go', but he made the full payment next day and collected the bike a week later. Sweet. In fact, every bike I've sold in the last 12 or 13 years has sold through ebay with very little in the way of problems.
Same for me, never had any problems Infact the last one I sold went for way more than expected as a few people got into bidding frenzy. I have had a few general time wasters asking hundreds of questions, you then accept their offer and you never hear from them again. I think its down to your ad, if you put loads of photos on and cover everything including the hpi report option people have everything they need to make their decision. It's the ads which are always a bit cagey and they don't return your questions you stay clear of. The only thing I hate about eBay is how many dealers are now advertising, it's an auction site ffs, should stick their ads on MCN or Bike Trader which probably has about 5% private ads.
I've generally had the same experience Fig. The fact is, the guy has still left a deposit, so if it goes belly up then it covers the re-advertising and then some. The low offers from people with no intention of buying the bike I can handle, they can be entertaining to read with a cup of tea. I'm sorely tempted to accept some of them to watch the bidder run a mile when they realise they have to stump up when they probably don't have the funds.
It's a free world Tricolore, eBay is probably the medium that reaches the most people. If I had a buisness selling goods, I'd be on there without a doubt. You can always use the multitude of search filters to weed out the vendors you don't wish to view.
At the moment I have 30 watchers on my classified ad.They will not see if the bike sells or not,and if it does what price is agreed.So why watch-are they waiting to see how many offers are made before they decide to make one? Am I missing something here?
They are watching so they can find it easier later on and a history of it will remain in their watch list for review after the sale ends.
People just window shop on Ebay - I had over 90 at one point but only 3 people contacted me... I guess the other 87 watchers are either window shopping dreamers or other owners of your bike who want to see the how the market is going and what to charge when they sell... Classic or very rare bikes generate a lot of watchers - especially if the start price is low -sometimes 200 plus. For instance there is a good looking 916 on at the moment starting at £2700 that has 119 watchers...However you can mostly guarantee they are only the curious... Here's an excellent site for seeing how many are watching what - although it only works on auctions where there is an initial bid - you can easily see what is generating interest in the German , US , Italian etc. Ebay sites as well... http://www.watchcount.com/?cc=UK Enjoy!
Its as Tom and Moo have said, in my case I like to be a Watcher because its easy to get back to the item of interest , some stuff I keep an eye on is stuff that might give me an idea of something else or maybe a bike that has something I like on it which I can research at my convenience ,or see whats the going rate of things . I like the watch button for one more reason , if I actually want something but not that fussed about missing out on it I'll watch it knowing that the seller knows I'm watching ,meaning if it runs out of time he'll relist ,maybe cheaper or he'll be tempted to take a cheaper offer knowing it didn't sell last time. It's a tool of the trade for a buyer , its a buyers market generally .
I suppose I am lucky in that I not a forced seller.If it doesn't sell so be it.If I have the energy I might uprate it with some tasty Triton spares I have.If I can't uprate it I will just cover it up for another couple of years.
I'm exactly the same Merv, in that I don't need to sell it. It wouldn't bother me one bit if I kept the bike. I know it's a cracking bike and in a few years time you just won't find them like this. The only reason I'm selling is that I just don't use it, once last year in fact. I'm not likely to use it this year in reality with another sports bike available to me. I can probably find something to spenf the money on too.
I watch a lot of items and occasionally the odd bike. I always like to know what price things are going for and I often put bids in with the hope of getting an item I would like but don't absolutely need at that point in time and sometimes it works. The best example I can cite is a TV stand I "bought" It was a John Lewis item and cost £70 when new, I won it for £0.01p! there were no other bids for sme reason and went and collected it only to find it was perfect and I didn't even pay the £0.01. I didn't need the stand but on seeing it and how good it was my original got moved to a spare room and now I have a nice quality stand in it's place. The same applies to my bike bits, if it's better than what I have I sell the original bit.
If I adopted this idea I'd have about 4 or 5 bikes on there - and still have one in the garage.... my insurance and road tax bill would drop drastically though!
Another potential buyer of my last bike had me tearing my hair out with frustration... He saw the bike with his Dad ( he was about 25 - looked as though he was fairly well off, turned up in a brand new Merc Coupe ) , said was 'Very interested but had to clear it with his Mother...fair enough. Next day he texted me to say he was"Very keen" but would be away for a few days and would call when he got back Wednesday No call Wednesday or Thursday so I left message ( he NEVER answers his phone ) Saturday he texts "Sorry for the delay - I'm still interested in your bike will call" No call. When 1st buyer fell through I text him again to see if he is still interested Got text back at 11 O'clock at night " Yes still very keen on your bike will call tomorrow" Tomorrow came - no call - in fact that was 2 weeks ago and I have never heard a thing. So despite him saying , in order, that he's "Very interested" then "very keen" then still interested" and finally "very keen on your bike" he hasn't been arsed to pick up the phone , talk to me and actually make an offer or confirm he's going to buy..... grrrr The sting in the tale is that after promising to call me he went onto the Triumph forum enquiring after an identical model to mine (year, colour etc) but it had a) many more miles , b) less goodies, further away and finally about 20% more expensive! What is wrong with these people?????????
