Why am I having trouble selling an nice FJR for cheap money?

[RadioHowie]

no doubt, get the repairs done. Very few want to buy anything and then put work and more money into it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Genius in a nutshell.

 

[SouthernCruizer]

Could be worse dude. I have a bro in law that has been trying to sell his 2003 Anniversary HD Deuce for over 3 yrs now, and barely gets a nibble. I also know of 2 other HD owners that have been trying to sell their bikes for close to a year, and keep coming down on the price but still have no luck. Keep in mind that these HD owners paid a premium price (re: way ridiculous), put more $$$ into chrome and other stupid HD stuff (like Squaking Chicken upgrades...oops..meant Screamin Eagle), HD boots, panties, etc. At least you didnt get totally sunk underwater on the Feejer like so many of the Motor Company did.

Hang in there.

 

[kolonial72]

Wow, that's a smokin' deal. Have you changed your advert yet? Got any more nibbles? WE NEED UPDATES!

 

[Wanderer]

Looks like the bike had engine problems.Looks like it's been down.

Looks like it's been lacking maintanance, needs a tire and brakes.

These also stuck out at me.

If the potential buyer hasn't investigated 'the tick' then there's no reason to volunteer that, it reads like HCYCLE says: 'had engine problems'. If they ask if it's a ticker, proudly say you had it fixed under warranty very early, and that it's solved.

I certainly wouldn't lie, but for many, even a kickstand-fold 0mph drop 'has been down'. I'd be downplaying that as much as possible.

If you were keeping the bike, would you replace the tires and pads in the next month (say 750-800 mi on the tire)? If yes, do it now. No one wants to buy a bike and then buy new rubber for it next week.

We all know here that it's a great, well maintained bike... the trick is highlighting that to the typical 'lowest common IQ denominator' buyer.

RenoJohn's ad is pretty much perfect. I might differ on the tires- see above. It's another selling point that way.

 

[cota95]

I feel your pain! I've been trying to sell my 04 Linky that needs NOTHING for 11 months and have had 1 person look at it. Niche market, most of the people on CL don't even know what it is. (Does it come with bags?, electric start???, seat two people??))WTF

 

[Patriot]

Could be worse dude. I have a bro in law that has been trying to sell his 2003 Anniversary HD Deuce for over 3 yrs now, and barely gets a nibble. I also know of 2 other HD owners that have been trying to sell their bikes for close to a year, and keep coming down on the price but still have no luck. Keep in mind that these HD owners paid a premium price (re: way ridiculous), put more $$$ into chrome and other stupid HD stuff (like Squaking Chicken upgrades...oops..meant Screamin Eagle), HD boots, panties, etc. At least you didnt get totally sunk underwater on the Feejer like so many of the Motor Company did.
Hang in there.

besides, some jackass wannabee sport bike rider from the cruiser world might even be willing to buy an '04 with over 70k miles (I hear)

[jacking with Jay above who I bought Isabella from many many years ago] :yahoo:

 

[Slade]

Quick question. Are you selling to get out of riding or are you looking to get a new scoot?

If you're moving on to a new ride..I was amazed to do so well when I traded my 02VTX 1800 on the FJR 6 weeks ago. I got in trade what I paid for the bike 4 years earlier. And there were a couple of tank dings from a vandal that I'm still looking for.

Dealers I think are willing to move inventory. Take a look, cause your price is well below Blue Book. (I always check Nada Guides as I understand that's what the banks and dealers use out this way.)

Good luck.

 

[jcyuhn]

Is the blue book really $7K? I am surprised, based on the asking prices I see for '06 & '07 bikes with one-third the miles. I'd suggest removing the statement on blue book price - the huge gap between book & asking makes it sound like a fishy deal. Just list it for $4500 and state that is a good price for this bike.

I agree with removing the ticker repair statement. There's no need to list repairs the bike has had.

As for condition, just state normal wear and tear, very good condition. When someone contacts you, tell them it has never had an accident, but did fall off the stand once.

Second thought - it's just really hard to sell a motorbike these days. Probably half the people interested in your bike don't have $4.5K cash, so need take out a note to buy it. But credit is really tight these days; most of those buyers probably can't borrow to buy a recreational toy. As a result, the pool of potential buyers is much smaller than two years ago.

 

[phroenips]

another option might be consignment at your dealer (assuming they do that). It would get a lot more foot traffic looking at it.

 

[sergeantnic]

Try your local paper.

Alot of people don't realize there are still folks that grab the local paper and / or paper website to browse for info. Some folks don't like craigslist or the online auction sites like Ebay.

Both of the bikes I sold previously sat on craigslist and biketrader for months and it took 2 weeks in the local paper to get them sold.

Same with my old boat.

 

[RenoJohn]

RenoJohn's ad is pretty much perfect. I might differ on the tires- see above. It's another selling point that way.

I agree with Wanderer, take out the tire thing. But keep the price above what you're currently asking and then you have leverage and or wiggle-room if buyer wants new tires. In other words, likely a guy will say : "I'll take it if you put new tires on it for that price". Part of effective negotiating is making the other party feel like they're the better negotiator, open that door for them.

I also think the ticker could/should be taken out.

 

[Tree Doc]

I just sold 2 bikes last week. Someone brought something to my attention that I was unaware of at the time. I didn't wish to pay ebaY any cut so ebaY was not an option. What you can do now is start an ad on ebaY and as you begin the steps, it asks if you want to National or Local. Choose Local and your ad becomes a free ad on ebaY's classifieds in the same form as it would be as an auction. The listing is free and allows you 4 photos with more costing .15 each. What happens is if anyone within a 200 mile radius searches your model or keywords, your ad will become accesible. I got several solid hits on both bikes with this but ultimately ended up selling both from my craigslist ads and both for full asking price.

On craigslist, I'd detail the shit out of your bike and get it uber clean. I think tires would be a great idea, too. Throw some sticky Pilot Powers on it for less. Take some higher quality close-ups that really depict the condition of the bike and don't upload them via craigslist photo link, just do ONE good shot there on their site so it shows in the index of your location, then embed (not link) your images from a site like photobucket into the body of the ad so they show up full size and in better quality than a typical craigslist photo.

I can't speak for others but I want to see a good photo representation of a bike before I bother the owner. I also listed in my ads "Please send me your contact info via this ad and I will contact you or send my phone number immediately so we can talk. I will not get in to email exchanges with questions about the bike. Serious inquiries only". This reduced the number of hits, I'm sure but I still received a share of the stupidest fucking questions possible to which I never responded. Most of the hits I got were solid, very interested parties that I was able to actually converse with one on one.

The ad on craigslist that I just bought my FJR from was done very similarly to my ad. I ended up going $1000 over my budgeted price on the bike because this bike was showroom new clean with low miles. It was more than worth it to me.

btw..to illustrate that craigslist works "worldwide", my vintage Nighthawk sold to a Soldier that is deployed in Afghanistan right now. He saw it on the list, sent an email, then his wife took over from there. He's coming home in September to a pristine vintage Nighthawk 650 to toodle around on!

 

[Fred W]

As others have said, polish up your sales spiel a little. Then, if you have the ability, design and publish a small web site to showcase the bike and its features. It doesn't have to be anything particularly fancy, just picture intensive.

Many folks don't realize that you can generate html web pages using good old MS Word. Just make up your document and then do a "save as" html.

When you put up your Craigs list ad you can either insert links to pictures directly into the ad, or give a link to your website.

FleaBay is shitty. You typically just get a lot of bottom feeders trying to get it for a steal. And if it doesn't sell you still have to pay them. At least if someone shows up from Craigs list it is face to face and you'll know pretty quickly if they are serious or a tire kicker.

BTW - If I had known of your bike before I bought my Trophy last fall I would own 2 first gens right now. :glare:

 

[DaveD]

Thanks again for all the good advice. Craigslist ad has been updated: https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/mcy/1749708146.html

And better pics are linked to on Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/debdrex/FJR?feat=directlink

I'll let you know how it goes...

phroenips suggested:

another option might be consignment at your dealer (assuming they do that). It would get a lot more foot traffic looking at it.

Tried that. He wasn't interested, 'cuz he didn't have the space, and said FJRs are niche bikes that don't fly off the shelves.

jcyuhn asked:

Is the blue book really $7K?

I think it's actually around 6900, but was rounding up a bit.

slade asked:

Quick question. Are you selling to get out of riding or are you looking to get a new scoot?

I bought a 2009 before getting rid of the Oh-Four. Now I've got two, and the wife is starting to give me "The Look."

 

[Fred W]

Damnation Dave. That skooter looks nearly pristine!

C'mon somebody buy this thing before I have to raid my retirement account. :blink:

 

[FJRBluesman]

You are priced WAY too high!I'll give you $2000 for it cause I am such a nice guy..........

SkooterG is such a jerk. I'll give $2,001.00.
Like I said, that should move, but it's not a sport bike, those tend to get a lot of play. It is a niche bike, you just need to find that guy (or gal) looking for a Sport Touring bike at a bargin price. They'll find it.

Also try Cycletrader.com.

Good luck.

 

[ramrezz425]

I just bought a used 2005 FJR w/ 15k miles and is in xlnt condition, seller wanted $6500, Their was plenty of FJR's available on C/L out here in Calif. This one didnt have the rear topcase and the others did. The seller was easy to talk to, asked me when I would like to see it and was very approachable. The other FJR was priced lower($5750), had 18k miles, and had the rear topcase, but it was hard to arrange to see it, (This one was up in the mountains), You need to make the bike EASY to buy and be sensable. When I came out to see the FJR I ended up buying because the seller was proactive in listening to me and concurred that there was alot of used inventory available and ended up making a deal at $6100. The cheapest price isnt always the easiest to buy. I picked up the bike a few days later and drove away to the gas station to gas up, Restarted the bike and it would not start, dead battery. I called the seller who came out to rescue me and ended up push starting me ( in Bare feet mind you), then handed me a $100 dollar bill to cover a new battery. btw, the problem was the fuse in the battery tender jack was blown so he never topped off the battery since he never rode the FJR much, This guy confirmed to me that he was a stand up guy. I love my new bike, I caught a cold and have only ridden twice in 1 week. I am gonna ride this weekend as much as I can. I almost bought a Moto Guzzi Norge but I am totally happy with my Galaxy blue FJR. You'll sell it soon, Your target buyer is most likley like me, 50/professional/experienced rider/not a daredevil. good luck. DR

 

[Willie]

I've been trying to sell my 2004 for over 2 months now, and I've had exactly 3 guys come and look, and a total of 9 email inquiries. This is prime season here in New England for selling, I've got it posted on Craigslist (see it here link to Craigslist Boston), and I think I've priced it very competitively. I keep bumping it to the top of the Craigslist listing, and every time I do that, I get one or two more inquiries.
The bike's in great shape, though in need of a tire and brake pads, but again, I think I have it priced accordingly.

So, WTF? What am I doing wrong? I know some other New Englanders have had trouble moving an FJR, but I chalked that up to the crappy weather up to now. Should I spend the $250 to deal with the tire/brakes, so I can say "Needs nothing!! Ready to ride!!"?

Hello neighbor (from Uxbridge). This is not going to make you feel better, but I own a FJR because I could not sell my 2005 Kawi Nomad last year. It had 48K. I had it priced reasonably, well at least I thought it was . I received minimal calls, I would drop the price and NIL responses. I ended up trading it in on the FJR. I also own a Kawi C10 Concours with 48K on it now. (still love that bike).

What do our bikes have in common. 40K+ Miles. In the Northeast it would seem people up here think the bike is used up after it hits 15K. Are you getting another bike, really consider trading it in on that new puppy. Or like I am doing with the Concours, keeping it as a back up.

The New England Riders maintains its forum on Delphi and you might try posting it there as well. We have plenty of people that just might be interested in your bike

Hope this helps

Willie

 

[na1g]

Take it to a sunny spot with a nice background (trees, fields, long and winding road, etc) and shoot some new pix. Make it sparkle!

pete

 

[Joe2Lmaker]

So, WTF? What am I doing wrong?

I just followed the link to your ad again and you still haven't changed it.

IMO what you are doing wrong is not following the very good advice already offered.