Best practices for selling a bike on this group

[Jeff Yarne]

All,  I just joined this group to find a new home for my NWT Silk.  I am about to list it but am wondering what the best practices most people use on this group to do such an exchange when doing a transaction where in person exchanges are not possible.  I have used Ebay before and Craigs list locally but want a group that knows about this model and appreciate it first chance.

Thank you in advance for your advise.

Jeff Yarne

NWT Silk

travel case, travel bag

estimated 700 miles

located in Portland OR

[Larry Newman]

Bike Flights. They have negotiated discounted rates with UPS and FedEx. In my experience, 6+ shipments, they are about 1/2 the cost of going directly through UPS and FedEx.

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Larry, Bozeman, MT

PR and (formerly a NWT, Air Friday, Tandem Tuesday, and Pocket Sport)

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another great conversation from the Bike Friday Yak!
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[Peter Stock]

Sorry for the long reply but.....

I have sold a lot of bikes long distance.
and a number of Bike Fridays.

the advantage of long distance sales is that the market is so much greater than the local market. Many many more eyeballs. I have sold to people all around the world.

Be prepared for inquiries from Asia. BFs are very popular in  Thailand, VIetnam, SIngapore, Japan, China. but shipping is usually prohibitively expensive to Asia

One downside of long distance sales is that you are limited to buyers who are willing to pay in advance. but that's not ever been a problem.

Another downside is that you have to pack the bike up and ship it.
packing a Bike Friday though is pretty easy. 
I usually start with a full sized bike box and then cut it down to size and modify the box to just fit the folded up BF.

shipping cost is much reduced if you make the box smaller.

the bike is also less likely to rattle around if it's a very tight compact fit.

I just shipped one but didn't take a photo of the packing job.
the box though ended up pretty small. 78 x 53 x 27 cm (31x21x11 inches)

Though Since you are providing a travel case you "might" be able to get away without boxing it.
UPS from Canada insists that EVERYTHING (even a hard shell suitcase) be in cardboard. if not they charge a whacking surcharge. it's a bit idiotic but their systems apparently expect cardboard boxes for everything.

I have been told though that this is not always a rule in the USA. Check with your shipping company. BUt it's not hard to just drop the case into a bike box and cut it down to size 

finally since a long distance buyer cannot come and test the bike for size, it is also crucial that you provide accurate and complete measurements.

Absolute key measurement is Stretch. Seatpost (for simplicity, I measure from the front of the seatpost) to the middle of the bar clamp
almost everything else on a BF is very adjustable., 

attached is an example of what I measure and show people

Peter Stock
Toronto Canada

[David Bardenstein]

I agree with sending measurements but would suggest several more to allow a potential buyer to know if the bike is a reasonable fit and also some things like effective stem length arent alterable on one piece headtube stem tubes.

I would recommend 

1 Effective top tube which is actually measured from the top of the seat post to the stem horizontally ( which is different from what is shown in the diagram

2 Effective seat tube which is crank center to top of seat tube

3. Crank to handlebar center

4 Handlebar height ground to bar center

5 Seat height ground to seat top

These give the essential triangle of the bike and allow comparisons to non-Friday bikes

On bikes with straight head tube and separate stems those measurements are helpful

Additional measurements are

- the fixed stretch measured as in the diagram, and the actual stretch measured from the back of the seat to the handlebar center

-crank length

-If an Air bike version  Titanium tube length and potential positioning

I have bought and sold multiple Fridays and more comprehensive measurements are key to someone picking a bike that is a close or potentially successful fit which eliminates returns which are costly.

Another thing to do is to contact BF and give them the serial number and they can tell you measurements from original build and size of original buyer like inseam.

This has helped me when a bike was being sold as a medium but was really a small and saved me an unhelpful purchase.

I hope this helps. 

Dave Bardenstein

AF x5

AG x1

PR x1 (wife)

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another great conversation from the Bike Friday Yak!
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[Peter Stock]

https://bikefriday.com/faqs/

peter stock
toronto canada

[Stephen Ringlee]

Having bought a BF remotely, here are a few suggestions:

• Include the components and accessories list in your description
• I would ignore ALL requests from outside North America:  shipping is prohibitive, payments can be dodgy and if they claim they did not receive it you are out of luck.  Ditto for buyers.
• If you are a buyer and the deal seems to be too good to be true or the seller's communications don't pass the smell test, drop it.
• Use a payment service that has some guarantees (e.g., Paypal) and not Venmo or others that give no protection to buyer or seller.  Yes, you pay a fee but consider it insurance that the transaction will go through.
• When shipping the bike, be careful using a local bike store... few of them will spend the time needed to completely break down the bike into the smallest and least expensive container.  That is especially true with BF tandems.  If you use your LBS, take the bike apart before you give it to them and tell them to pack it securely in the smallest container that will work safely.
• Bike-specific shipping services that pick up and deliver the bike from the LBS tend to be very expensive.  UPS is probably your best bet for shipping.
• BF keeps a registry of bike serial numbers and owners.  Make sure yours is updated with them before you sell it and is changed afterwards. Make sure the bike you are buying is not stolen.

Steve Ringlee

Boston