Bootstrapping and Flipping on Craigslist Self-Employed Work from Home'

[Guest34764]

I wasn't going to make this thread but decided that by perhaps showing some of you this it'll motivate you to do something.So follow along in my journey of bootstrapping.

My real goal at the end of this is to make an e-commerce site and make some money on the side for other things.But the main goal is e-commerce.

I'm bootstrapping using sites like craigslist,apps like OfferUp,and other little selling platforms.

I have already made some progress flipping and selling because I wanted to be sure I would pull through with this.I'm currently flipping bikes that are either very old or bikes for casual cycling.

After every update, I will post a screenshot of google sheets that shows each bike being bought and sold.
I'll share my thoughts and tips along the way as I go.The end goal is a grand or two and perhaps a few car flips.
I should also note that I'm 16 with no car....So shit can get hard sometimes.My deals aren't always good and I'm still learning how to value and flip a bike so excuse shitty profits.

Anywho,here's the first google sheet screenshot.I'll update this weekly I suppose.

90$ from flipping and 130$ total (extra 40$ from somewhere else not related).Goal is always double what I paid for.

 

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[Guest34764]

Honestly, I've been surprised by such positive feedback from y'all.

At first, I thought I was being too boring and the thread wouldn't take off, but it seems I did the right choice in making this thread.I'll be real and say that you guys and money are my only motivation.I don't get any motivation really from my family so it's nice to hear such kind words from strangers.It's been a struggle.Thanks y'all, I'll keep it going and show you guys even more profit than before, and I'll make sure to post some good guides.

 

[Guest34764]

Money is always a good start of the day, especially if it's 400! (those are all 20's baby)

Although it was 100$ off and took a bit longer than some of my other bikes the 250$ profit was worth it.I'm extremely pleased since I more than doubled my purchase.However, as happy as I am I want more.I swear all I'm dreaming about recently is bikes (is this healthy?) and what a good deal something would be.I want to have more money and I'll get more.My deals will only get better from on out.I must have messaged and contacted at least 50 people yesterday asking for bikes and researching and I'll do some more today.

I'll have to start adding some value to this thread somehow because all I've really been doing is posting statistics.Let me know what you guys think on that because I'm not the best when it comes to stuff like that.Anyways, until the next deal ( and hopefully 1k milestone), have a good day.

Current money-550$

 

[Guest34764]

Another update.Two bikes sold.

I've made some good profit, but progress is slow.Maybe because I started with 40$?Perhaps.I decided to pick up another bike out of the blue because I thought it was a good deal.Bought it for 40$ and I posted it today and within 10 minutes I had a buyer.Sold it for 110$.

Also sold that damn Peugeot.Took me a little more than a week, but at least It's sold and out of the way.Made 40$ on it.Meh.The Shogun has yet to be sold but I have a few people interested so I'll likely sell it very soon for around 100-130.Has my progress been slow?Have any ideas to go faster?Besides buying more bikes.Thanks for reading, here's the progress report.

Current Money-180$
Current Inventory-Shogun Safari
Money after Shogun-280-300$

 

[Guest34764]

I did it again, just like the Cannondale.I managed to entirely wager my money on a single bike.

It's nerve-wracking and exhilarating all at the same time.I can only sit back and see how this plays out.I'll either be up to 1k or around 600-800ish.Not sure, and only time will tell with a bike such as this.The guy I had to meet up with was a complete annoyance the whole way through.He couldn't drive to my house 20 mins away to make 500$, said it wasn't "worth" his time.Okay buddy, we'll I'll be 1k richer, so I can't complain.Sometimes you just got to suck it up for a good deal.I say a good deal but honestly, it was meh, and that's why it's a little nervewracking.The bike was in worse condition than I thought, it rode fine but cosmetically had more damage than I anticipated.

Thank god It's a racing bike where cosmetics don't mean a thing to a buyer in this niche.I spent a total of 5 minutes cleaning some rusty screws with sandpaper and I took epic pictures,wrote copy, and posted the ad 4 times in around a hour-ish or less.My goal for this flip is to put in the least amount of effort, so when I sell it the people who make 0$ will have no excuse for not making $.I don't have a car, I don't have a lot of money, in fact I started with 40$ I got from good grades on my report card, and I don't even have my permit yet.

If I 16-year-old kid can do it, why can't you?What's your excuse to not hustling when you should?

I'm going to stop referring to my bikes as "bikes".Instead, they'll be aptly named, as an "investment".

So let's hope this investment brings home the money.

 

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[Guest34764]

This bad bitch right here.Holy crap man.I picked it up for 150$ and the dude gave me free gear too.I'm listing it for 500$ and going from there.This thing is more of a beast than I thought.It has USA stickers on it, and has a drawn map on the frame.I'm not sure if this specific Cannondale 600 Jekyll is rarer than the other ones, but I'm sure it'll fetch me more money for having the designs on it.Extremely pleased with this pick-up.If I get 500$ I will literally go insane.

I'll try to make a little mini guide in this post I suppose since I said I would.

First:What's important when buying a used bike?

The most important thing is if it is rideable.I have yet to pick up a bike if it is in disrepair.Just don't do it.Unless it's a Cannondale 600 Jekyll going for 50$.If you're starting out just like I did, with almost zero knowledge about bikes, don't buy a complete junker.You'll spend hours of fustration and many $ trying to fix it.

Second:What should I look out for?

Almost everything,always check every listing.The only listing I avoid are listing's that advertise Granite Peak bikes.They're shit and won't make you any profit.However, your focus should go towards good name brand bikes like Fuji,Cannondale, and Schwinn.I should say though that even Schwinn branded bikes can be complete garbage bikes.Just like how Trek makes some really well-made bikes, they also make garbage too.

Third:You finally found a good bike and you're going to test it out.What should you do?

Test the hell out of it!ALWAYS TEST RIDE A BIKE!!!!This again, goes without saying.If you fail to test ride a bike and end up getting a punctured wheel, bad shifters, or the like; it's on you.While you test ride make sure to take note of anything that is making noises, and make sure to shift gears.Some noises that come from a bike can get fixed with some simple lube, while others can mean more serious issues with the chain or cassete.If the bike has shock absorbers make sure to push down on them to test them.

Oh oh!I found a problem what do I do?

Depends.I'm no wizard at bikes so It's up for you to make the call if you still want to purchase it or not.If It's something like a bad tube, that's usually an easy fix.However, if there's a more serious issue you can either back away from the deal or push that point to get the price discounted on the bike.It's extremely important to know how a bike works and the parts it's made out of.Check out diagrams like these and get yourself familarized with them.The more you know about bikes the easier it is for you to make mechanical fixes and find those diamonds in the rough.


That basically covers buying a bike, albiet simplified it should help a little.A tip is to always carry tools with you when you go to peoples houses in case you have to tighten or loosen a bolt.The next mini-guide I'll make will be about cosmetic fixes on the bike.However, that guide will be much smaller.I'll post that guide in a day or two, and I'll post a guide on selling bikes after I've sold my bad bitch, Cannondale.

If you want to flip bikes check out this channel.It has nothing to do with flipping bikes, but they have so many damn videos on doing bike fixes.They've helped me a ton.

https://www.youtube.com/user/globalcyclingnetwork

If you have any questions feel free to ask them, I'm no expert but I should be able to give you an answer.

 

[Guest34764]

Where am I at with all of this now that I'm 18?

Well I managed to land a job working sales at JcPenny and I'm slowly wiggling my way into appliances and mattresses (the ultimate goal because of the commission and hourly wages there are insane).It became clear to me that I'd have to pick up a job, though for not for the reason of money (which the money is pretty nice), but for the reason of experience and furthering my skills in talking and analyzing customers.The experience is what I want, and the networking is actually pretty great too. I wanted to get better at engaging people and selling them so a sales job became the perfect opportunity for that.Credit cards are vital for JcPenny and I'm managing to get so many customers signed up that I've put myself in a good position among all the staff and I'm in great favor with everyone. I even managed to get a truck for free.However, I'll have to get it fixed up because it's in a bit of disrepair.This is a huge step though, I needed my own form of transportation, with my own vehicle i'm not dependent on my parents to help me at all now. I've eliminated them from the side hustle. What became a small thing with the bikes is slowly ramping up and I'm so excited for all of this. Since I've been gone from the forums I've been focusing on my mental health, and gaining as much knowledge as I can in the meantime reading old English literature and the like. While this update is brief, good things are ahead and I'm excited for the future. I have one thing on my mind and that's success. I will do another update once I get my truck fixed and I start ramping up my side hustle (Which will make more than working my job by about 5 times or so).

The only person that truly matters is you in the end, and be in a constant state of learning or you'll fall behind.

That's all for now.

 

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[Guest34764]

So I finally got 300$.It's been a long crawl starting at 40$.

Have I done good?I think so, considering my current situation.However, I'm not sure what I should do now.Selling and buying bikes isn't as easy as you'd think.I could continue selling bikes, or I could invest in a vending machine.I could also flip other items, and I could also put some money into investing stocks/bitcoin (yes,I know bitcoin...).

My main goal at the end of this all is a eccomerce website, I could just start a site now and do dropshipping.However,If i do vending machines that goal could change.

Anyone got some guidance for me?

 

[Guest34764]

Got this old one today.I bought it for 60$.A pretty big dent in my pocket but 60$ Is a fair price to buy this bike at.I rode this and holy shit, It's definitely for a racer,it's an entry level race bike.The other deal I had going fell through once the man wanted me to pay 70$ to have it delivered to my house instead of the 60$ we agreed on earlier.The profit margin would have been small anyway since they were just Huffys.

1987 French Peugeot Tourmalet.Has all original parts but needs to be restored a bit.The rust is going to get removed and I'm considering repainting it and buying new tires.Or If I don't do that I'll just sell it at 100-120.Once fully restored it could go for 200-300.

I'm also downloading new apps that are like craigslist.I mainly use OfferUp but now I'll be posting on LetGo too.

 

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[Jon L]

this thread is amazing. I know you already know this, but you're setting yourself up for amazing success later on. The same thought processes you use sell a $300 bike can be used later on to buy a $150,000 house and sell it for $250,000. Or a business purchased at $2.5M and sold for $4M

 

[Guest34764]

There's going to be some real good deals coming up soon.I'm really pushing to sell this Cannondale because I won't have enough money to buy another bike.
Going to try and sell this Cannondale for 390-430$ and then use some money I pushed to the side (150$) and the money I got from the Cannondale to chuck out 400-450$ for a bike that could be worth double.No idea if it'll sell above that in my area but If I could double money on a 450$ bike then I'll call that a great F*ckin steal.I have a few other deals working so I'm not sure if i'll take it.

Unfortunately one of the chain links on the Cannondale bent really bad.I had to spend 12$ on a shitty chain-link tool to get it fixed and now the front shifter isn't changing gears.Not sure if it was always like that, or I might have just put the chain on wrong.I hope it isn't a cable issue because that's even more money I'll lose on it.I already put 2 hours of work on cleaning it.I doubt that's the issue because that just doesn't make sense.I'll have to test ride tomorrow and see If I can get it fixed.I'm sure I'll be able to get it fixed, no point in worrying about it too much.

That's about it for the updates.

 

[Guest34764]

Continue to look for opportunities to create value. If you are really good at what you are currently doing, play it out as far as you can and then try to sell the system to others or find a way to make it passive. Then start on other money trees / opportunities.

This is definitely a good idea and I'll make sure to brainstorm this.

Once I hit around 4-5K I feel like I might be able to hire other's to do the work for me, but making it completely passive would be an incredible task that frankly, I'm not sure it's even possible with selling bikes.My goal is to have a full-fledged Eccomerce channel built, but things could always change in-between.

On selling the system I believe you mean with an ebook or something similar.I have no familiarity with publishing, but I also had no familiarity with selling bikes when I first started.It's a possibility that I will account for.Thanks for posting in the thread ZCP, your posts on here are amazing.

Update on the bike, I got an offer within a few hours.He said 1100 and I said deal, and have followed up on him but he hasn't responded to the messages yet.Maybe, he's just busy.I hope so, 1100 Is a big deal for me.

 

[Shaggins]

I dont know much about bikes so don't quote me on this. but you may be getting in expensive bike territory and buyers will come less frequent.

ive owned 34 vehicles, and pretty much EVERYTHING I buy I end up selling in less then 6 months, including dirtbikes, mowers, 4 wheelers.... the list goes on.

and here is my experience. when I sold 1000-2000$ cars they sold within weeks. but once you step into a potential big flip such as a $4000+ valued car you better plan on sitting on it awhile unless its a very sought after item. people are willing to let go of a few grand on a whim knowing they are getting a cheap A to B car. (in the bike work, 100-200$ bikes might go like hot cakes, but you may be sitting on the $500+ bikes for a bit longer so dont be discouraged and drop your prices if it doesn't sell in the first week or so unless its really holding you up)

altho this may not be your exact situation I feel like you will see the same problems when you get into higher end bikes. UNLESS! you specifically target the market buyers for these bikes. id recommend joining bike forums aswell and getting in the for sale section. it could also help you with pricing.

And again, dont take everything I say as the gospel I could be completely wrong. just posting my experiences.

 

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[Guest34764]

You know the hardest part of flipping bikes?

It's not selling them.
It's not cleaning/fixing them up

It's being able to find a good deal.It can be so damn hard to find a good deal that most of the time it's just luck.I must have spent 4-5 hours total looking and researching bikes from today and yesterday.

Good news though I actually did find a good deal.I said I would be making bigger deals and I'm living up to my word.Tomorrow I will be back down to only 50$.I'm spending 500$ on a 04 Cervelo P3 Dura-aced equipped.It's valued on Bikepedia at 700 ish$ but I plan on selling it for 975$.I plan on sticking to that number as well.It only has rust on the handlebar screws which I can remove with sandpaper, and It has some scratches on the pedals, but that doesn't matter much.New tires as well.

The listing he made has been up for like 3 weeks but no buyers.Want to know why?His posting is absolutely terrible.He has one picture under a tree , and his description is lackluster.Consisting of only one sentence with poor grammar.The bike is listed under 100$ of its value and yet no buyers, and he didn't even include it was Dura-Ace equipped (which brings It's value up 150$).

It's extremely important that your ad has all 24 pictures and a description that can accurately describe the bike.Make sure to list all the parts It has,If It has a mechanical issue (only if it's a big one, if you list minor issues it'll put buyers off), and what size height the bike will fit.All pictures should be focused on the subject and in proper lighting, try to make them as good as possible.

So there's just a little mini-update.I'm pretty sure I'll be buying the bike tomorrow, so the next update will be when I sell it (which might take a little).

Anywho, thanks for reading and have a great day.


EDIT:So I posted the bike on the Bike forums and the general response was that it'd be hard to sell this for an extra 400$.We'll see who wins that challenge, either way any profit is good profit.

 

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[Shaggins]

Try let go aswell. I have a group of friends that use letgo because they dont want to deal with craigslist people. PS already flipped a jeep this week and made 700$ and already purchased a volvo for a 2nd flip

 

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[ZCP]

Anyone got some guidance for me?

Continue to look for opportunities to create value. If you are really good at what you are currently doing, play it out as far as you can and then try to sell the system to others or find a way to make it passive. Then start on other money trees / opportunities.

 

[Invictus]

Update on the bike, I got an offer within a few hours.He said 1100 and I said deal, and have followed up on him but he hasn't responded to the messages yet.Maybe, he's just busy.I hope so, 1100 Is a big deal for me.

While I'm not sure how long you've been waiting, don't be afraid to give it some time. One thing I've learned from working with clients is that people take their sweet time to get back to you. I've put in proposals and offers, completely forgotten about them, and then a week later got an offer. These are people running their own businesses too!

Now, of course, not saying you should wait a week. But don't worry if it takes a little bit of time, and don't feel weird to send a reminder.

Also. Awesome thread! Following this one for sure!

 

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[nradam123]

this thread is amazing. I know you already know this, but you're setting yourself up for amazing success later on. The same thought processes you use sell a $300 bike can be used later on to buy a $150,000 house and sell it for $250,000. Or a business purchased at $2.5M and sold for $4M

Super interesting thread.
Infact Gary Vee started his businesses flipping toys and what not in ebay after buying from Garage sales. He used to make $1000 a week at your age.

Pretty awesome right?
You are on the right track. I will keep an eye on the thread.

 

[#nowhere]

This bike is depressing me.

It's beaten me to the bone without it selling.I haven't made a post in this thread due to the reason of this one bike.I didn't want to update with nothing to show, but It's been a bit too long since I've updated.

I will sell this bike, I don't buy things that won't sell, It's just the way it is.I don't care if it takes another 2 weeks or however long, I really don't want to quit on it, and since I put all my money into it, I truly need to sell it.I'm still selling it for 1K, any lower and I will honestly feel like shit.

I don't know why this is troubling me so much, It's not even that I can't sell it.It's just staring at me in the garage like a huge bastard it is.

1.Admit to your mistakes, this bastard was my first mistake, I'll make many more, but this was the first.

2.Understand why it was such a big mistake, the bike is in a very small niche ( the triathlon niche), I shouldn't have been blinded and realised this bike would take forever to sell.

3.Learn from your mistakes and apply the solution in real life, will I ever buy another bike in the triathlon niche?

No.

I'm I going to update this when the bike sells?

Nope, It doesn't even deserve a ounce more of my time, that bastard.

Once It's sold I'll move on to bikes in the 300$ range and focus on mountain bikes ( the biggest hit so far).

I guess I should say I'm sorry for you guys for not updating, but in reality I'm sorry for myself for not seeing such a dumb move.Nonetheless, this bike will be sold, I don't care If I have to spend more time on it, I'm getting my 1K and moving on.

I'll update when I buy another bike/sell one, and I'll put up some more tips or something along the way, I'm not sure.

Until next time, see ya.

Yes, you've to learn through your failures.

BUT....

You did well until now. That's just statistics. Not every deal can turn over in a matter of hours or days.

Just a short story about flipping stuff of mine, to show you that it's pretty normal. Nothing to be sad about:
I used to flip gardening equipment. Bought a mowing tractor.

Long story short: It just didn't sell. Had the same "depression" about it, like you now. Took 10 days off (pursued other things). Listed the tractor again... Boom... One day later it sold for a healthy price.

Sometimes you just have to be

A) patient, because not all variables are in your influence
B) not too hard with yourself, because of A) and because of energy "extinction" (physically seen impossible). It just doesn't get you anywhere nearer your goals to be that way.

Accept, feel sorry for yourself a limited time span (SHORT) and then accelerate again!

How can you do better tomorrow than today?

 

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[ZCP]

Obtain another $300 and work another line of bikes. Use 'the bastard bike' as a lead magnet.

Do not wait. Use it to your advantage.

 

[Scot]

Nice - you finally sold it. However - why are you going to look to spend 300-400 on each bike? Isn't that what got you stuck this time? Seemed like when you were buying them $20-$75 you were making good margins and selling quick.

Good point. @Omega do you live near a college campus? Reason why I ask, where I went to school, University of Florida, everyone rode bikes around campus. Twice a year Walmart would sell thousands of cheap mountain bikes (which are the worst bike to use on campus). You could tell who was a freshman vs any other year. Freshman rode Walmart specials. Everyone else had a decent road bike.

Reason why I point this out, you could easily acquire bikes from outgoing seniors for a low price and resell to freshman. Focus on volume vs high price. You could move more $1-300 bikes than $1,000 bikes.

 

[Guest34764]

I joined this website when I was 15, that seems like forever ago.

I am now 19.

I have not posted for a year, where have I been? Time seems to go by pretty quickly, but looking at the large picture things have tended to melt together. It's been four years since I read MJ's book and that means I've had four years of my life to get things greased up and running.

My last post was saying how I got my first job at JcPenny, I'm now on my third job. I won't reveal many details but during my position at JcPenny, I was introduced to a gentleman who gave me a sales job working for another company. I rocked that position and made a ton of money, more than my mother was making. I was quite happy with myself, or really it was the money I was happy with. It didn't work out in the end and now I'm working another job. It sounds boring, doesn't it? Working constantly...It is to me. I wanted to include this paragraph first before I told the good bits because life goes in the direction you aim it, but if your aimless it's going to follow the wind and the wind might lead you into a shitty place.

My last post was when I was 18, in a year I'd like to imagine I've come quite far. I'm seriously pretty happy about where I'm at right now. I even have a business. Albeit it's small and just starting, I can fully say that I went out and started something of my own that has come from my passion. I intend on scaling up my current business and getting a better, higher paying position at work. Not only have I started a business but I have also put away thousands of dollars and I started a portfolio of ETFs and Stocks that I picked out. I'd like to say I'm on track for a better future. I'm saving, expanding my inventory, and increasing the value of my portfolio whenever I can. Perhaps I'll do a highlight of my small business sometime, I intend to hopefully remain somewhat more active than just posting once a year.

I realize the original purpose of this thread was to talk about craigslist flipping, and I apologize to those who might search of this thread and see my blog posts as this was not the idea I had in mind of this thread and flipping is something I'll be getting back to. However, It's become a sort of journal for me to document myself and current position. I'm not sure how much attention this thread even garnered in the past but I hope in another length of time I can check up on this thread and read about how I started out flipping bikes on craigslist all the way to when I became financially free.

The fire inside has not died yet, to all of those even younger than me, learn, apply, repeat.
Something will definitely go wrong, learn from it, change up what you're doing and continue sprinting down that path of freedom.

 

[Guest34764]

That's awesome man!

If you're having trouble pricing, you could try and go onto ebay and see what similar bikes are going for just to get an idea.

Yeah, that's what I did with the Schwinn but it was pretty damn rusty and had a few problems so It threw off my valuation.Probably could have gotten maybe 70$ for it.My first two sales helped me a lot with knowing my area and what sells and doesn't.

 

[Guest34764]

Also, I was reading about someone who actually would buy bikes that had cosmetic damage and sell them after cleaning them up and making them more visually appealing. A lot less time intensive than fixing technical aspects of the bike.

I was heavily considering this with the Schwinn bike.I did, however, spend an hour to two removing rust which worked pretty great.I'm looking at an old Peugeot Tourmalet that could need some cosmetic repair so I might repaint it.If I end up buying it I'll make an update on it.I should be buying two bikes tomorrow for 60$.They're shit tier Huffy bikes but apparently my area likes bikes like those.I'll flip and sell for 60$ each.

 

[Guest34764]

A bit longer than a week,but it's better not the focus on the internet and focus more on hustling.

Made a breakthrough with my lazy a$$ mind.I was working at maybe 40% now I'm working near 100% with my mindset.I thought just sitting around selling one bike and waiting a week for it to be sold was what I should do.But that's F*cking stupid.How would I make money off of sitting on my a$$ waiting for one bike to be sold?So bought another bike.I'm selling one bike on Friday and listing the other tomorrow.After I sell these two I'm looking for a storage unit so I can fit 3 bikes or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7.Storage units are pretty cheap at 50$ a month and one is very close to me so I'll more than likely buy one.

BUY BUY BUY.I shouldn't have waited so long to realise this even though I knew the steps I had to take.

I'll be making more than minimum wage will make me this Friday.Following that, I'll be increasing exponentially.Stay tuned for some more hustling.No more sitting around.

Current money=10$
After the first bike is sold=110$
After the next bike=210$
One other item getting sold this Friday for 40$
So all thing go right,around 250$ after all sales.
Although I only started using 40$ I still think I've made slow progress.

I'll update this once I sell all bikes in inventory.

 

[Ron Dee]

Make sure to search the other great boot strapping threads on the site. So much valuable information. I got my start after reading rich kids threads. Stuck with Craigslist until over 10k in profit then want another direction. Learned so many subtle negotiating tactics that help daily .

I remember narrowing down my searches after a few months. I had a list of keywords to search daily and I knew what buyers would pay for these items. Made finding profitable items faster. Keep it up and never pay asking price!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[InspireHD]

This thread is great. I hope that Cannondale sells for $500!

I never heard of OfferUp, so thanks for that resource.

I have a really stupid question, but it's something I think about. Do you ever fear that you're buying a stolen bike? I feel like that is what holds me back from Craigslist. I always feel like I'm buying something stolen. I live near a major city and hear too many horror stories. I'm probably overthinking it, but it's something I have to think about.

About a year ago, I saw a garage sale on Craigslist and everything left was free. It was around the corner from me so I decided to go out. I got a little box full of bicycle parts. I always thought about throwing them up on ebay, but haven't done it yet.

And, sorry if I missed it. Any tips for finding underpriced bikes on Craigslist or OfferUp? Any specific search terms? Or do you just go into lowballing them and hoping to get someone to bite?

 

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[Scot]

This bike is depressing me.

It's beaten me to the bone without it selling.I haven't made a post in this thread due to the reason of this one bike.I didn't want to update with nothing to show, but It's been a bit too long since I've updated.

I will sell this bike, I don't buy things that won't sell, It's just the way it is.I don't care if it takes another 2 weeks or however long, I really don't want to quit on it, and since I put all my money into it, I truly need to sell it.I'm still selling it for 1K, any lower and I will honestly feel like shit.

I don't know why this is troubling me so much, It's not even that I can't sell it.It's just staring at me in the garage like a huge bastard it is.

1.Admit to your mistakes, this bastard was my first mistake, I'll make many more, but this was the first.

2.Understand why it was such a big mistake, the bike is in a very small niche ( the triathlon niche), I shouldn't have been blinded and realised this bike would take forever to sell.

3.Learn from your mistakes and apply the solution in real life, will I ever buy another bike in the triathlon niche?

No.

I'm I going to update this when the bike sells?

Nope, It doesn't even deserve a ounce more of my time, that bastard.

Once It's sold I'll move on to bikes in the 300$ range and focus on mountain bikes ( the biggest hit so far).

I guess I should say I'm sorry for you guys for not updating, but in reality I'm sorry for myself for not seeing such a dumb move.Nonetheless, this bike will be sold, I don't care If I have to spend more time on it, I'm getting my 1K and moving on.

I'll update when I buy another bike/sell one, and I'll put up some more tips or something along the way, I'm not sure.

Until next time, see ya.

Try finding local triathalon, cyclist, or running groups, advertise to them? I remember whenu used to "run" I was in a running group and they were talking about training for Iron Man and spending thousands of $$$ on a bike. This could be a group to sell to, especially if it's a hobby group, the $1,000 range could be a sweet spot.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Could you rent this badass triathlon bike out to somebody (could be risky) on a per race basis? Maybe to someone who is interested in trying a triathlon but doesn't want to splurge and buy a bike for something they may not do again.

 

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[MarekvBeek]

Hey Dude!
I Just got two of my bikes sold. It cost me over a month. And the other two are still depressing me. But what a kick gave it to me when I sold these two. It was hard.

It was a hard lesson to learn. I thought the bikes could easily be sold for two times the price. I had to find out that these were bikes for just 1,25. And my ego let me over. Now I have some cash so I can focus on other bikes.

The lesson I learned here is to focus on buying. Profit is made when I buy the bikes, not selling them. If you're not able to sell for your fixed price, try to lower it. If that's even not working then there has to be something with the bike or the listing. I still have one bike that I listed for €379 in the beginning. I had one offer of €300 but didn't accepted it. Now it's listed for €279 and still no people want to buy it. And I don't know why? So it has to do something with the bike or the ad. While I'm typing I think of relist it with some new pictures... Just keep trying.

Good luck!

 

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