Flipping Used Bikes - Anyone Tried It?

I've never done it, but I can see how people could make a lot of money. When people are ready to get a new bike they are often willing to get rid of an old one for very little money.

On the other side, people looking to buy a 'new' bike will pay quite a bit if it is in good shape. Using craigs list and similar sites could give you a huge market.

Michael

Yeah, in some videos people get rid of vintage bikes very cheaply even though they are collectable.

Might give it a go. There a videos on YouTube which detail how to assess the quality of a bike as a professional would.

The perfect business model:

Find a product people want and are willing to pay for and give it to them.

Used bikes fits that perfectly. Laptops, electronic gadgets of all types, clothing, DVDs, video games, jewelry, athletic equipment, books, and hundreds of other things fit as well. Stuff like this can be purchased at bargain prices and sold higher and still offer the buyer a great deal.

This type of business is more hands on than strictly selling digital products but much of it can be outsourced. I've been conducting a little eBay experiment for the past couple of months that has gone very well.

I used to do this a few years back when I was in high school. I played sports, so I didn't have time to go out and get a regular part time job. So I started flipping bikes.

I created a website that I advertised locally through Craigslist where I would send visitors who were looking to sell their bikes. There was a form on the website that allowed visitors to upload pictures of their bike, and I would email or call them back to give them a quote. Once I picked up the bike, I would replace chains, tires, pedals, seats, whatever needed to be fixed. I would then give them a new paint job, then list them back on Craigslist.

It's not very difficult, and there is money to be made!

Also, I just sent you a PM.

Are you talking about motorcycles or mountain/bmx bikes?

First off I'd like to toss out that no matter what you're talking about this is something called "Arbitrage" and I suggest doing a bit of research on it

I've personally flipped motorcycles (after riding them for a while) and have made a profit of at least 25% on each one.

For example I bought a bike last year for $3,000 and sold it for $4,000. And the year before I bought a bike for $1,000 and sold for $2,000. I even sold them in worse shape than they originally came but the point was is I knew what times to sell and what times to buy.

A good way to analyze buying and selling is using Google Trends and typing in "motorcycle for sale" or "buy motorcycle" or "used motorcycle" and see when they are the most searched. You'll realize that the "down time" is when they are sold for the cheapest and the "high point" is when people are all for buying.

I also organize a group called 757 Sport Bikes with over 1,500 riders in Hampton Roads, VA and because of that it's easy for me to find sellers and buyers.

And my final and most important tip.

You can ALMOST always buy a motorcycle for $3,000 and resell it for $4,000. And the best people to sell to are military as they're more into the quick buying and snatching up bikes as soon as they find one they like.

Let me know if this helps

Justin Lewis

Thanks, I am going to focus on push bikes. They should be readily available and easy to store.

I'm attending an auction on Saturday but I have now idea how cheap they are.

Hey if you have the right nich it´s good money in it.

I search a little bit on ebay and found that there are people selling there broken xbox. I investet 100$ in ordering the broken xbox and in a repair equipement.

My Profit get 250 $ with a 100$ investement. You only have to take the right nich and test it if it works.

This could easily be done on craigslist.

My wife does this, buying and selling bikes (among other things of value) acquired from local thrift stores, yard sales, craigslist, etc.

She does well with it, but she treats it as a business - buying, storing, fixing, then timing the resale to the optimal season.

There is definitely money to be made if you take it seriously.

I had a friend who did this for a couple of years on the side, and it seemed to be pretty good money. He did take the time and trouble to learn how to service the bikes (he's passionate about them). He was working part-time at a mechanic's, who gave him a commission on bikes he sold- and even that was quite a substantial source of pocket money for him at the time (considering how little time he spent on it).

There's definitely a market for it. Most people don't have the time or energy to learn about the trade, and would happily fork out an additional 400-600 bucks because of scarcity, time constraints, merchant expertise, etc. Seems like a pretty fair, honourable industry to me.

By the way, people who like bikes tend to have other friends who like bikes. The referral rate is very high in this industry, so make sure you go the extra mile and delight every customer. You never know who's going to bring a whole group of friends around to you.

Cheers

I haven't tried this personally but for sure I've heard of a good number people who got into this and made a chunk.

Requires quite some work though. Definitely worth a try if you've got passion for such trades.

Test your own results if you ask me. That's probably the best way to go