[D Hook]

My wife works for a local no-kill dog shelter in Auborn, NE called Hearts United for Animals. Recently, a donation was made to the shelter of a 2006 VT1300R Conversion Trike and she's in charge of selling the bike.

She's already listed it on Craig's List and a few other motorcycle website forums but of course, the scammers are out hot and heavy. I suggested she only sell the bike face to face dealing with cash only or a bank financial instrument that can be verified at the bank before any title changes hands or the buyer takes possession of the trike. And no shipping.

I'm wondering, since it's been a few years since I sold my GW, if there are any other tips on how to sell these days and not get ripped off by the scammers?

So if anyone has any good tips, please pass them along. I believe cash in a face-to-face is the best way but nobody likes to carry that much money in cash around.

Thanks!

Don

PS. And yes, I've already suggested we simplify the whole thing and buy it ourselves. No go.

 

[DaveO430]

You pretty well covered it except for counterfeit money, I think you can get one of those pens to check for that. And no test rides until money in hand.

 

[jobe05]

Some of my rules:

No cash - No ride
I won't hold it
I wont take trades, payments, checks..... CASH only!!
Make a new gmail account for communication, and tell prospective buyers that you only email, and they can email you a number. If the phone number is not local, purchasing your item probably isn't what they want. If You can give you phone # out, expect the sales people and telemarketers to be calling in no time.
Make sure you let people know that this is NOT your bike, it was a donation (Status of Title?) You may not get top dollar by doing this, but your being honest and not wasting peoples time. When I buy something, if the seller doesn't know anything about the item, I move on as I suspect there is something wrong with the item. If the owner is honest and up front, I am not as put out by what he knows or doesn't know.
Cash talks, first come first served!! again, I will not hold. If a serious buyer shows up but has to go to the bank tomorrow, fine, leave a deposit or it goes to the next person that shows up.

That actually happened to the guy that wanted my Honda 750 ACE, he wanted to go to the bank and get the cash the next day, but didn't want to leave a deposit. A guy came around an hour after that guy left and paid the full asking price, Cash in hand...... That first guy was pissed at me for not holding it since he said he would buy it........ Oh well, he didn't feel the need to leave a deposit, now he does....

 

[Chromo]

Well you do need to watch out for scamers, but most of those tips given would mean I could not have bought my last 5 bikes! How many honest buyers like me would you want to be turning away?

Of my 6 bikes now all were long distance deals, not one was local.

 

[Chromo]

Jobe05,
How can you say that about a local number? Didn't you travel a long ways to buy your 1500 and also 1800?
Just curious, how did you make sure the bikes would be there when you got there, and that they would be as agreed on for condition before paying for them.

 

[Silverfox]

Why not search for forums that cover that bike and join and offer it on there? At least you would be appealing to the riders who may want one, especially anyone who is looking to go to a trike from a two wheeled version.
:waving:

 

[Ansimp]

Jobe05 has some really valid points especially using email and you instigating the call to a potential buyer. I am always slow to give out my address until the last minute and if I have advertised my cell phone number I don't respond well to blocked numbers. It's not a sale until you have the money in your possession. That said I negotiated the purchase of the Rats Nest in Altadena Ca with the seller over the phone from Brisbane and he held it for me for over a 2 weeks until my brother in Ca could complete the sale

 

[jobe05]

I purchased them long distance based on many, many emails with the seller. I had many email conversations with people and in the end did not buy from them.

I have a disclosure on the bottom of my emails also. when we were looking for an RV, here is what it said:

Note: I am a real buyer, in the market for a quality motor coach. I will not ask for your PayPal address, I will not send a shipper, I will actually communicate and show up in person if this is a coach that we would be interested in seeing and if we decide to buy, we pay cash at that time. Our time frame for purchase is in the next 1 to 2 weeks. Although we live in NC, we will travel to view a few coaches, and drive one home, again, no shipper will pick it up, EBay Auto protection will NOT be involved..... Even if EBay actually had auto protection. Any information that you can provide that will make your coach stand out would be appreciated.

Email is the communication choice for many. The bikes I purchased started with emails, many emails before a phone number was exchanged. I don't fear as much about the item being there as much as I am as a seller having #1 a real buyer vs a scammer #2 an earnest buyer who is willing to pay what I am asking, not someone who thinks Craigs List is a way to get things cheap (although it can be). And #3 buyer who is willing to pay Cash at the time, not the guy who waste my time seeing if he can get a loan with bad credit or borrow money from GrandMa. Nope....... Emails work just fine.......

Of all the out of town emails I have ever gotten, how many have ever showed up to look at what I had..... ZERO! NONE!! Maybe they arn't as serious a buyer as I am.

 

[Bigmick]

You can also Google any phone numbers that are emailed. When I sold my last items on craigslist I was able to sort out the scammers with this.

 

[Jeff_A]

I think most everybody has all points covered. Someone said something about the marking pen for counterfeit money? I believe you can pick t=one of them up at most office supply stores such as Office Max or Staples. I think personal checks are okay but it has to clear the bank before they get title and or possession of merchandise. Watch out for cashiers checks and money orders. I work in a county jail and we have them in counterfeit given to us to bond someone out of jail. I would also watch out with Craig's List. It is 99.9% spammers and email fishers. Good luck with your sale. Hope it brings top dollar for the shelter.

 

[Chromo]

Thanks Jobe05, that is what I was wondering.

It's a shame we have to worry so much about the crooks out there.

On the other side of the coin as a buyer,
I bought my 82 1100I in 2010 sight unseen basically and they brought it about 100 miles towards me, and I drove about 50 miles to get it.
Due to time problems, wife had to go too if I bought it so I could ride it home, and we did not have time to make about a 300 mile round trip since she had to go to work about 3am.
Was about 3 phone calls about the bike and my promise to buy it if as pictured and nothing major wrong with it. I expected them to ride it there, they loaded it on a trailer since he was not able to ride at the time.
We met up, unloaded it, I looked it over, rode around the parking lot, then handed them the money.
Actually, if I had gone to their house to buy it I probably would not have paid the full asking price, about $200 less maybe or passed, but it was close enough to the condition stated I bought it as promised since they brought it most way to me.

My other 5 wings were from forum members very long distance who were nice enough to hold them till I got there. Of course with the forum it's much different than using CL also!!

For expensive items I will not even reply to any CL listing that does not have a phone number for me to call. Just about anyone can grab a cheapo $30 Net10 cell phone with 300 minutes and 60 days of service and use that to list a contact number. Just about every Wal-mart sells them or similar throw away phones cheap.
If selling an item for a few grand is not worth a $30 phone to them it's not worth my time to e-mail them and wait around for replies!
There are a few of us that still live remote and can not use a cell phone at home like me, but most people can use them.

When shopping on CL a phone number and good pictures are 2 of the first things I look for, if either not there I move on!

 

[jobe05]

I guess it depends on your experiences and what your comfortable with.

The guy that I purchased my 1800 from, said that he pulled his number off the ad because people were calling and just bullying him on price. After a couple of those calls, he pulled his phone number off the ad.

When I started emailing him, he immediately told me a couple of things in his first email that was not in his ad, like there was still a loan out on the bike and the bank held the title as the lien holder. After a couple dozen emails, we finally swapped phone numbers, mainly due to needing to get in touch with other during business hours as we knew the deal was going to happen for $9,000 cash, now how. We worked it out because we now had a comfort level with each other. We agreed that he would have the title transferred to his local bank in Columbus Ohio, He and I would both go in, I would pay the bike off ($3600) and I would get and hold the title. We then had to take the title to DMV who had to Verify and notarize the Lien release from the bank and the sale to me, at which time I paid him the balance in Cash.

The PO turned out to be a great guy. Retired Law enforcement, wife still works part time but they want to travel more so they bought a camper and with the balance of the bike money, he bought a Bergman and is very happy. He knew I was driving it home so he did the oil change before I left with it. We still email each other today. He loves getting updates on his old wing. He admitted that he was thinking he was going to have a hard time convincing anyone to plunk down a hunk of cash for a bike to pay it off before the title could be transferred, but felt that he and I had a pretty good line of communication going and understood what would have to be done to complete the transaction.

Pretty scary dealing with cash and someone you don't know. Same as letting someone test ride your bike when selling it..........

Email communication is a great way to get to know the intentions of the buyer, at least for me it is.

As a side note, I do have someone coming over to test ride my 1200 LTD in a couple hours. Since I have been out of town for the past 3+ weeks, I have only communicated with these people via emails. They came last week to look at the bike, but my wife knows noting about it, or even where the keys were to start it. They seem like great people with good intentions, so based on my gut feeling, I would let them test drive it in the neighborhood.

 

[SETHAN12]

I would get raffle tickets and sell them for $10.00 a piece. Would probably make more than the bike was worth and would have cash in hand. Would take a little bit of work on your part, but would be well worth it. I would tie the tickets to a daily lottery number like the four digit lottery. 5,000 tickets x ten dollars is a good chunk of change, and for a good cause. Just a thought from an old fart.

 

[JR831100]

Have you tried putting a for sale sign on it and parking it out in front of the shelter? You could also try posting flyers in a local classified journal or in the local mc shop. Good luck! JR