TRF Forums

I love bikes and working on bikes and thinking about starting buying/selling bikes.
I already have a day job where I work from home so this will start off as a side business initially.

My initial idea is to do this:
Buy bikes with good service history etc (cheap from someone that wants a quick sale), strip them down checking everything, service them and make sure everything is 100%.
Then sell them on for a profit.

Do you think people are willing to pay a bit extra for a bike that has been properly checked and serviced?

It will take some time to go through the bikes so I guess I might be better off doing what other dealers do which is to just polish them up and sell them on directly??
Thats not really what I like to do though, I only like selling stuff when they are mint!

Please let me know if you have any ideas, questions, feedback etc!
Thanks guys!

Im no expert but I do work for myself. Not in the bike industry. For me it all began whilst doing another job, and this was a little side line. I worked both for a while, which gave my own venture time to grow at its own rate, via recommendation. For this to work you have to be good at what you do, and with that in mind, always provide the best you can, everytime ... to me that suggests to do your servicing etc. The job you are on is THE most important job. People talk when they are happy, and talk more when they are not. Your business will grow via recommendation and good reputation, chuck out a donkey and the world will know!! To begin you do need contacts within the industry, so they can tell people about you, it doeswnt matter how good you are if no one knows you are there it isnt going to happen.

It takes time, but taking pride in your work and business shows, the customers will respond well to that, and possibly be prepared to pay a little more for it. But I would suggest to not be greedy wth the profit, people arent fools and they dont like feeling ripped off! You can increase your profit margin once your business is established maybe.

Whether your ideas would work I dont know. Another approach would be to advertise yourself as a "finder" So put feelers out, see what bike an individual wants, and promise to find them one, at an agreed price ..... which includes the fact that whatever state you buy the bike in, you will forward it onto them in the tip top condition you agree. That way, you dont have a load of stock that no one wants, you are only buying to order?


Good luck, it sounds fun


e

Maybe you'd need to specialise in what you deal with ie one or two makes only, or even one specific bike.

I'd like to agree with Scrag's post.

I am a regular customer of hers,and she is fantastic at what she does.
She likes to tie me up by the neck,and fasten me to the taps.
She then gives me a good old lathering up,and is always very gentle with my naughty bits.
Some times if i'm feeling to frisky she sprays me with cold water.
I once got to to excited and weed on her shoes,she was very cross and smacked me on my nose.
The best bit is at the end,when she strokes me and ruffles my ears.
That really gets my tail wagging.
Our next session can't come soon enough.
See you soon
Fido

I like the idea of a finder. It is always a pain finding a good bike that you are 100% sure about. You could offer a personal guarantee on what you supply for a specific period.
As far as cost goes I always believe that you get what you pay for, but also like the previous poster no one wants to feel ripped off so be careful putting big margins on to start with. I would also say start the business now because if you can make it work in hard times then when the going gets good again you should make a decent living.

Let us know the outcome though.

Al

I wouldn't bother with stripping the bike down to make sure its OK.

Fact is, if it's not OK, it won't run properly, and folk would rather buy a bike with an engine that hasn't been stripped and rebuilt unless it's done mega miles. Given the pathetic miles (2000 - 3000 pa) that most bikes do, the engine won't be worn unless it's been caned or run out of oil, and if it's been serviced properly there shouldn't be any problem. Doing the job properly, with factory gaskets etc will destroy your profit margins anyway, and if you do find an expensive fault what are you going to do?

You're better concentrating on checking chassis condition (esp disguised crash damage) before you part with your cash.

If you want to make money out of buying and selling bikes, here's what I'd do.

Get a pile of cash and sit on it until it snows.

Then go around dealers and offer them cash for bikes they have on the showroom floor, say you'll take it away today and you don't want a guarantee or for it to go through the workshop....the guy won't have done a deal all day/week/month and he'll be crazy for it.

Dealers in rented premises often have to pay rent quarterly...so need to generate cash in the week before the rent is due. The traditional quarter days are 25 March, 24 June, 29 September and 25 December, so there are sometimes bargains to be had then too (especially the autumn and winter dates) .

Best time for selling used road bikes is between Easter and the IoM TT. So you have to be prepared to sit on your stock until then.

I think Richard has some good points…however it reminds me a little of the old saying “how do you make a small fortune? Start with a large fortune and buy a football club”

My point being if you have a large pile of cash you could end up with a small pile of cash very quickly if you start selling bikes.

That said, I often hear cries of how bad business is from dealers but in my experience they don’t seem to chase sales. Earlier in the year I sent some emails regarding the KTM Freeride to a few dealers, the response was very poor. I think I posted it on here somewhere.

More recently I phoned a few dealers looking for a used 690 Enduro, one dealer not naming names told me they never get them in, but took my number anyway. Therefore I was surprised recently to see the same dealer selling one on Ebay??? Now to be fair I had already bought a bike but I might not have, so it would have been worth a call to me would it not? I’m in the manufacturing business, every call we get is logged on a database and followed up. Now you don’t need a database to do that, a book or spreadsheet would suffice.

Therefore my second point would be if you’re going to sell bikes, sell them, don’t sit around waiting for the phone to ring.

Thanks for all your answers guys!

Sorry, what I meant with stripping down was to strip down the bike to the frame, check everything properly.
Not actually stripping down the engine. Like you say, if the engine doesn't run properly you can tell and if it has been serviced regularly then it should be fine.

Will now try this concept with a couple of bikes privately before I start up the business.
The finder concept is also something I will take in to consideration.

Or dropped in a river with the engine running (don't ask!).

see, another happy customer