How to sell your bike

Have you bought a new bike or just want to clean out your old one? Then it's time to sell your used bike.

Here, we explain what you should consider: What is the best way to sell a bike? You want to sell your used bike. Then, we created a checklist for it: Determine the bike type and model. Get the bike out of the basement/garage/bike rack on the wall and gather all the documentation.

If you don't know which type your old bike belongs to, check out our overview: Road bike, MTB, Gravel bikeAlso, for city and trekking bikes, it is helpful to specify whether it is a women's bike or a men's bike. The next step can be more complicated. It always helps to know the model of your used bike.

Often the model is in the invoice - if there is no invoice, you can search the frame. There are the model designations on it (eg, manufacturers such as Cube or Canyon). Alternatively, you can start a Google search or contact the buycycle team. They are happy to help you with the research on the model. If you need it, you must start the sale without model information.

Determine the state. The condition of the used bike is an essential statement for potential buyers. For example, if it were only in a dry cellar, the value loss would be lower than if you had ridden the bike a lot and in all weathers. You can orient yourself very well under the following conditions. In the case of defective or severe visual defects, you can bring the used bike or e-bike to the bicycle repair shop or order spare parts and have them repaired.

However, experience shows that repairs are a cost factor before the sale, but the selling price often does not increase to the same extent as the repair costs. A simple alternative is the Premium Check at buycycle. You can set the used bike as a defect and only when sold, the bike is then sent to a certified bicycle mechanic, which removes the defects. Shoot good photosBesides the price, the photos are the most important arguments for or against a sale. When taking photos, you should ensure that the used bike for sale can be seen from the side.

Photographing the bike from the side with the shifting group and crank is always helpful, especially in the sporty area of road bikes and MTBs, where the components play an important role in the purchase decision. In addition to the overall view, all important components should now be photographed. Prefer a few good photos of the shifting group, brakes, saddle, and Co. than several blurred or poorly lit pictures.

Brand names such as Shimano and SRAM should be as legible as possible. In addition, all signs of use should be photographed to avoid later discussion with those buying. Very important here: Not only is your bike crucial, but also the background. A dark cellar looks less severe and inviting than a plain, well-lit wall. Here, it always applies - a few more minutes in the photo creation is worth it! Determine price.

A selling price must now be determined for your old bike. The first point of reference for this is the new price. If you do not know the price, you can start a Google search or contact the buycycle team. In addition to the new price, the condition and age of the bike are also important factors in determining the selling price. At buycycle you will automatically receive a price recommendation within just a few clicks. You can find more details about the price determination in the section below.

Determine the place of sale/sales platform. There are various providers and options here, from local and eBay classifieds to bicycles. A detailed comparison and analysis take place in the later section. When do I sell a bike? The best time for a bike sale is difficult to predict.

Of course, most people in Germany ride their bikes in the summer. Therefore, you see proportionally more purchases in the summer and fewer in the winter. However, buyer behavior differs for different types of bicycles. Therefore, it is also important to know (see section 1) the type of bicycle used.

Here is a first indication of the best times to sell bicycles: Spring and summer. This is the perfect time to sell a city bike, a trekking bike, or a children's bike. These bikes are mostly bought according to immediate needs. When it is warm and no bike is available or the old bike is broken, people usually want to solve the problem quickly and buy a new bike.

For the above types, there is usually less emphasis on brands or special models, so they are usually NOT bought in the winter (with advance) for the following spring. This buying behavior also applies to sporty bikes in the low-priced segment. Beginners in racing or mountain biking usually decide to start the new sport only in the warm seasons.

The same applies to the e-bike versions of the bicycle types mentioned.Fall/Winter In the colder seasons, especially high-priced sports bikes are bought. So, if you want to sell an expensive road bike, MTB, triathlon bike, or e-bike, the fall/winter is well suited. Look at the buying behavior of triathlon bikes, for example.

You can quickly see that the sporty, ambitious buyers are already gearing up for the new winter season. The competitions usually occur in the summer, so the triathlon enthusiasts already want to purchase the optimal material with enough lead time. The same applies to high-quality racing bikes and mountain bikes.

Most races take place in the warm summer months. Ambitious (hobby) athletes already prepare themselves in winter for the sporting tasks in summer. In a weakened form, it can also be seen that high-quality e-bikes are already being purchased in the winter, "in advance of the warm season". Most cyclists extensively research the available models and suppliers before buying expensive bikes, where several thousand euros are spent.

If the right model is found, buyers usually strike directly before the "run" on the popular models starts in the summer. Even high-priced bikes are bought in the summer and spring, so that you can sell these bikes all year round. But in autumn and winter, the chances are at least as good as in the warm months. What is my old bike still worth? One of the most difficult tasks when selling a bicycle is determining the right price. Of course, you want a reasonable price for your old bike, but you also want it attractive enough to "attract" potential buyers promptly.

Essentially, one determines the selling price with the following steps: Determination of the new price of the bike. The price of the then-new bike is one of the most important clues in determining the selling price. If you have already bought the bike used and do not know the new price, it is worth researching online or search for your model in the database of buycycle, where you can find all new prices. Consider the age and condition of the bikeSimilar to a used car, the value of a bicycle decreases with age and wear. Both factors must be considered, since, for example, an 8-year-old bike that has hardly been moved and is in very good condition is worth just as much as a 2-year-old used bike (same new price), which, however, has already been heavily worn.

The condition determination, which was already described in the upper section, also helps here. Consider the brand and model. Here, too, there are analogies to the car market in the bicycle sector. Popular brands (such as Canyon, Cube, Specialized) and their popular models (e.g., currently, especially the Gravel bike models of popular suppliers) are more in demand than unknown brands and models.

More demand leads to a higher selling price. Research on comparable advertisements. On common sales platforms, you can search for your bike and see which advertisements are posted at which prices. This superficial market research helps to validate one's own selling price and can also help check step 3. Popular brands and models are offered more expensively than lesser-known sellers. Negotiation basis for fine tuningLast, of course, it always helps to advertise the used bike with a negotiable price. If one receives the first counteroffer, this assists with the determination of the really attainable price.

But caution is also required here. On platforms like eBay Classifieds, there are often "cheeky" requests with unrealistic prices. One should not be irritated by this. The process described above can often be time-consuming. The bicycle team has reduced this effort.

With a short selection of the bike, one can get a price recommendation for the used bike within one minute. When determining the price, the self-learning algorithm considers the aforementioned factors, such as new price, condition, age, market situation, time of year, search volume, and the selling prices of similar advertisements. What is the best way to sell an E-bike?

When selling an E-bike, the above steps apply. For an E-bike, only the battery and the engine are additional issues. An E-bike is much more sellable if you can show an "official" statement about battery capacity and motor power. For this, you can have the battery checked at a bicycle dealer and take advantage of the testing service of buycycle.

Where is the best place to sell my bike? Several providers for selling bicycles: buycycle, eBay, Classifieds, MTB News, Quoka, and Local classifieds. Until now, people have posted local classified ads for the sale of bicycles, or the used bike has been advertised on eBay classifieds.

Both variants have some weaknesses: One is spatially limited, since the buyers would like to pick up the used bicycles. This leads to the fact that only the local bicycle market is addressed. Finding a suitable owner for your old bike takes a bit of luck. A shipping option is only available in the rarest of cases. Payment is not regulated. Personal arrangements over the phone offer great potential for fraudsters.

Unfortunately, more and more fraud cases exist on platforms such as eBay Classifieds. Potential buyers can only search for their new bike via free text. However, you can not always estimate what interested people are looking for in advance, especially if you do not sell a bike daily. In some cases, the buyer complains about traces of use in the aftermath. The buycycle team started with the goal of offering an alternative without these weaknesses.

How can the sale be made safe and straightforward, and at the same time, address as many interested parties as possible? Here is the description. Sell a bike on buycycle.com. Advertise in simple advertisements. Can be created quickly and easily at buycycle - even without detailed knowledge about one's used bike. One has to specify the brand (e.g., Haibike), the model (e.g., Backroad), and the year of purchase (of the then-new bike).

Uncomplicated bike shipping. A shipment always starts with the packaging. buycycle sends home a packaging set (box and protection in the box for components, frame, and wheels). The box fits an e-bike, road bike, mountain bike, city-bike, trekking bike and also a pedelec. In the case of a particularly small or large frame height and a children's bike, there are also special variants of the packaging. Now you have to put the bike in the box and cover the components with the protectors provided.

The used bike is now picked up at home and insured by the buyer. The buyer now feels like receiving a bike directly from the bike dealer, hopefully increasing the enthusiasm around the bike purchase once again. A direct pickup from the used bike is also possible, especially for short distances, as a direct pickup makes ecological sense.

Whether it's a "mechanical" bike or an e-bike, buyers sometimes have questions about the technical details of a used bike. The buycycle team wants to help the buyers with the start into the new bicycle adventure and relieve the salesmen and saleswomen of all efforts in the after-sales.

The customer support of buycycle is available anytime for the Kaufenden and answers all questions. In addition, there are partner bicycle stores and workshops in all of Germany, which can support locally with the start of a bike. Only in exceptional cases do the sellers have to be contacted in case of queries. Low costIn principle, you can advertise a bicycle free of charge at buycycle. Only in the case of a successful transaction is a fee of 1.5% of the bike price due.

The sale is as safe and straightforward as possible. Also, I planned to purchase a bicycle, so one can sell their bicycle even within a few hours and have the selling price on the account. Traces of use are repaired in this case by a refurbishment, i.e., reconditioning the used bike. Do you have any questions about the article or about selling a bike? Just contact the buycycle-team. Good luck selling your bike! Here you can find details about selling a racing bike or a mountain bike.