7 Tips To Sell Your Mountain Bike Fast & For A Great Price |

After making the purchase of my second mountain bike, I realized that I was not using my first one as frequently as I used to. Eager to make my money back, I did some research to find out how I could get rid of it fast and for a great price. As a result, I pulled together this list of 7 of the most helpful tips to assist those who find themselves in a similar situation.

How can you sell your mountain bike fast and for a great price? In order to sell your mountain bike fast and for a great price, you will need to make sure that everything is clean and working properly. Take great photos and be very honest and descriptive in your online listings.

Once this is done, you will need to do some research on your competitors to come up with a fair and realistic price for your own bike. When you have decided on a price that makes sense, stick to it! It is always important to remember to stay safe while selling online or in person as well, and some safety precautions should be adhered to.

When it comes to purchasing a mountain bike, it can become a very large expense, depending on which one you buy. As a result, it helps to know that you will be able to quickly sell it should you change your mind about your purchase.

Instead of letting your mountain bike go for a low price in a hurry to sell it, you can get rid of it quickly and for a price that isn’t insulting. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about selling your mountain bike fast and for a great price.

7 Tips To Sell Sell Your Mountain Bike Fast & For A Great Price

Selling a used mountain bike online can seem like a very intimidating and difficult task. Who would want to buy a used mountain bike from you when they could just get a new one from a local bike shop, right? Is anyone even looking for this kind of product anyway?

Most people would be surprised to learn that it is actually quite simple to sell your mountain bike online, and you don’t have to take low offers just to get rid of it. In fact, with the help of a few tips and recommendations for selling, you will be able to get exactly the price that you want for your bike.

In this article, we will be going over everything you need to know about selling your mountain bike, from point A to point Z. After reading through all of its contents, you will learn that it really is possible to get exactly what you want for your used mountain bike, and you don’t have to wait around long either!

If you are selling your current bike you might be changing styles or upgrading to a Mountain bike with better features. If that’s the case check out these related articles:

Take a look at the list below to find the 7 top tips that I have compiled for selling your mountain bike fast and for a great price. While the list is pretty self-explanatory, keep reading through this section to get all of the details on the topic that will help you make a flawless transaction where both parties walk away happy.

7 Tips To Sell Sell Your Mountain Bike Fast & For A Great Price:

Make sure everything is working properly
Clean up the bike
Take great photos
Be descriptive in your headline
Include all information in your description
Be honest about the condition of your bike
Do research and come up with a fair price

1. Make sure everything is working properly

Before you can even think about listing your mountain bike for sale, you will need to make sure that everything is working properly. No buyer will want to purchase a faulty bike, and you don’t want to accidentally be dishonest in your listing.

You can take your bike out for one last spin to make sure that nothing is broken or moving slow. Inspect all of the individual components of the bike to make sure there is no rust or damage to the outside.

If you need to repair any of the parts, now would be the time to do it. While it is true that you could sell a slightly damaged bike, it would most likely take you much longer than one that is in perfect condition.

Since the whole purpose of this article is to discuss how you can sell a mountain bike quickly, it is recommended that you carefully inspect, repair, and replace anything that is necessary on your bike before you consider selling it at all.

2. Clean up the bike

Once you have made sure that everything is in order on your bike, it will be time to clean it up. Just like no buyer will want to buy a broken item, they won’t want a dirty one either.

This will also help you to take better photos of your bike that will be appealing to potential buyers. If they see that your bike is sparkling cleaning the photographs, it will tell them that you have taken great care of it and that it could be a good purchase.

Clean everything on the outside of the bike, from the seat and frame to to the wheels and the chain. Make sure that everything is spotless, and try to make your bike look as new as possible.

Granted there might be some damage to your bike that won’t come off with a clean wet cloth, depending on how long you have been using it, just try to make it look as good as you possibly can.

Again, if anything needs repair and you feel that your bike would become more appealing to potential buyers, you can make any necessary changes at this time. When these steps have been completed, your bike should look brand new, or as new as it could possibly look.

With a squeaky clean mountain bike that looks great, you will be able to move on to the actual selling part of this process. This will begin with taking photographs of your mountain bike.

3. Take great photos

If you are planning to list your product online with no photos, you will certainly be out of luck when it comes to finding any buyers. If they can’t see it, they won’t be interested, and your ad will become lost in the scroll with no responses.

Otherwise, you will probably experience endless messages from buyers who are interested in your description, but they will be asking you to see photos anyways. So, if you want to sell your mountain bike at all, you will need to take this step seriously.

The photos should show the buyers everything that they would ask you to see before buying. This will include every angle of the bike that you can think of, as well as some close up shots of particular areas and components of the bike.

If you feel like you are taking too many photos, you are completing this step correctly. Think about being in a shop and purchasing a brand new mountain bike for yourself. Before you would consider purchasing it, you would inspect all around the bike and come to a conclusion of whether or not you are interested.

The same thing will go for online buyers. In order to avoid wasting anyone’s time, make sure that you are showing them exactly what you see in person of the bike.

The last thing that you will want to do is provide photos that are not detailed and meet up with someone who is interested, only to be turned away because you were not as thorough as you could have been.

Aside from just taking the photos alone, they must be quality photos in order to actually get a sale. When buyers are scrolling through the selling platform that you are using, you will want to make your listing stand out against the others.

Your photos should be so quality that the buyers have to stop and click on yours, because all of the surrounding listings are dull in comparison. This can be achieved by doing a few things before you start.

First of all, you will need to find the best possible lighting that you can find. This can be done outside in the direct sunlight, or inside your garage if you have an open and bright concept in there.

The lighting should not change the color of your bike, and shouldn’t glare off of the frame, either. The next most important thing besides the lighting is your background.

Don’t take a photo of your mountain bike thrown up against all of the camping gear in your garage that you haven’t had the time to organize for years. Instead, find a clean white wall that will make your bike stand out against it.

The bike should be the focus of the entire photo, but you can go for a more scenic view if you are really serious about standing out. Try loading your bike up in the back of your car and heading up to the mountains to position it against the natural background.

Regardless of where you choose to position your mountain bike for the photos, you will need to make sure that you are properly executing the actual process of taking them. The most important thing is that your photos are clear and concise.

Instead of quickly waving your camera around and taking lazy photos, take your time with each one, making sure that you are holding still so that nothing comes out blurry.

If you have some kind of professional camera, this will help you to get the clearest photo. Otherwise, you can play with the portrait and studio modes on your iPhone for a more aesthetic look.

It also helps to take multiple shots of the same angle so that you have some options to choose from. When you only take one photo, you will have nothing to compare it to, when you could have possibly taken a better one that would stand out even more.

After your photo shoot has been completed, you should sit down inside and pick out the best images. The photos should be quality, but they should not be edited or altered.

Think about if you were taking a photo of your red mountain bike outside and you decided to place a photo filter on the top of it. If the filter makes the color look bright cherry red when it is actually darker in reality, you will be giving buyers a false sense of what they are trying to buy.

4. Be descriptive in your headline

When your professional photo shoot is complete, you will finally be able to begin your listing. For most online selling platforms, you will start with some kind of headline or short title for your listing.

This is what the buyers will see as they are scrolling through the items for sale, and it should be very descriptive. When someone passes by your headline, they should know exactly what you are selling, from the type of product to the brand, sizes, color, and everything in between.

Keep your headline as short and sweet as possible, with all of the information that you can fit into it at the same time. Since the title might cut off on the main screen of the selling website if it is too long, try to put the most important information in the beginning.

For example, the beginning of your title could start with the brand of the mountain bike and then the words “mountain bike”. The next thing written could be the color and then the size. It would be good to include the words “used” or “good condition” in the beginning part as well.

5. Include all information in your description

The part that comes after the title is the actual description of your product. This will be a larger section where you can write paragraphs and organized lists about the features of your bike.

This section will be the most detailed, and you should really spend most of your time writing this one. The buyers should be able to read what you have written and know everything that they could possibly ask about your bike.

A successful description will have buyers messaging you and wanting to meet up to complete the transaction, instead of asking questions and wanting more information about something that you failed to include in this section.

Some of the information that you should write in your product description will include a repeat of the credentials that you wrote in your headline, but with much more detail.

Talk about the condition of your bike, how much you are charging, indicate that you are firm on the price, establish how you would like to be paid, where and when you will be able to meet the buyers, and anything else that will describe the selling process so interested parties know what to expect.

Along with including all of the necessary information in your description, you should keep everything organized so it is easy to read. If someone is scrolling on their phone and they see a huge block of text, they might look past it because it will take them too long to read.

However, if you space your lines out into smaller paragraphs and include lists with bolded information that is important, they will be able to get the main ideas of what you are trying to say more quickly.

6. Be honest about the condition of your bike

Within your headline and description, you should always be very honest about the condition of your mountain bike. If you know that your bike has been used for several months, or even if you have only taken it out one time, you should not list it as brand new.

However, you can list it as used in perfect condition. If there are any damages, broken or missing parts, or anything that a buyer should be concerned about, be transparent about it in your listing.

When the buyers read your listing, they should know exactly what they are walking into. You will not want to trick anyone into buying something that is not to the quality standards that they expected.

7. Do research and come up with a fair price

The last component of your online mountain bike listing will be the price that you are selling it for. While it might seem simple to just write in a price that you want to be paid for your product, you will need to do some research to find the right one.

If you are not in any rush to sell your mountain bike, you might be able to get away with making up your own price. However, this article is concerned with selling it fast, so you will need to be thorough in this process.

Do some research on the other local listings of mountain bikes and see what other people are charging for them. If you are able to see recent sales on the platform, you can get a better idea of what the local people are actually paying for these products.

Compare your own bike to the others that are charging these prices, and come up with yours accordingly. If someone has the same kind of mountain bike as you, but it is in much worse condition, you can take their price and go up a little bit, since yours is better.

Also consult the internet to find out the selling price for a new bike of the same type. You should not be higher than this price, since your bike is used. Subtract some of the amount depending on the condition, using the retail cost as a guideline.

It is important that you come up with the right price, because if you charge too high then your listing will likely be sitting for a long time, eventually getting buried under all of the new ones.

However, you should not charge too low either. The whole point of completing this process is to get paid a decent amount of money for your used mountain bike.

Since online buyers on local marketplaces are notorious for negotiating the prices, you should list a little bit higher than what you expect to get. This price shouldn’t be too much higher, but just a few hundred more than the actual amount that you want the buyer to hand you in cash.

This way, you will have room for negotiation with buyers and they can feel like they are getting a good deal for the product, while you are actually getting exactly what you wanted. On the other hand, if you manage to get paid full price by an interested buyer, you will really get the good price that you are looking for.

How To Sell Your Mountain Bike Online (Safely)

When it comes to selling your mountain bike online, or anything for that matter, it is important to always stay safe. There are scammers and dangerous people that you can find online, and you could end up in a sticky situation if you are not careful.

In this section, we will be covering some basic safety tips for selling your mountain bike online.

Safety Tips For Online Selling:

Only sell your bike for cash (in person transaction)
No checks / online transactions
Don’t invite strangers to your home
Use an anonymous email / disposable phone number
Meet at a safe public place (ie a bank or a police station)
Don’t carry your personal items with you during the transaction

First and foremost, only sell your bike for cash and in person. This will keep you away from any money scams where someone could give you a faulty check or chargeback their debit card transaction after they have received the product.

The very last thing that you want to do is give away your bike to someone in exchange for another type of payment, only to have it taken from you when you go to cash it in. To stay safe, make sure that you have the cash in hand before giving your bike to the buyer.

Next, don’t invite strangers to your home. Even though you might be talking to someone local online, you never want to tell them where you live. Instead, you should be meeting in a safe public place with lots of other people around.

A great place to meet would be in front of a bank or a police station during daylight hours when plenty of people are out and about in the area. If you choose to meet at a bank, you can stop in to make sure the cash is real to protect yourself for the larger transactions.

Along with not giving away your address, don’t give strangers any kind of personal information. It is best to use an anonymous email to communicate or a disposable phone number. There are convenient and free apps that you can use to disguise your real information for the time that you are communicating with strangers.

Lastly, do not carry your personal items with you during the transaction. It is very easy to get distracted while you are making the trade off, and you could accidentally drop your wallet or something else that is important.

Make sure that your belongings are in a safe location before meeting the buyer to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Where Can I Sell My Mountain Bike?

Now that you have learned almost everything you need to know about listing and selling your mountain bike quickly, safely, and for a great price online, you might be wondering where you can get started.

Take a look at the list below for some of the best online platforms and in person locations where you can get rid of your mountain bike for some cash.

Where To Sell Your Mountain Bike:

The Pro’s Closet
Pawn Shop
Use Sporting Goods/ Bike Shop
Craigslist
Facebook / Local Online Marketplace
Bike Forum
eBay

Some of the best websites for selling a mountain bike include The Pro’s Closet and eBay. For the local and in person transactions, you can look at Craigslist and Facebook, or any other online marketplace where people in your area meet up to buy and sell things.

You can also find your target audience even easier by advertising on a bike forum, where all of the mountain biking fans will hang out on the internet.

In person, you can bring your bike to a local pawn shop or a used sporting goods store. Find out the locations that will buy used mountain bikes near you and give it a try.

For the best and fastest results, you should list the same ad on as many platforms as possible to bring eyes to your product for a quick sale. In addition, you can re list your product once a day to bring it to the top of the platform.

As you can see, it is not only possible to sell your mountain bike fast and for a good price, but it is also very easy. With the help of a few clever selling tips and safety precautions, you can complete a transaction where both parties walk away satisfied in just a few days.