How To Sell A Dirt Bike In 24 Hours

Almost every single dirt bike or motorcycle ad I see has at least a couple defects in it. This makes it more difficult to sell a bike, especially in this poor economy.

So if you want some tips on how to make your ads more professional and how to sell a bike more quickly, listen up!

Making your dirt bike look good

People will be a lot more interested in your bike if it looks nice. That's starting with making your bike clean. I always spray my bike with soap and water, then I scrub everywhere I can get to with a tooth brush or rag. Taking the plastics off can make it easier and you can get into a lot more spots that you couldn't before.

If you don't mind spending a little bit of money on new plastics and/or graphics, then I highly suggest doing it. It will allow you to sell the bike quicker and you might get your money back doing it. It makes the bike look really nice and fresh because not everything is scratched up anymore.

You don't need to go overboard on replacing or refurbishing parts, such as repainting the frame, case covers, etc. along with plastic and graphics to make it literally look new, otherwise buyers might think there is something suspicious and get scared away.

Make sure not to just clean it before someone comes to look at it, but also for the pictures, because it's not very inviting to look at a bike that is dirty in the ad.

Pictures:

Pictures are an absolute must if you want to sell a dirt bike, or anything for that matter. People don't want to travel far without seeing a bike and find out that it's an absolute wreck. I suggest that you post at least 2 or 3 pictures of your dirt bike.

Title:

One of the first things you want is a good title, which isn't very difficult, but I have seen quite a few ads that are titled, "Dirt bike for sale." Now that may be true, but does that say much about what it is? Not many people are going to click on it if they just say that.

If you want a good title, make sure you have most, if not all, of the bike's model info. For example, a good and easy title would be: "[Year of bike] [Make of bike] [Model name]". It's that simple. Here is a title that I have for one of my dirt bikes, "2001 Yamaha YZ125." It's really that easy.

Description:

This is where I see the most mistakes or defects in peoples ads. Anything from spelling, grammar, to too much detail and too long. To have a quality looking ad you want to write just enough info for people to see so they don't contact you and ask a million questions. Although you still might get "that one person".

All you have to write is a little bit about the bike, such as a couple sentences about its history, what's been done to the bike, what aftermarket parts it has, and anything else that a potential buyer should know before coming to look at it.

Price

The price is one of the most crucial pieces to selling a bike. Many sellers think their bikes are worth gold because they have thousands in aftermarket parts, or that they just put two grand into rebuilding it.

Aftermarket parts add next to no value to bikes. In fact, some people would rather buy a stock bike, so if you have stock parts, I would suggest you put them back on and keep the aftermarket parts, or just sell them with them off of the bike.

Just because you put 1500 into rebuilding the engine does not mean it's worth that much more, it means that they blew the bike up and other parts will probably need replacing soon. Rebuilds do NOT add to value because they are just maintenance.

Now for figuring out your price, it depends on the model, year, and what kind of shape the bike is in. If it's in good shape then take a look at other ads people are posting. Usually they are asking 10-25% more than the bike is worth, so I suggest you post it for a little less than the average.

To read more about what your dirt bike is worth click here for another article on the top 5 factors that determine its value.

Replying to buyers:

First of all, if you are using Craigslist and are not going to check your email every day or two, then please put a phone number so someone can reach you!!! I see hundreds of ads that do not have a phone number, so I have to wait for them to reply on email, that is if they reply at all.

If you do check your email every day then you should be good, but I would still say that a phone number is a must.

Selling the bike

When a buyer arrives, make sure you are kind to them and do not get upset or have an unusual behavior at all. Probably the number one rule I use when selling bikes is "being honest." You have to tell the truth and not hide anything to the seller so that they won't come back to you after buying the bike complaining about something you lied about.

It is much easier for everyone if you're out front with everything about the bike, that way you can be confident in selling your bike. Also make sure that the buyer knows that this is an as-is sale, and if something happens to the bike there is no warranty if it's a used bike.

If you happen to sell it you will either want to give the seller the title or make a bill of sale telling who bought it, who sold it, what the price was, VIN # of bike, name, number, so that nothing will come back it you if it's stolen or something.