Selling my baby...

[BuellyBagger]

View attachment 11538

lol yup. Things have gone both ways for me on that kinda deal. Drove once to detroit and once to fox lake IL for boats, sight unseen and those two times I found exactly what the seller had described and got a great deal. Then there was the time i drove to south bend indiana to find a POS that the entire side of the boat had been torn into and the the fiberglass repair would've been done better by toddlers, no mention of any damage at all from the seller until i arrived 9hours from home and he claimed he didnt think it was a big deal. Keep in mind i told him i did body work for a living in our lengthy phone convo. in the week before i left. Its always a gamble. I'm fairly good at judging peoples character, but some times you miss!

I will add that ive never had any item shipped to me. If it were something fairly new from a dealer or something I would consider it, but older items from anyone I prefer to put my eyes on. That boat in indiana looked amazing in all the pics. If I'd had it shipped i would've spent a month fixing the side of it or maybe set fire to it... either way a PITA

 

[njloco]

I bought three Buells in the last few years, two were from out of state. One from a private party, one from a dealer, I called both and spoke to them about the bikes and they were exactly how they were described by the seller. I had both shipped by a guy that does this, he's from upstate N.Y., he's a friend of a friend, he did a check of each bike, visually and that it started up easily and ran on a short ride. He picked up one in South Carolina and the other in Houston Texas, I had absolutely no problems.

 

[cap1]

View attachment 11538

Oops sorry guys.

lol yup. Things have gone both ways for me on that kinda deal. Drove once to detroit and once to fox lake IL for boats, sight unseen and those two times I found exactly what the seller had described and got a great deal. Then there was the time i drove to south bend indiana to find a POS that the entire side of the boat had been torn into and the the fiberglass repair would've been done better by toddlers, no mention of any damage at all from the seller until i arrived 9hours from home and he claimed he didnt think it was a big deal. Keep in mind i told him i did body work for a living in our lengthy phone convo. in the week before i left. Its always a gamble. I'm fairly good at judging peoples character, but some times you miss!

I will add that ive never had any item shipped to me. If it were something fairly new from a dealer or something I would consider it, but older items from anyone I prefer to put my eyes on. That boat in indiana looked amazing in all the pics. If I'd had it shipped i would've spent a month fixing the side of it or maybe set fire to it... either way a PITA

I would imagine if you used a service such as PayPal you'd protected?

I bought three Buells in the last few years, two were from out of state. One from a private party, one from a dealer, I called both and spoke to them about the bikes and they were exactly how they were described by the seller. I had both shipped by a guy that does this, he's from upstate N.Y., he's a friend of a friend, he did a check of each bike, visually and that it started up easily and ran on a short ride. He picked up one in South Carolina and the other in Houston Texas, I had absolutely no problems.

Interesting, sounds like you had somebody you could trust to pick the bike up?

 

[BuellyBagger]

I would imagine if you used a service such as PayPal you'd protected?

true and a feasible plan on a relatively cheap motorcycle. Paying the fees for the price of a boat, forget that lol.

 

[submax]

Well...I just sold my XB12Ss cross country and it was my first time doing that kind of transaction. Like John said...this is probably can of worms topic, but I'll relate my experience as a seller. I posted the bike for sale on the forum and John kindly gave me and my bike a glowing endorsement. That was huge and gave the buyer peace of mind (he told me that over the phone). We had a long phone conversation and I sent him lots of pics of the bike from every angle that he wanted and I tried to give him details of every nick and scratch on the bike so that he knew what he was getting. The buyer decided he wanted the bike and was willing to wire me the payment before arranging for a shipping company to come and get the bike. Once the funds were wired and the shippers arrived, I put together a package with the signed title and sent that to the buyer through the mail so that he would have it when the bike arrived. The shipper did a pretty good job...they took pics and a video of the bike running before loading it up for shipping and provided a signed document stating the the bike was in mint condition upon pickup. The only thing that went wrong I heard from the buyer is that the shipper tied down the bike too tightly so the fork seals were weeping on arrival...that was frustrating since they were essentially brand new fork seals that I had paid to have installed about a year ago.

All that said, it would make me nervous to prepay for a bike without being able to see it in person first, even after this positive experience. The only way that I would do it is if I were buying a bike from a forum member with a positive endorsement from other forum members. Just my 2 cents.

 

[keithd]

Is the thread starter around at all? I see that this bike was up for sale by him back in September last year, and he's got a Craigslist ad that's ~25 days old.

Man, I am having a bear of a time trying to find a 2008-2009 XB12S for sale.

 

[njloco]

Good, that might mean the value is going up ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.

 

[keithd]

Good, that might mean the value is going up ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.

Not for me! I'm trying to buy one!
...soon, though.

 

[cap1]

All that said, it would make me nervous to prepay for a bike without being able to see it in person first, even after this positive experience. The only way that I would do it is if I were buying a bike from a forum member with a positive endorsement from other forum members. Just my 2 cents.

This is good advice.

Not for me! I'm trying to buy one!
...soon, though.

^^^This, everyone in California wants way over blue book.