I agree with chrisn7, with all the reports of damp etc buyers are weary and need to feel reassured, a caravan I sold once I knew was perfect and dry so what I did was in my advert I offered for the potential buyer to have their own damp test done, by a professional,and if they decided to buy I would take the cost off the selling price in theory this wont actually cost you anything as with everything 2nd hand everyone expects to pay less than the asking price you would then use this when asked for further reductions. It should be easy to get a guy to pop over to damp test it with the buyer present try the MCEA for someone local to you
------------- its our imperfections that makes us perfect
We have just sold our van and agree with many of the comments others have made. We got most interest via Gumtree and Ebay (where we used a classified ad). We also reduced the price and made this very obvious in the ad title with the word REDUCED in capitals at the beginning and end of the Swift Challenger etc etc info. Also indicated what it was reduced from. We had a trade in price from 3 dealers and a good no PX deal so knew where the balance in our favour was. We got some silly offers but declined them. Our ad now says SOLD - Could remove but thought I'd let some of the followers see what they missed! Good Luck.
we went looking for a larger van this week .and i am simply astounded by the stupid prices that some dealers are putting on there used ones .
after a week of looking at either battered and damaged vans we have given up and decided to keep our present one .
one dealer van as a for instance ,the salesman after talking to the wife said i have the ideal one for you ,go and have a look at number 37 in the corner so off we trots ,it looked lovely inside a 2003 van at just over £6000 WTF !!!!! but the best bits were yet to come on opening the overhead lockers they were all covered in mould he then came out with the its only condensation bulls**t . ,and we don't do finance your better off getting a bank loan ,mind you several dealers said the same .
i think that one was the nail in the coffin though at least ours is paid for ,dry and roadworthy
I would be patient. The layout of this Bailey isn't particularly popular from the models available as there are no beds. A young family would have to convert the dinette into bunks and the lounge into a double bed, too much faff for people like me. Someone will come along that likes it but many won't and price doesn't come into that too much. You could end up reducing when you would sell at the higher price to someone who wants this layout.
a quick look at ads shows not many of these vans about.
Ok so we have it on classifieds on ebay but although we have lots of watchers at the reduced price there still haven't been any enquiries or offers. Wondering if we should do auction style as you suggested. I know my pics aren't good which were taken on mobile phone so I've asked a friend to take some this weekend. It's now got a price of 4750 but with sensible offers, do you guys think this is a reasonable price now ?.
I've just had a quick look at your revised ebay listing and there are a few things that you could add to make it sound more attractive to buyers.
There is still no mention of any service history. This makes it sound like it has not been serviced. You could mention any history you do have and when it was last serviced.
The age of the tyres has not been mentioned. When we bought our Ranger the tyres were 6 years old so we negotiated the price so we could get 2 new tyres fitted before we used it. If you have fitted new tyres recently this makes it a better deal for a buyer but you do need to advertise the fact.
Try to get some pictures of the dents. Even if the photos don't show the dents it will help show that the dents are fairly insignificant but you have been honest with your description.
Giving a reason for sale eg needing a bigger caravan due to an extra child coming along helps to make the sale sound more genuine.
I hope my comments give you a few ideas and hopefully you'll be able to get a sale fairly soon. When we advertised our caravan we had over 100 watchers but we only needed one buyer!
Get it fully serviced by an official engineer. Make a point of saying so in the ad, giving the date when done. You will recoup the £150-£200 in the sale price
Yes it is being fully serviced in the next few days so I have now said this in all our ads. Thankyou for all your replies. Being our first caravan we have never sold one before so advice much appreciated !!
The lack of the caravans weight is a pet peeve of mine. And then you have to contact them and they do not know but tow it with an xyz and it tows fine.
Same with asking about an item fitted, if they do not know i think how long have they actually owned it. Are they traders or aquired the van suspiciously?
I think its fair to say plenty of ebay listings are poor. Many sellers do not seem to understand the concept of selling.
Interest..
You already have an interested potential buyer because they are looking at the ad.
Desire..
To turn the interest into desire you need to provide full details, description & photos while not hanging yourself by making unwise claims ie 'caravan completely dry'.
Action..
Do the above properly & you might actually sell it.