We are selling our Bailey Ranger - what's the best way of advertising it? We have put an ad here (on UK campsite) of course, also in local shops (Stockport/South Manchester/Cheshire) but was wondering if anyone had experience of putting it on eBay or similar? Thanks in anticipation of you help
be realistic about the price, its the worst time of year to be selling one, if things are cheap enough they tend to sell but i would imagine there are more vans for sale at this time of year than people who want to buy them so its a buyers market
i second that, be realistic, as for the worst time of year to sell, true, but don't forget there's no point waiting til next summer or spring hoping you'll get more money because it'll be a year older then, be happy you got another summer out of it. look at what similar vans sell for and accept the first reasonable offer. i'd go with ebay, i've bought and sold various things of high value without issue, just be careful
I think the best way to advertise a caravan is on the internet with photo's either through 'Preloved' or possibly 'Ebay' but I would be reluctant to advertise in any paper such as 'Auto-Trader' because you have to declare a contact phone number and it has been known in the past for conmen to phone up and guarantee they will sell your item for a price and they can sometimes become a nuisance and of course is usually a scam. You are also more likely to attract time wasters too whereas on the internet all you have to do usually is provide an e-mail address. With the 'Preloved' website you have to provide an e-mail address but providing a phone number is optional when you reply to an e-mail from a potential buyer. The photo's will also give people an idea of the layout too so if it's what they are looking for it will gain interest whereas in the paper people can't see what you have for sale so you could end up having many people viewing then finding out it's not what they are looking for. The choice is yours of how you want to sell but this is just a basic insight of advertising on the net versus any other method.
we put a classified ad on ebay and sold our 2010 Ranger GT60 for the asking price in 2 weeks. Classified ad worked out at around £16 and is the cheapest way to sell a caravan on ebay.
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We needed to sell our Bailey Pageant provence series5 a couple of years ago, I went to see our local dealer to see what they valued it at, came home & advertised it on ebay priced well above trade and just below a window price they had on a similar van on the forecourt as mine was sold with no warranty. I included a few very good photos taken on the day to support a very honest description of what was on offer.
I started the auction about 1145 on a sunday morning, I had an email from a person asking me for my lowest buy it now price, I told him I'd advertise my lowest price for 45 minutes then I'd return the buy it now to the advertised figure.
He clicked to buy the van there and then and the sale was sorted all within 5 hours. I then found I'd made one mistake. I didn't stipulate a time limit from the time of sale to payment & collection. He'd paid the required deposit by paypal with the balance due in cash or cleared cheque etc before collection. This was when he told me he had to wait a week for the buyer of his caravan to pay him before he could pay me. This error on my part annoyed me because I had another man email me asking me if he could call & view the van, he'd bring cash with him & tow it away if it was as shown in the photographs & as I'd accepted a deposit from the other buyer I was stuck.
The sale did go ahead, in fairness to my buyer he did come to the house with cash in a week & was chuffed to bits with the caravan but, everything I've put on Ebay since I've always stipulated a time frame for the job to be completed within.
I've also used ebay to sell a high value lorry when the major commercial vehicle magazines couldn't find a buyer, I used it to sell an old banger of a car too & in both cases the sales went well but I think you have to be very honest with your description, support the advert with photos & be fair with the price.
As said above, do a classified listing, its the cheapest way of selling a caravan on there.
Be 100% honest in your description, list the van warts and all. Take lots of photos, especially of any bad bits. We visited over a dozen vans and all had obvious faults that hadn't been listed - its very annoying and a waste of everybodies time! People are still interested if a van has a few war wounds or niggly faults!
We sold our FC on eBay with a classified ad. Went for the asking price within hours and could have sold it 10 times over. Actually went for a little more than we paid for it 3 years ago?
Take loads of pictures, clearly list all the features and mention any obvious faults. You can list with 12 pictures so choose carefully then be prepared to email the others to prospective buyers.
Our Buyer travelled 300 miles to pick our 'FC up, they were lovely people who were really chuffed with it.
On the other hand we picked our 'van having stumbled across a one
line ad with one poor picture on gumtree - we only went to look because it turned out to be 3 miles from us. Been for sale a while, so got it at a good price, but is a fab van in great condition. We wonder if they might have sold it quicker with a bit of effort and a wider audience like eBay?
Not so sure it is a bad time to sell, if you hang on you will be selling an older van anyway. Besides, you will capture all the campers who, having enjoyed our summer and it's lovely weather will now be vowing to upgrade and get more comfort in time for next season or to extend the current season. My neighbour just bought a Bailey in a private sale, all the dealers he spoke to were scratching for stock!
We're in the market to buy. My best piece of advice would be add loads of pics. I'm amazed at the number of people selling very expensive caravans who don't include even one photo in the advert. Be fair with price and be honest about the condition.
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Great advice here...as said take your time, and be meticulous about pictures,and description. Make the van available for viewing,(you may have to put yourself out a bit too) & add sold as seen (no returns)...Goods luck..