Coco's Variety Selling Collectible and High End Bicycles on Consignment
We have written extensively on what we buy and how we buy. We are serious, honest buyers that can pay cash. We prefer to buy rather than do consignment, but sometimes it works better for all involved for your bikes to be sold via consignment.
Our primary used bicycle business is selling practical riders, which can be classic, vintage, modern or collectible. Our blue tag bikes get a complete refurbishment which allows us to offer a very robust warranty and a free tune-up. You can read about our blue tag bikes here.
It generally doesn't work for either of us to consign bikes for blue tag sales as we can't shoulder the credit card fees, warranty responsibility, bicycle refurbishment and tune-up costs inside of a consignment percentage margin. Not to mention if we end up eBaying the bike and have to account for those fees.
Consignment can work for collectible, higher end bikes. If you clicked the blue tag link above, you may have also read about how we deal with red tag bikes.
By the nature of collectible bikes - and by the nature of those that collect them - every scenario is different. Though we do a ton of classic bike business, oftentimes, you have to resort to eBay and ship to get 'market value.'
If you have a collection of vintage bicycles, we can talk about it.
There are different scenarios, for example:
- Your bikes are beautiful, desirable, top brands, great sizes and need nothing to sell as red tag bikes. You also have a garage full of parts, a Snap-On tool box and a euro BMW E30 wagon. Great! I buy the station wagon, we post the bikes on social media and our website, display in the store, help people with questions and test rides and I take the Snap-On box and parts in trade in lieu of commission.
- Your bikes are great. They are cool, cool bikes but they have been slumbering a long time but we are not experts in post-war cruisers. We take the Silver King to the shop, we spend 2 hours to detail it in a sympathetic way and charge you $100. We refer you to a friend that is a noted Schwinn collector wheeler dealer guy for the other bikes and parts. We post the Silver King on the site and Instagram, display in the store and if it sells in a month, we take 20% and we pack and ship at the new buyer's expense. If it doesn't sell, we list on eBay, deal with that supreme hassle and our commission goes up to 40% to cover the fees and extra work.
- You have your dad's chrome Paramount. It hasn't been ridden in 25 years and is incredibly dirty. We advise that the bike is detailed, tubes and tires replaced, new cloth bar tape installed - we charge you for that work. We post on Instagram and have on the website for a strong retail number - if it sells, we take 20%. It doesn't sell, you want it gone, we give you options - we can list it on eBay, we can return it to you or we will buy it for less and deal with it ourselves.
- You have an incredible collection of vintage BMX bikes. Amazing, one of a kind stuff. Maybe we give you $5000 for all of it. Maybe we recognize we are not the right people for this transaction, take a bunch of pictures, post on Instagram and call our BMX collector friends and if we find a buyer we take 10%.
- You have a 2 year old Santa Cruz mountain bike in great shape. Your asking price is sane. We offer to list on the site and on Instagram for a week and if it sells we only take 10%. If it doesn't, you come get it, decide to start riding again and we don't make anything and that is cool.
- You have cool stuff, but it is not our thing and, frankly, it is not valuable enough for so many people in the transaction. We will be honest and give our advice of the path we would take. Is it the best advice? Maybe, maybe not. We have been doing this for 11 years and we are broadly knowledgeable about many bikes (and other stuff) BUT we are not expert in any single bike style / marque / era. If you are a Stingray guy, a Masi head, a GT expert or a Yeti nerd, I GUARANTEE that you know more about it than we do. But, if you are a Stingray guy, we might know more about Masi, GT and Yeti.
- You have an Alex Singer porteur from period in 61 CM - my size. I weep and give you all the money.
- You have a really nice Nagasawa track bike. You remember one selling a few years ago for $2000 and you think yours is even nicer but would settle for $2000. We think the market has shifted, believe the price is optimistic and you would be better to list yourself on eBay. It feels like the asking price is a reach and there is probably not room for your needs, our needs, Paypal's needs and eBay's need. We will be delighted to be proven wrong, high fives all over the place and then, if you want, you can pay us to pro-pack and ship your bike.
This is all negotiable and depends on the transaction. We will be forthright and transparent of a plan that makes sense for us. It may not make sense to you. This is a challenging time to own a bike store and we don't generally sell via consignment but as I said before, sometimes it makes sense.
Best way to start - send pics and what you think you need to get out of the bikes and we can start there. Have a bunch of stuff including that E30 wagon? Maybe I'll come take a look!