Is there money to made buying and selling bikes

[johnnyb47]

Hi.
A bit of a strange question granted but I've been thinking lately of buying bikes to sell on for a small profit. I not talking of high end bikes ,but the cheap offerings you often see going for sale in the local classifieds.
They often sell for around £20/30 and require some tlc is the usual description. I'm quite handy with simple mechanical work and these bikes mostly just need a set of new brake cables, possibly a new chain and a good service.
The money involved to bring them up to scratch is quite minimal and would also enjoy just getting my hands dirty messing around with them..
Even if £10 profit was made, I still think I would enjoy the idea of it.
Any thoughts ? :-) :-)
Hope you all have a good day.

 

[Markymark]

I wouldn’t over think it if you already have the tools to do it.

Buy a couple, try it and see if the reward is worth the effort.

 

[vickster]

@biggs682 ?

 

[roadrash]

even if you don't make a profit, if you enjoy it and cover your costs then its worth it

 

[johnnyb47]

Thanks for the replies.
Just around the corner from where I live someone has got a Girls MTB for sale for £20. It just needs a little tlc and a good clean up ( which I would enjoy doing) and surely then it wouldn't be be unreasonable to ask £40 for it. I've had a nice afternoon sorting it out and possibly made a small profit from it too :-)

 

[roadrash]

go for it

 

[screenman]

Out of acorn's and all that stuff.

 

[Tin Pot]

So. “Money to be made” is an interesting phrase, are you going to profit might be a better question.

You have an idea of the cost of the materials, but there are some other questions you might want to ask:

Do people want to buy tidied up cheap bikes?

How many people?

How much more are they willing to pay over an untidied up bike?

What is the cost in time and effort to yourself?

How will you handle customer relations beyond the point of sale?

 

[midlife]

Personally I'd try something you haven't done before, horse riding for example. Won't make any money though......

 

[Drago]

Biggs682 does OK. I've been round his place - he uses a 2 year old Bentley to store bike parts, so he must be doing OK.

 

[Markymark]

So. “Money to be made” is an interesting phrase, are you going to profit might be a better question.

You have an idea of the cost of the materials, but there are some other questions you might want to ask:

Do people want to buy tidied up cheap bikes?

How many people?

How much more are they willing to pay over an untidied up bike?

What is the cost in time and effort to yourself?

How will you handle customer relations beyond the point of sale?

All good sensible advice and anything more than this I’d agree. But you’d be spending more time figuring this out than knocking out a couple of bikes which will give you a real world example.

It’s a couple bikes and a fun afternoon doing them up. Hardest part will be selling them. Do it. Review.

 

[Gravity Aided]

What you'll get in terms of money may be pretty small. What you will gain in knowledge could fill volumes. When the economy is poor, this refurbished bike trade goes pretty well. When people are flush again, they want new stuff. So try and get bikes that are quality to begin with. Those always have value, and try to find interesting vintage bicycles as well. You'll have to school yourself in those, but there is a whole section of the forum dedicated to that, and much more besides on the web.

 

[Cycleops]

Personally I'd try something you haven't done before, horse riding for example. Won't make any money though......

What about the manure for roses?

 

[Gravity Aided]

You may try looking in estates, thrift stores, auctions, and other sources for bikes as well, as adverts tend to be a bit pricey for what you get.

 

[vickster]

I don’t know if you would want to look into some sort of liability insurance if it’s going to be a business enterprise. Don’t forget HMRC too