Where to list an RV for sale?
UPDATE:
We sold the fifth wheel in about 30 days. This is from beginning of Nov to early Dec in a southeast location. Weather was unseasonably warm for part of the time, which may have played a part.
I chose Craigslist and RV Trader, and used a Google Voice number and CL anonymous email for communications.
Thoughts about the experience:
- Price it right! We advertised for just above low retail and I'm sure that brought the traffic in. We had about 5 serious calls. 2 offers just a bit too low, 1 taker at an agreeable price and then 2 more calls just after it sold by people wanting to come see it. I don't think that's so bad for 30 days at the end of the year
- RV Trader stinks for user interface on the seller side and for filtering out spam. They should have a better form for getting contact info to keep spammers out.
- CL and RV Trader gave about the same amount of leads. CL offers more pictures and a better UI for entering your ad info. RV trader makes you pay too much for what little you get and their form stinks for entering info. If I had the $$ I'd make a startup to put them out of business.
- Expect a ton of scammers and spammers. Looking back, I should have added this to the ad: "Please indicate your name, city and state in your message or I will not return emails or phone calls due to the amount of spam."
- And of course, make it super clean. I'm convinced the effort we put into it to make it "like new" sealed the deal when that 3rd caller came to look. They shared with me later they had looked at quite a bit of dealer stock that was a mess. (my experience as well!)
Lastly, understand your unit and possible market. Ours was a somewhat unique bunkhouse floorplan (rear lounge) and I think it stood out against others out there, as there weren't many bunkhouse 5ers for sale anyway and nothing with a recliner in the back.
If I were selling something that had more "comps" out there for sale I would expect a longer time to get it to move.
- - -
Hi folks,
Trying to keep this question "between the ditches" and not violate any rules...
My current thinking is:
- Local Craigslist, using a Google Voice number and their CL email "pass through" so you can try and avoid spam. (i.e. don't use your real phone number or email, have a way to screen through all the junk you'll receive)
- RV Trader seems to have the best exposure for general private party ads. Although I really dislike their user interface for creating the ad in general, and they allow no formatting at all in the text description. (Someone could come along with a good website and blow up the RV trader business model IMHO).
Other methods which I don't think are worth it (at least at the moment):
- Parking it (legally of course) along a busy road. Nothing but problems in the past with trying that
- RVT.com seems to be just dealer listings
- Local classifieds ... anyone still look at these things?
If time were to drag out for long I'd consider taking it to PPL or trying local consignment. But one must be honest with the pricing if something is not selling ... i.e. if there are zero leads, it may be not selling because too high of an asking price.
Speaking of price, just above low retail, with only the truly applicable options is where I would start for a "quick" sale (whatever quick is this time of the year). Going to the library and looking up trade value from the hardcopy NADA books can be useful.
Am I missing anything? Anyone with experience trying to sell to a dealer or one of these "sell your RV for cash" I see online? They look sketchy!
We sold the fifth wheel in about 30 days. This is from beginning of Nov to early Dec in a southeast location. Weather was unseasonably warm for part of the time, which may have played a part.
I chose Craigslist and RV Trader, and used a Google Voice number and CL anonymous email for communications.
Thoughts about the experience:
- Price it right! We advertised for just above low retail and I'm sure that brought the traffic in. We had about 5 serious calls. 2 offers just a bit too low, 1 taker at an agreeable price and then 2 more calls just after it sold by people wanting to come see it. I don't think that's so bad for 30 days at the end of the year
- RV Trader stinks for user interface on the seller side and for filtering out spam. They should have a better form for getting contact info to keep spammers out.
- CL and RV Trader gave about the same amount of leads. CL offers more pictures and a better UI for entering your ad info. RV trader makes you pay too much for what little you get and their form stinks for entering info. If I had the $$ I'd make a startup to put them out of business.
- Expect a ton of scammers and spammers. Looking back, I should have added this to the ad: "Please indicate your name, city and state in your message or I will not return emails or phone calls due to the amount of spam."
- And of course, make it super clean. I'm convinced the effort we put into it to make it "like new" sealed the deal when that 3rd caller came to look. They shared with me later they had looked at quite a bit of dealer stock that was a mess. (my experience as well!)
Lastly, understand your unit and possible market. Ours was a somewhat unique bunkhouse floorplan (rear lounge) and I think it stood out against others out there, as there weren't many bunkhouse 5ers for sale anyway and nothing with a recliner in the back.
If I were selling something that had more "comps" out there for sale I would expect a longer time to get it to move.
- - -
Hi folks,
Trying to keep this question "between the ditches" and not violate any rules...
My current thinking is:
- Local Craigslist, using a Google Voice number and their CL email "pass through" so you can try and avoid spam. (i.e. don't use your real phone number or email, have a way to screen through all the junk you'll receive)
- RV Trader seems to have the best exposure for general private party ads. Although I really dislike their user interface for creating the ad in general, and they allow no formatting at all in the text description. (Someone could come along with a good website and blow up the RV trader business model IMHO).
Other methods which I don't think are worth it (at least at the moment):
- Parking it (legally of course) along a busy road. Nothing but problems in the past with trying that
- RVT.com seems to be just dealer listings
- Local classifieds ... anyone still look at these things?
If time were to drag out for long I'd consider taking it to PPL or trying local consignment. But one must be honest with the pricing if something is not selling ... i.e. if there are zero leads, it may be not selling because too high of an asking price.
Speaking of price, just above low retail, with only the truly applicable options is where I would start for a "quick" sale (whatever quick is this time of the year). Going to the library and looking up trade value from the hardcopy NADA books can be useful.
Am I missing anything? Anyone with experience trying to sell to a dealer or one of these "sell your RV for cash" I see online? They look sketchy!
