Does It Matter What Time of Year I Sell My Travel Trailer?

Agree and I should have mentioned earlier....spotless. All personal things out, finger smudges cleaned off, bathroom and kitchen immaculate, weather permitting wash and wax. We posted our HTT on CL and sold in 10 days. We asked $10,000 and agreed on #9500. Darling young couple bought it from pictures only....about a zillion pictures. The last batch they asked for was the refrig.....(??) Spotless. Their thinking was that if the frig is like new the rest likely is, too.

We had a handful of loonies respond with "what's your lowest price?" DH replied $10,000 and we weeded those out. One crazy from Fresno, CA wanted to know if we'd trade for a "partially restored '67 VW".....uh, NO! Crucial that you keep your personal information personal until you feel comfortable that it's a serious buyer. Good luck.

Having a spotless trailer and posting GOOD pictures in the add seem to be two things that help a lot when selling a trailer.

I purchased my trailer in March for $10K. Went camping a half dozen times and went to Yellowstone for two weeks. I sold it the end of September for $10K to a lady sight unseen within 1 day of posting the add. Her brother in law came out to looked at the trailer and paid for it.

The trailer was a mess with a bunch of personal effects in it when I bought it. The trailer was completely empty and spotless when I sold it. The lady bought it based on my pictures. A couple other inquiries complemented me on my pictures. I probably could have made money on the trailer after cleaning it up and posting good pictures.

Beg, borrow or rent a real camera to take pics for posting. Most cell phone pics are awful and portray your trailer in a very bad light.

You can now renew your ad on Craigslist every few days. Puts it back at the top.

2012Coleman wrote:
I don't see why you have to price it lower just because of the season or wait until spring for that matter. Decide what you want for it and list it for 10% more for wiggle room. Ads on CL expire after 45 days, so if it doesn't sell, just renew it.

Expiring is not the problem I see, it's that you want your listing near the top otherwise it gets way down the list and buried among the hundreds of other listings.

In the DFW market it probably won't make a difference and the price you ask would be the same either way. Doesn't cost anything to try on Craigslist.

I have sold 2 on CL in Fort Worth in the last few years. PM me if you have any questions or need any CL tips and tricks.

Michael

I don't see why you have to price it lower just because of the season or wait until spring for that matter. Decide what you want for it and list it for 10% more for wiggle room. Ads on CL expire after 45 days, so if it doesn't sell, just renew it.

Sold my 16 foot funfinder on cl in 2 hours. It has to be spotless and everything must work. Price it right and it will sell. Did I say it had to be spotless. Guy next door I listed his on cl and it sold in 20 minutes. Again spotless and priced right

I suspect the winter shoppers are looking for good deals, it is the off season, you will not have to store it, etc. etc.

If it is a good deal it will sell anytime, but most people are into the Holidays and not thinking of camping, unless it is s Christmas gift.

Since you're in TX, you may have camping year round. Craigslist is where we sold our HTT in about 10 days....May of '13. Be prepared for some crackpots and weirdos. Some will give you a lame story about needing to be able to contact you on your personal email - don't do it. Go through CL only. Agree that spring may be better, but couldn't hurt to give it a try.

myredracer wrote:

Rollochrome wrote:
I have been contemplating selling my TT on Craigslist.

Would you wait for spring or does it really matter?

Be prepared for a possible long wait regardless. We tried to sell our first one on CL to go towards a new one and after 2-3 months (Jan. - Mar.) of zero nibbles, we gave up and sold it to my BIL. He got it for a huge discount compared to what we paid for it a year earlier plus all the mods I did, including some costly ones. But probably wouldn't have done any better on CL anyway.

I would say the fall is worse because camping is off many people's minds not only because of the weather but Xmas is coming up, people are spending money on other things and then right after Xmas, folks aren't in a spending mood. I would say early spring is best. If you are prepared to wait until the spring, why not list it now anyway? It's a pain to keep updating listings on CL tho.

What are the alternatives out there for you besides CL? If trading in, the dealer will want to go by the blue book value and it won't matter how much you have into it. Dealer consignments aren't great because it can languish there for a long time since they want to sell new RVs with more profit in them. Selling an RV can be a tough sell unfortunately. I would see if there are other selling venues too and list it wherever you can, including RV forums that let you.

Don't try to overprice it either. Any time I've scanned CL listings for fun, I've seen a lot of sellers asking waaay too much. RVs unfortunately depreciate a lot, even if well kept and maintained and there can be a lot of competition too. They say anything sells at the right price....

Are you getting another KZ?

Yes, I can wait for spring. I'm not in a money crunch, and I suppose there is no reason why I couldn't list it now and just let it sit for sale.

As far as alternatives go, I think there is an RV Trader, and theres always Ebay, but it seems to me that CL is how things get moved these days. I have bought and sold cheap cars over the years that I liked to play around with and would try different venues. Ebay just doesn't seem to be the place to go for anything but crazy expensive overpriced vehicles. CL is where the deals are, and people go there knowing that I THINK...

No...No replacement for now. I really haven't used the TT in a few years and there is no sense in my mind keeping it if its worth $10 - $15k. We have liked it for sure, but just have better uses for that kind of money....especially with the fact as you point out that these things significantly devalue over time. Id rather sell while its in excellent shape and relatively new.