Where to list an RV for sale?

[TriumphGuy]

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!

[hilldude]

Sold my class C on crags list,priced it fair sold quick. Price it fair you lost money when you bought it,live with it.Bought my class A on a local Facebook RV sales.

[starcraft69]

We just sold our truck camper this week on CL. It took two months to sale but I was firm on price and had it priced right. I had a lot of dealers calling wanting to sale it for us. One reason it took a bit to sale was we had several come look at it and was hoping to low ball, until they seen it. Then told me it was a fair price but more than they could spend and dint even try to lowball. We got full asking price and over all was pretty painless.

[navegator]

Thanks for the info, we just placed an add on CL for the motorhome and the toad together, I asked a few RVer's about advertising and all said the same CL.

Again thank's

navegator

[TriumphGuy]

Update - sold the fifth wheel. I updated the original post with our experience.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

rockhillmanor wrote:

OFDPOS wrote:
Sold our first MH on Craigslist within 2 weeks of posting it. Had a ton of calls on it, 5 very interested in it. All came to look at it, kick the tires etc 2 came at the same time....

You must have listed your RV at VERY VERY good price! :B

we had been to pretty every RV dealership in the valley ,most RV's that were on consignment were so ridiculously overpriced it was laughable...

And that would be because the OWNER priced it too high!

When you put your RV on consignment they ask the OWNER what they want it priced at. Then they add their commission which is IMHO very low.

ALSO when it is on consignment buyers can put in an offer on it. The dealership calls the owner and ask if they will take the lower offer. It is then up to the owner if he wants to accept the offer or not.

So those high priced ones' you saw? Those are 'OWNER'S who think their RV's are 'worth way more' than what they actually are worth. NOT the dealer or the fact that it was on consignment.:W

Maybe in "Rock Hill Manor" you can find a dealer that will do consignment sales - but in So. CA they would laugh at you!..:B

There is one Consignment (only) lot in Orange County (CA).
One guy I know bought from them after the 5th was sold once, but the buyer didn't qualify for financing.
It was on their lot for a few months. (He saw it previously).

They allowed the unit to *leave the lot* - but got it back when the financing fell thru!
New buyer was happy with the price (he's a tightwad), and the 5th he purchased (it's very nice).

Another guy had his 5th at the same place for months - eventually he "reclaimed" it and sold it to a friend.

That consignment lot may be closed now.

Three best choices for selling an RV of any kind:

1. Craigslist
2. Craigslist
3. Craigslist

Sold (what I thought were) both overpriced, and also underpriced (very good deal) RVs and the response to each was *spectacular*.

Both times at the asking prices.

Advice: due to the volume of calls, use voice mail.

I prefer a dedicated VM service (usually about $8. per month), *NOT* my cell phone or home phone.
I don't want a gazillion calls at all times of day or night.
(IMO) - better than the CL e-mail feature - and eliminates the "phishing" e-mails.

Tell callers you will return their calls, or notify if it's been sold via the same number.
When it's sold - notify callers via outgoing VM message.
IIRC - your CL ad can't be deleted immediately. Think it's 24(?) hours.

Most recent: I posted the ad about 1AM - calls started at 2AM while I was counting sheep (zzzzz) and by noon - had over 25. By 5PM - 50.
Yes, a few were repeat callers.
Toughest part was who to call back first beginning about 6PM (some were local, some in adjoining counties).

So - Started with first guy that called at 2AM. He paid full price in cash. (With number of callers "behind him" - no negotiating!).

From posting on CL - to cash in hand - was *LESS than 24 hours*!..:C
(Posted at 1AM - cash in hand by 9PM *same day*).

Had about 20 more calls on the VM when I was leaving my "sorry, sold" message.
(Yeah - could have asked more $)

BTW - Last time I used CL for an RV was about 3 years ago - tried the e-mail thing - had 95 e-mails the first day.
(Big difference between *listening* to a caller and *reading* an e-mail!)

Took non-refundable deposit on that one - so a bit slower.

Lots of CA *is* the home of year-round camping - so in "cold country" - YRMV depending on location, time of year etc.


~

[ralphnjoann]

KRumm wrote:
Curious?... I am looking to buy a used RV - I would like to search Craigslist Nationwide for RVs... Is a nationwide search possible?

I use AdHunter

[BuckyBadger]

Padlin wrote:

KRumm wrote:
Curious?... I am looking to buy a used RV - I would like to search Craigslist Nationwide for RVs... Is a nationwide search possible?

I use Searchtempest

Not perdect but once you figure out they glue on ebay items, it works well. Try the Direct Results box as opposed to Combined.

I used that link too works great

[OFDPOS]

rockhillmanor wrote:

OFDPOS wrote:
Sold our first MH on Craigslist within 2 weeks of posting it. Had a ton of calls on it, 5 very interested in it. All came to look at it, kick the tires etc 2 came at the same time....

You must have listed your RV at VERY VERY good price! :B

we had been to pretty every RV dealership in the valley ,most RV's that were on consignment were so ridiculously overpriced it was laughable...

And that would be because the OWNER priced it too high!

When you put your RV on consignment they ask the OWNER what they want it priced at. Then they add their commission which is IMHO very low.

ALSO when it is on consignment buyers can put in an offer on it. The dealership calls the owner and ask if they will take the lower offer. It is then up to the owner if he wants to accept the offer or not.

So those high priced ones' you saw? Those are 'OWNER'S who think their RV's are 'worth way more' than what they actually are worth. NOT the dealer or the fact that it was on consignment.:W

At least around here it seems people want one of two type MH's smaller 21-25 ft or big ol barges ??
Seems the smaller ones carry a premium price . I bought the first one for $15K OTD , A 2001 GS Conquest sport 23ft with 19K on the OD drove it for two years sold it with something like 34K miles on it for $$19,500.00. All I did was front brakes pack the bearings and shocks front and rear and polished it /cleaned it up.

I know the blue book on MH's is just a suggestion , but like I posted above every single MH that was on consignment was way over and above any book price, even when I mentioned it to the salesman a couple even commented well we gotta get our part...
Well not from me they weren't...

I still feel CL and Private party is the way to go for selling and buying if your kinda handy and can know what your looking at/for...

Cheers and carry on..

[Matt_Colie]

You don't mention what the unit is. If it has a following and a website or group on Facebook, that is a nice cheap place to start. the best way to use it is to place the ad in Craig's list and use all 20 pictures and then link to it from FB or wherever else.

Matt

[rockhillmanor]

OFDPOS wrote:
Sold our first MH on Craigslist within 2 weeks of posting it. Had a ton of calls on it, 5 very interested in it. All came to look at it, kick the tires etc 2 came at the same time....

You must have listed your RV at VERY VERY good price! :B

we had been to pretty every RV dealership in the valley ,most RV's that were on consignment were so ridiculously overpriced it was laughable...

And that would be because the OWNER priced it too high!

When you put your RV on consignment they ask the OWNER what they want it priced at. Then they add their commission which is IMHO very low.

ALSO when it is on consignment buyers can put in an offer on it. The dealership calls the owner and ask if they will take the lower offer. It is then up to the owner if he wants to accept the offer or not.

So those high priced ones' you saw? Those are 'OWNER'S who think their RV's are 'worth way more' than what they actually are worth. NOT the dealer or the fact that it was on consignment.:W

[Padlin]

KRumm wrote:
Curious?... I am looking to buy a used RV - I would like to search Craigslist Nationwide for RVs... Is a nationwide search possible?

I use Searchtempest

Not perdect but once you figure out they glue on ebay items, it works well. Try the Direct Results box as opposed to Combined.

[OFDPOS]

Sold our first MH on Craigslist within 2 weeks of posting it. Had a ton of calls on it, 5 very interested in it. All came to look at it, kick the tires etc 2 came at the same time. Thought there was going to be an issue but both picked it over and one wanted me to hold it for them till the end of the month . I told them the first one with cash in hand buys it. Finally agreed to take a $500.00 cash nonrefundable deposit to hold it till the following Monday.. Guy showed up Sunday with the rest, got what I was asking too.

Then found our next MH on Craigslist , we had been to pretty every RV dealership in the valley ,most RV's that were on consignment were so ridiculously overpriced it was laughable . Found a CL ad went and looked it over and bought it for almost half of what he was asking for it... It needed some neglected TLC and it turned out pretty darn nice...

I may sell it come spring and look for one with at least a half walk around bed !

[KRumm]

Curious?... I am looking to buy a used RV - I would like to search Craigslist Nationwide for RVs... Is a nationwide search possible?

[mockturtle]

IMHO, Craigslist is the way to go. I've sold a lot of things that way including a car and a travel trailer. That said, my late husband and I sold our Foretravel DP on dealer consignment. Easy and efficient but we took a beating.