Islabike Prices on Ebay
What prices do second-hand Islabikes fetch? Julii keeps a database.
Key for chart right, wheel size is 12=Rothan, 14/16=Cnoc 14/16, 20/24/26/29=Beinn 20/24/26/29, 23/25=Luath 24/26, 27=Creig, 31=Luath 700.
Early Findings:
- About 15 sales per week, typically; peaking at 60+/week near Christmas.
- Newsflash; Bikes are/were cheaper to buy close to Christmas (from late November+; yes, you read that right, prices went down, makes sense with high supply, perhaps). Some of the price falls were dramatic. Prices remain depressed until mid Feb, and climb again near Easter time. So your best time to buy is January; I suspect best time to sell is October or June (data will tell).
- Results are standardised as ratios: Ebay sale prices as % of price of equivalent new product; These are gross ratios, Ebay/Paypal fees (which can easily gobble up to 15% of sale price) not deducted.
- Typical sale is about 65% of new product price, so maybe 58% to seller with Ebay fees deducted (down to 54.3% if paid via Paypal)
- No striking correlations between price ratio and day of week or time of day. That said (2 month sample period for these statistics)...
- Beinn 20 (small or large) and Beinn 24 are similar. 46-90%, 73% avg. for the Beinn 20 (26 sales of all sizes), and (5 sales) 63-84% with 74% avg, for the Beinn 24
- Cnocs (either wheel size) had returns of (52 sales) 34-87%, avg=68%
- Rothan had returns (25 sales): 42-79%, avg=65%
- Luath 700 (any size) doesn't hold up as well as other Islabikes (too many competing products?): 4 sales, 50-62%, 54% avg. return.
- Very Limited data on Luath 24 (3 sales, well used 2+ yo bikes, 78-84%), Creig (2 sales, 67% avg) and Beinn 26 (2 sales, 74% avg).
- No sales so far for Beinn 29 or Reis models.
- Luath 26: much bidding but tend to end abruptly when item obviously sells privately off of Ebay. Of the few that completed auction on Ebay, most have gone for over 75% of new price (one went for only about 50% though, no obvious reason why, either).
- I would expect a dip in price returns in Jan-March time, and in August. Had not expected pre-Xmas fall in prices, time will tell!
- Saturday evening sales do best, Friday, Sunday and Wednesday eve pretty good, other weekdays not great
- Sunday is the most popular day by far for auctions to end
- The average price doesn't change by day, but there's more variation in ratios achieved on busy days
- Most bikes are sold local collection, pick up only
- Offering courier/postal service seems not to decrease sale prices.
- Bikes in London tend to sell for significantly more than bikes in other English urban centres, which sell for more than in other central English places, which sell for a bit better than remote English places and Wales/Scotland-based bikes
- I roughly categorised bike condition (or bike package) as Excellent (like new, or lotsa extras), Good (typical, probably well used but well-looked after, too) or a bit poor (needs TLC), some stats re condition and yield (all % values cover the period 26 Aug - 27 Oct 2011)
- Excellent condition bikes fetched 59-87% of` new price, 71-72 % avg/median
- Good condition but well used bikes fetched 46-90% of new price (73% avg, 79% median)
- Somewhat poorer condition Islabikes still fetched 50% median or average
DATA CHARTS
In the charts below, the y-axis is always the Ratio of New product number, as explained above. Delivery charges not included in ratio calculation. X-axes are explained in title or with text next to the x-axis. Keep in mind many auctions come with small extras, like mudguards or spare tyres.Days of sale 1=Sunday, 2=Monday, etc. until 7=Saturday. Tweet
