No shame in making a profit. It assures your continuance and gives you the means to fulfil your mission! Angelo
"info@re-cycles.ca" <info@re-cycles.ca> wrote: At re-CYCLES (in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) we try to take a practical
approach to pricing by balancing the need to keep our prices affordable
while still paying our rent. A couple of years ago we adopted a 2
pronged system. Nicer bikes (basically those without stamped steel
brakes) are completely overhauled (stripped to the frame) and priced
between $80 and $200 (with the odd exceptional case priced higher)
while the cheap bikes that don't need too much work are tuned up and
sold as-is for between $20 and $100. This has kept our average bike
price in the $65 range for the last 2 years.
We have actually been making a steady profit for the last few
years
(which is a bit uncomfortable for our non-profit organization). We are
currently working on acquiring a larger shop to meet demand and are
hoping to increase our throughput to cover the increased cost while
holding our bike prices at the current levels for the foreseeable
future.
Chris
--- Velocipede Bike Project wrote:
> I have used a halfing method for appraisal. $200 was the new selling
> > price; 1yr old $100; 2yr $50.00 and so forth. That is a base line.
> > Then comes the art and the subjective: condition, desirability,
> rarity.
> > Any up-fitting done? Frame type and size. Component quality.
> > Accessories. All factors that affect value. Also there is the
> > wholesale price and the retail price. That would reflect any labor
> > invested in making the unit saleable.
>
> that's just my point, it's requires a huge
pool of knowledge to
> accurately
> price bikes. More than I have, and much more than the average
> collective
> member. Using the "halfing method" assumes that you know the original
> price of the bike. Plus the "art" of the whole thing in my mind
> means
> pricing can become relatively arbitrary. We've had a few situations
> where
> two people with similar amounts of knowledge about this type of thing
> priced bikes at wildly different prices. If you look on craigslist
> in the
> baltimore area people are selling bikes at crazy prices. Sometimes
> someone will be asking 300 for a mongoose mountain bike from walmart,
> and
> then the next add will be 25 bucks for a classic road bike. Since
> using
> bikes as transport and not as recreation is a relatively new idea in
> this
> area of the country there isn't a standard for fair market value and
>
it's
> hard to come up with a fair price by looking at what other bikes are
> selling for in the area. Also I find that E-bay prices are often
> artificially inflated. It makes it hard for us to figure out prices
> for
> the things that we sell.
>
> So what I'm wondering is, is there enough demand these days to
> approach
> someone in the publishing world to create a resource that compiles at
> least the original prices(taking inflation into account) of bikes we
> all
> are seeing daily. Or is there a good resource out there already to
> get
> that kind of information? If someone really needs a bike and can't
> volunteer for it we make sure they can afford it, but generally we
> don't
> want to undersell, because that can lead to flipping bikes and also
> selling bikes is how we pay the bills....
> -beth
> velocipede bike project
> baltimore,
md
>
> > While there is no comprehensive pricing book for cycles, there are
> ones
> > that have been done for those who collect "classic American
> bikes(1930 to
> > 1960)"
> >
> > I have used a halfing method for appraisal. $200 was the new
> selling
> > price; 1yr old $100; 2yr $50.00 and so forth. That is a base line.
> > Then comes the art and the subjective: condition, desirability,
> rarity.
> > Any up-fitting done? Frame type and size. Component quality.
> > Accessories. All factors that affect value. Also there is the
> > wholesale price and the retail price. That would reflect any labor
> > invested in making the unit saleable.
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> > Angelo
> >
> >
> > Velocipede Bike Project wrote:
> > So here are two hare
brain ideas that have been thrown out here
> in
> > baltimore and i wanted to get y'alls take on them...
> >
> > 1. a bicycle blue book...we were talking about pricing bikes and
> how
> > arbitrary it often seems,(often two members will claim wildly
> different
> > prices with equal authority and citing the same number of sources)
> and
> > someone mentioned that in this time of the growing bicycle
> > collective/community shop projects there may be enough of a market
> to be
> > able to approach a publisher about creating a blue book that would
> price
> > for instance, a 1982 murray...I know this sounds crazy, but I was
> > wondering how crazy was it really....
> >
> > 2. Someone approached us recently about a bio friendly parts
> cleaner.
> > Apparently it has enzymes that eat oil so less bad stuff going
into
> the
> > environment/less exposure to toxic chemicals ourselves. He said he
> may be
> > able to get us a machine for free, but it would cost around a grand
> to
> > fill it up. does anyone have any experience with this kind of
> machine or
> > technology? Is it worth our time and fundraising? I've been
> thinking alot
> > lately about ways to make our shop more green friendly by doing
> things
> > like cutting down on plastic use and using vinegar and baking soda
> as
> > cleaners instead of bleach and such...
> >
>
http://www.biocircle.com/portal/page?_pageid=73,394253&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
> >
> > what do y'all think? am I crazy?
> > -beth
> > velocipede bike project
> > baltmore, md(hey, try to remember to include your city and shop in
> posts)
Chris Wells
(Head
Mechanic & Email Handler)
re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op
112 Nelson St. Ottawa
Open 6pm-9pm Tuesdays & Thursdays
info@re-cycles.ca
http://www.re-cycles.ca/
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