Our bike prices are fairly firm, but each Head Mechanic always wiggle
room.
For parts there's quite a bit of wiggle room. When someone digs up
some Shimano 600 bits I simply ask them "what's it worth to you?".
Since they know what the 600 stuff is then they know it's not cheap
crap and almost never low-ball us.
I even had one guy pay what I thought was too much for two pairs of
white plastic fenders. He saw them in our shop and got quite excited
because he had been looking all over for them for his two vintage
Peugeots. When asked what he'd like to pay he said $20 per pair!".
$40 for old white fenders? I was not going to argue with him, and
wondered if I should've charged him more... ;)
We've had the odd theft over the years, and a few folks pull the old
"oh sorry, I don't have any money on me", after they've used shop
time and installed parts. We simply tell them "fine, you owe us
money, and if you don't pay up someday you can enjoy the bad karma
from ripping off a non-profit organization". (Good guilt trip, eh?)
Mark http://re-cycles.ca
On 19-Oct-07, at 11:32 AM, Velocipede Bike Project wrote:
We do someithing at Velocipede that I like. Even though we do try
to set the price of the bike using all the factors people have mentioned,
I also like to ask people interested in the bike how much they want to
pay. If they say something ridiculously low, I'll give them a counter offer
that is more reasonable, but still with in their means. This works for
us for now because our overhead is still so low.I came to this method just cause I never know what to charge for
bikes, and never have the time to do the research on each bike to find
out. I also like how it throws people for a loop and emphasizes that we
are here to make bikes available to the public and while the money helps us
to keep doing that, it is not our primary focus.-beth velocipede bike project baltimore , md
I actually can't remember if I've answered this question before... Here goes: At the Bike Church in Santa Cruz, bikes are sold either 'as is' (no wrenching done, although it is important to remember that we all
spend a lot of time and intellectual labor GETTING the bike onto a hook in the
shop) or as a mechanic's pet project. 'As is' bikes are typically priced
between $15-$75 depending on all of the concerns that everyone else is
posting to the list, and how much work needs to be done to make it safe and efficient. Desireability also plays a role in pricing. Bikes that mechanics (core/staff members) work over are priced by deducting the WHOLESALE price of new parts put on the bike, and then splitting the remainder between the
mechanic and the shop. Thus, if a bike sells for $150, and there are $50 of new
parts on it, the mechanic would take $50 and the shop would take $50. The
mechanic sets the asking price based on the amount of labor put in and the desirability factors mentioned above. True, such systems do result
in some cherrypicking, so a bike has to be kicking around 'as is' for a month before a mechanic can take it on, and, honestly, NOONE is ever gonna get
rich fixing up busted bikes in the middle of the night, no matter how
sweet the frame is.At BICAS, where I am about to rush off to a collective meeting
for, things are slightly different. the 'as-is' bikes are called 'pergatory;
bikes in waiting' (which I just love) and though the factors for pricing
are pretty similar the prices tend to be a bit lower here than in Santa Cruz
(the bikes, overall, are a bit more toward the huffy side though; in
Santa Cruz we turn those back at the gate, no room, no desire to haul other
peoples metal recycling, whereas BICAS has a lot more room and need for
all types of, uh, 'bikes'). At BICAS the 'floor bikes' (those that a
mechanic has gone over) include in the price the RETAIL value of new parts, the 'as-is' value of the bike, and a designation for labor. The labor part is a little unclear policy-wise, as the mechanic approximates the amount of labor that
went into the bike, but is paid as an an employee (each staff member is
allocated 4hrs of paid work/week to wrench on floor bikes, and if it is slow in
the shop staff can work on them then too). This is the main difference from
the Bike Church, where all of the core mechanics are independent contractors (convenient for income taxes as well as being the actual truth of how tasks are accomplished). Sorry that was kinda lenghty; I hope it is helpful. ride prone but ride proud, kyleFrom: "Liza Mattana" pedals2people@gmail.com Reply-To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To: "The Think Tank" thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Subject: [TheThinkTank] selling bikes Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:43:13 -0700
if this has been answered before, can you link me to the archive
thread?my questions is how does your org price used bikes? we've come
across some nice older bikes (bridgestone CB-0 and an old
stumpjumper), and we're trying to figure out a way to price them, kind of a way to standardize the process.we'll be turning them into commuter bikes with fenders and
racks and making them safe and rideable, but we're not doing complete overhauls. i know this is a tricky question, but any advice you have will be helpful!thanks, liza
-- Liza Mattana www.pedals2people.org Spokane, WA _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org
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