Feedback Please on my Craigslist Ad

My old '05 is ready to sell. I've pulled everything I can either to reuse on the new '14 or to sell here. Don't have a spare seat, so the Bill Mayer stays, and the trouble it would be to remove the Clearwater lights leads me to believe it makes more sense to include them and hope they help it sell. Mostly because of the lights, I priced it a bit higher than I would have otherwise.

This is the thread where I talked about the issues I was concerned about. I took it to Roseville Yamaha and Zac (service manager/'05 FJR owner) gave it a test ride and told me the "dogs" on second gear were wearing, causing the slip. It's been like this for over a year, which has led me to ride it more cautiously, and it's only slipped twice in all that time. Zac thought with continued gentle usage it could go on for quite a while with no further degradation.

I wanted to be open about the issues without completely squelching all interest. How do you think I did?

Here's the ad (**edited to remove link. Ad will be changed). I'd like to hear any suggestions about any of it. And yes, I'm willing to negotiate.

U are a very HONEST person. try to sell a bike admitting some problems... never saw that here in Europe! (..specially in Italy)

Well written. You're upfront about known issues, not trying to hide anything. Leaving the lights and saddle on the bike certainly enhance the chances of getting a decent price out of it. Mileage will scare off tire kickers who don't know just how dependable these bikes are.

GLWS

Hope I'm not overstepping my bounds here, since I'm new, but honestly, to me, that ad would scare me away from the bike. I love how honest you're being, but wow, just opening the ad and seeing all of that would make me move to the next one. Something to be said for Cliff Notes

"Transmission: has slipped a couple times in the past, nothing a simple repair can't fix. If interested we can discuss further in person or over the phone."

I would also recommend removing the decals, kind of like selling a house, you declutter.

Your ad sounds great.

But if you really want to sell it:

Take all the bodywork, seat, fenders off, put a piece of aluminum shaped kinda like a seat, put knobbies on it, wrap that heat wrap stuff on the header and take the mufflers off. And paint what's left flat black.

That's what the hipsters are doing to other bikes and getting twice what they're worth.

And they'll never ride it enough to know if second gear isn't perfect.

Just a suggestion...

Agree with Buicker on both fronts. I tend to write long-winded adds on CL because I love my bikes, and I take care of them. But that's even long-winded for me. Concise doesn't have to mean deceptive, and I think his paraphrase of your tranny issue is pretty good. For aftermarket accessories I usually provide a bullet type list (with a value or BRIEF one-liner if necessary, for something like the nice lights that's ok). Also, I kind of avoid the "FJR owners do this", and "this is popular with.." just because, especially with these bikes, if someone is looking for one, they likely already know why. Its not a sportbike where every tom, dick, and harry is looking at your ad. You've got a narrow market already, and those folks likely already know why they want the FJR. Plus, they're more competent than most (I'd think) so let them look up what you've got on there.

Take the stickers off, well...except the dragon, but even it's overstepping its boundaries nowadays. Folks would love to see that AWESOME blue paint. Plus, they're not even symmetrical haha and you've arguably got one of the best colored bikes ever produced.

I'm guessing you haven't published this yet, which is why you copied the "master" link on this thread. But you must really trust the folks on here. Don't worry I didn't upload any nasty pics and publish.

Revise it:

For Sale 2005 Yamaha FJR1300

- Adult Owned and Ridden

- 99k miles.

- New tires.

- Aux lighting

- Bill Mayer Seat

- Starts and runs great.

- As-is

It's an 11 year old motorcycle with nearly 100k miles. It's gonna have some dings, scratches and warts.

$3200, the seat and the lights are worth $1000, come and get it.

I like your candor and it wouldn't necessarily scare me away. I do think you could condense the honesty into something more readable and palatable.

As for the good, I think you could also make it more readable without sacrificing content. Point form, with dashes in a list, is more readable.

This draft is good. Make a pass to see if you can trim words. There is a content cutoff for what people are willing to read (I usually exceed it in my writing). I think you've surpassed it, but can pack it down a little tighter without losing the important details.

Great ad. I would definitely give it a shot as-is. Get some nice photos - don't take them in the garage, or outside in broad daylight at high noon like everyone does. Take them on a cloudy day, or in the evening as the sun drops closer to the horizon. You want soft, indirect light that wraps around the bike as opposed to harsh, direct light.

Also, I do think you need to disclose the issue. I would feel cheated if you sold me the bike and didn't tell me. The lost sale or extra money aren't worth my integrity; if I had to take less $ to unload it then so be it.

Lastly, I think you should hang it out there and throw down your phone number and be open to texts. Maybe qualify in the add no scams or dealers and that you are hip to the jive. Such a disclaimer usually minimizes BS responses on my ads. Having said that, I almost never respond by email and forward my contact info. Scammers make such requirements to lure suckers, and if you can't hang it out and bear the risk of an annoying response then I'm not willing to either. You might have to sift through a bogus response or two. But they are easy to spot. Requiring someone to email you their phone number is likely to dissuade a potentially interested prospect.

Also, I do think you need to disclose the issue. I would feel cheated if you sold me the bike and didn't tell me. The lost sale or extra money aren't worth my integrity; if I had to take less $ to unload it then so be it.

Lastly, I think you should hang it out there and throw down your phone number and be open to texts. Maybe qualify in the add no scams or dealers and that you are hip to the jive. Such a disclaimer usually minimizes BS responses on my ads. Having said that, I almost never respond by email and forward my contact info. Scammers make such requirements to lure suckers, and if you can't hang it out and bear the risk of an annoying response then I'm not willing to either. You might have to sift through a bogus response or two. But they are easy to spot. Requiring someone to email you their phone number is likely to dissuade a potentially interested prospect.

While it's yours, I consider it an excellent bike customized for distance touring, with another 100K in it with minimal maintenance and care. Once it's not yours, it's a ragged out Japanese bike with a bunch of stickers all over it and a failing tranny..... Personally, I like the ad. When I see someone go into that level of detail, I feel like they're being up front and forthcoming.

This is great feedback, and thanks. I'd stop short of saying "nothing a simple repair can't fix" on the tranny though. Ask Grumpypoo. But I'm leaning toward following a lot of the advice here in general terms.

I was going to post the ad after reviewing your responses, but the damnedest thing happened this morning. I went out to the garage and the bike has a puddle underneath it. Uh oh. My wife waters some plants over that way in the morning sometimes, thought maybe the hose was leaking, but no. This puddle is green and greasy feeling. WTF? I just washed it real well, and removed the four panels around the battery area trying to see about removing the lights, and I also re-installed a car horn after cannibalizing the PIAAs I put on the new bike--BUT--really don't know how any of that caused this kind of radiator fluid leak. Well, guess I'll see what I can do before I go posting it for sale. Damn.

Oh, and thanks for not posting those nasty pics, Kneedragger. Didn't realize my link went to the "log in" page. Major re-write coming after the rad fix.

BTW, Those stickers are a PITA to remove, as some of you may know. I actually removed two or three before taking the pics. FYI, the best system I found is a heat gun and WD-40. Guess I'll try some more of that.

Mike, I agree that the description may be a bit too verbose, and (as you might imagine) I sometimes fall into that trap too, even on bikes that have no major issues. But I applaud your desire to be completely forthright and honest and disclose everything known to be a problem.

The lights and seat on your old bike are probably worth $1000. I'm surprised that you wouldn't remove the lights and re-use them on your new bike. You know that you're going to want some, and those are some top notch lights.

As a point of reference, I removed the LEDriders LR4's I had on my old '05 and moved them over to the new 2014, and those were a whole shit load less expensive than your Clearwaters. That and maybe look for some cheap 1st gen seat you can buy and put on the '05 while you sell your Mayer seat to someone who will know what it's worth.

When you knock the price of the '05 down to $2500 and disclose a little less verbosely that the ABS is on the fritz and the transmission has slipped a couple of times, I think you may have more FJR knowledgeable guys that would be willing to take a chance. Heck, for $2k I'd be willing to do it if it weren't so far away.

The effort to remove the lights and seat is not that big. Certainly worth it if it makes everything fall into place.

Good luck

PS - check to see if the coolant drip is coming from the water pump weep hole hose. The mechanical seals on water pumps do go sometimes, and they are not that big of a deal to replace.

Reading this thread with a lot of interest. I'll be putting my 2005 on the market soon and this info is very timely.

Its not often that one sees an add for a bike with 118,000 miles on it and the owner is serious that it has value. Being able to tell that story will come in handy.

Thanks all for helping out Mike. It's helping me too.

And Mike, Good luck with the sale.

FJReady said:

Reading this thread with a lot of interest. I'll be putting my 2005 on the market soon and this info is very timely.
Its not often that one sees an add for a bike with 118,000 miles on it and the owner is serious that it has value. Being able to tell that story will come in handy.

Thanks all for helping out Mike. It's helping me too.

And Mike, Good luck with the sale.

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Same here.

Hopefully you'll have better luck than I have in TN.

GLWS

SacramentoMike said:

Oh, and thanks for not posting those nasty pics, Kneedragger. Didn't realize my link went to the "log in" page. Major re-write coming after the rad fix.
BTW, Those stickers are a PITA to remove, as some of you may know. I actually removed two or three before taking the pics. FYI, the best system I found is a heat gun and WD-40. Guess I'll try some more of that.

Click to expand...

No problem!! Figured I'd give a heads up. And yea, some stickers can be a pain to take off, especially if they're good stickers. Yours unfortunately look like good, LARGE stickers...so even more PITA. Heat gun and WD are good tools, followed up with a little IPA. Either way....the future owner may remove them regardless so its your call....but I know that purrdy blue sure would lure me in. I think the green puddle is your priority now so keep us updated, that stuff always happens last min.

I recently sold my Triumph Daytona to a guy (his first bike...yea wowzers), cranked it up for him, and as soon as he sat on the bike, it cut off. Never happened to me before. I just said "Well...guess she doesn't like you" LOL. He laughed and it fired back up, but it made me cringe for a second.

Your price, in my opinion, is high enough to prevent the bike from selling. Pull the lights off and sell the separately, then lower the price accordingly. I'd also pull the saddle and do a trade/sale for some cash and a stock seat, then lower the price a little more. If you can defarkle and reduce the price to something under $2,000, someone will very likely buy your bike.

A high mileage gen 1 bike is not the easiest commodity to sell, and the depth of repair required is pretty severe. To justify what you're asking, you should have an estimate on the parts and labor to have the transmission repaired, and provide that information in the ad to entice potential buyers.

The other option is to say nothing about either problem, but I applaud and agree with the decisions you've made regarding that.

De-farkle

Lower the price

Shorten ad but do disclose issues short and sweet and give a price est. of a tranny fix if they need a dealer to do it and parts cost est. if they can do it if possible.

I don't mind going to look at vehicles IF I know whats wrong up front, know roughly how much it will cost to fix, and of course if the price is reasonable to start so I don't need to make a super lowball offer.

I sold an '84 Gold Wing Interstate back around 2001 that had issues that really should have been fixed but the bike still could be ridden safely. I disclosed those issues up front, priced it fairly accordingly and sold it to the first guy to look at it.