Slow time for pre-loved camper-trailers?

G'day SDG

I hope it's OK to ask what site he advertised on? Perhaps use the Members Message facility.

Cheers
John

I sent you a message through your ad as I could not go through members site.

G'day Wicket

I don't have a problem with that - you have to go with the market at the time. What intrigues me is why interested parties don't kick the tyres and offer way below the odds with the hope that the seller will come down to their offer.

Cheers
John

Thanks Outbackogre

At the end of the day I've got to make a decision about whether I want $$ in my pocket, or whether I hold out for a price. The difficulty lies in identifying the price that will make interested parties pick up the phone and enquire.

Cheers
John

That's a decision only you can make John. Reflecting on the issue of the right price, let me recall a recent observation. I kept an eye on a couple of 2006 outback Doves in Melb over a period of 2-3 weeks, one at 17,000 and the other at 17,900. From the photos both were in nice condition. The cheaper one was sitting on 17,000 for some weeks but when it was dropped to 16,500 it sold within a couple of days. I reckon there are people out there (like me) who may be interested in a van but wait to see if the price comes down. It's all about the market and there's a lot of vans for sale at the moment. So, you could try dropping the price by $50-100 after each week of no inquiries until you feel you can go no lower. This demonstrates to buyers that you are willing to negotiate and therefore generates interest. Good luck. Rob.

Blame the Global Financial Crisis.
Everyone is hanging on to their hard earned unless they have no option but to spend it!

We have been looking at camper trailers on and off for a year or two now {dreaming of the day...}.
Most of them are way above our budget but there have been the odd one or two which were close enough to warrent a closer look. Perhaps explaining what grabs our attention would help others when they are selling


Obviously if it isn't in our price range then we wont look at it, so the price is paramount. Is it negotiable? If so, say so!

The next thing we check out is the photo's -
We think the more the merrier, no such thing as too many.

Photos give an instant impression encouraging the potential buyer to read a lengthy description. They also allow someone to read the description and if need be they can 'understand' what is being described better with the visual aid of the photo.

However, do your item the justice it deserves

Every thing is set up but - 9 times out of 10 it is a 'quickie' job and the canvas is sagging in places one would expect it to be taut.
Is the canvas actually saggy or is it a rushed photo set up?
If the person looking at the photo assumes the first, then you just lost a potential buyer. Taut and tidy is the way to go imho :-)

Photos of the outside are OK but I'd like to see the inside too.
What kind of kitchen is built in? Does the floor open under the mattress to access the storage compartments? What is the door on the front right side for? How big is the cavity near the spare tyre?

The Setting ... not so much.
If you have set it up in the driveway at home to take the photos, so be it. If you do happen to have some photos of your last camping trip showing the whole unit from a distance in a nice spot, then post it up to give an idea of what it looks like in that kind of setting :-)

If you mention something in your description - post a photo of it
You may say something like 'a small tear in the seam' then when I look at your 'small tear' it is actually 12 inches long and requires professional repair costing hundreds of dollars!
Or it could be 3 stitches and requires nothing more than a spot of craft glue ...

Don't assume I will know what you are talking about!
If I have never owned a camper trailer before I won't understand jargon associated with them.

Measurements! I love knowing the numbers.

That's what we do when we browse the ads.
Hope it helps somebody decide what to post when selling something

Thanks LG

I've covered most of your suggestions in advts that I've got up. I don't think it is the GFC per se, caravan sales continued to rise during the GFC and pre-loved prices were stable and the market seemed to be ticking over.

Consumer confidence is still not good though, and apparently conventional wisdom is that folks tend to go slow on spending when an election is on the horizon. The current cage-rattling about superannuation probably doesn't help either.

Our's is a Jayco and probably best-suited for young families, and there's a lot of family costs related policy issues being bandied about in this next election.

I'm inclined to think that in the first instance it is price, and finding that level that will excite the interest of a potential buyer, and not leave me thinking I'm giving it away.

Cheers
John

Thanks LG, that's great advice. I've been thinking about selling my offroad camper trailer but thinking of it from buyer's viewpoint will make me put more photos in especially of set up options.

Bantam wrote: All that said......lots of people want too much for their stuff...

Agree, and the ads are usually easy to spot because they often speak of "replacement cost $XXX".

If you want to sell any large budget item your bottom line (after testing the market and deciding how long you are prepared to wait) should be: "what does the item owe me? " - a totally different question to "what does a new (trailer) cost and how can I convince someone to pay more for mine second-hand than I bought it for new?", which obviously happens from time to time in the camper trailer market depending on the marque.

Thanks (I think) David

I thought it might be a bit dodgy running stats from the Classifieds, and no doubt you can do a search yourself, but at the moment there are 30 units for sale dating October-Jan. I've excluded Feb onwards.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers
John