Caravan sales

There will be "pitfalls" with any attempt to sell with media advertising, if you aren't confident to manage them, there are a couple of other options, sell them to a dealer or get a broker to sell them on your behalf.

Firstly, sorry about you having to sell up, obviously this is not your choice for whatever reason, so good luck with everything.

With any media now (even newspapers have ads online too), just watch out for scammers . . . working overseas, on an offshore oil rig, that sort of thing.
Interstaters might be genuine, but obviously you want people to come to your door, and when purchasing, bring cold hard cash.

Just watch for suspicious characters coming to view the items.
You may have read that car jacking have resulted at times, also they case your items (accessories, security of those and indeed the whole vehicle) then return to steal.
You home / garage etc is also at risk when people come to view.

I wouldn't rule out just placing said combo in a prominent place with signage 'For Sale', just watch out for council regulations, they are loving fining people for this in many parts of the country, even out on the road in front of your own place.

I've sold substantial amounts of vehicles and items from home over about 4 decades without too many problems.

There are basically only a few problems that you need to sort out from the word go.

1. Watch out for buyers who only use text or email and offer excuses such as "working offshore" or "working up North" to avoid voice or face-to-face contact. These are usually scammers.
They won't query the asking price or make offers. They will want you accept some kind of funny payment, or overpayment. Don't give them the time of day.
You will get emails from foreign country internet name domains. Delete them.
You will get emails from Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail addresses.
Verify the owners ID (that they are Australian), before treating them seriously.
Google any names or information you get in emails, scammers use the same dodgy names all the time.
Often, you can copy and paste whole sentences into Google only to find the exact same sentence has been used in a scam email to scam someone.
Matespotter is a good site to find info on Australian people. You only need a name.

2. If a buyer turns up in person and wants the vehicle or van examined for roadworthiness, it can be done by a mobile inspector.
Don't get involved in moving the vehicle or van to an examination centre.
This will possibly amount to a waste of your time when a buyer backs out because he believes the report is unfavourable.
Ensure the buyer pays for the inspection and he loses his inspection cost monies if he doesn't buy.

3. Ensure that if a group turns up to buy your car and want to take it for a drive, you have friends or family who jump in as well. There have been cases of a group of thugs who turn up, want to test drive, they all jump in and outnumber the owner - then they pull a knife on him, throw him out, and steal the vehicle.
Always ask for, sight, and copy down the test drivers MDL details (pic with a smartphone is good). He may be under licence suspension. This also ID's the person 100% correctly (unless he's produced a superb forgery, in which case you're stuffed!)

4. Never let the keys out of your sight. Thieves will ferret keys from view, then use plastidough to get an imprint of the key and make a reproduction key and come back at night to nick the car.

5. Keep your exact address from public view in ads until you have a callers phone number at the very least, and preferably all HIS/HER details - before you hand out exact address details.
If you hand out a complete, full address in an ad on the 'net, you may get a visit from Midnight Spares or Midnight Caravan Lifters.

6. Keep the van and vehicle secured, preferably in a locked garage. Be like a copper, eternally suspicious of potential buyers until you have proof of their bona fides.

7. When a deal is made with a satisfactory price, with a reasonable buyer - produce a simple written "buyer agreement" (two copies - one each) which contains the precise details of the item being sold - the DATE - the agreed price (written and in figures) - the deposit amount - and any other agreed terms.
The agreement must also state a date when the full amount is to be paid.
Failure to pay by the due date renders the transaction invalid.

Once a deal is cut, a DEPOSIT - in cash - MUST change hands for the deal to be sealed. Make this clear to a buyer.
5-10% is a common amount for a deposit, but even $100 will do. The buyer must understand the deposit amount is NON-REFUNDABLE if he/she backs out of the deal.
This is to compensate you for stuffing you around.

If you do not get a deposit, the following is liable to happen;

You will get buyers who agree to buy and who don't ever come back - because they found a better deal.
You will get buyers who promise to come back with a deposit and they never return.
You will get waffley buyers who stuff you around for 2 weeks, and make you lose genuine buyers.

Make it clear that NO DEAL has been fixed in place until a deposit changes hands.
This is BASIC business modus operandi. It is amazing the number of people who do not understand this.
Also make sure that nothing leaves your possession until funds are in your account and cleared.
Be wary of PayPal payments. PayPal payments can be cancelled and the funds whipped from your account if a buyer decides to cancel the deal.
If a payment is made by PayPal, ensure the PayPal funds are transferred to your bank before the vehicle or van is handed over.

Place ads in as many well-known sites and publications as possible, to get maximum exposure.
Suitable sites are; Gumtree, Cockymart, AussieTraders, Dinkos, the Quokka, the Trading Post, and even eBay. eBay will get you huge exposure.
With eBay, you can set a reserve price and ask for offers. It will cost you listing fees to advertise it on eBay and around 10% cut to eBay if it sells. eBay is full of scammers, be alert to them.

Make sure you do your research and place reasonable prices on items - with a small margin for negotiating.
High asking prices just means people will be instantly put off, and skip to the next ad.
You will always get chiselers who want to keep chiseling you down on price.
Set your bottom line selling price, and walk away if the buyer won't meet it.

99% of people are reasonable, honest people - it's the 1% that cause all the heartburn and crap. You just need to sort out the 1% if they happen to turn up with deviousness in mind.

If you feel that all of the above is beyond your skills and capabilities, you should investigate giving the vehicle and van to an auction house or dealer to sell.
Make sure you receive an agreement that they are selling as an agent on your behalf and that you retain ownership of the vehicle/van, until a sale takes place.

You can put a reserve price on both vehicle and van. An auction house will take around 15% cut on average, and auction prices are generally lower than negotiated deals.

Good luck, and I trust this bit of advice helps you out.

We just sold our old van privately the same way i sell everything. Make sure the price is right as the buyer will if he knows his stuff. Make sure the money is in the bank , electronic transfer and you are done.A van dealer will want to make about $5000 as a minimum on a van valued over $20000 so that will give you an idea where to start. Midway and you get a good price and the buyer as well.There are still lots of honest buyers out there. we advertised on this site, gumtree, the quokka and the sunday times.Sold in two weeks.
Good luck .
cheers Graeme.