How long did it take to sell your previous AS?

[jondrew55]

We have a new 30' Globetrotter on order. Supposedly it will be here in October, but I imagine it may fall into next year. We've already gotten a "locked in price" on our 2021 25' GT for a trade from the dealer. Once I'm told my new trailer is in, I would imagine I have several weeks to get ready to do the swap. I'm wondering what people's experience is privately selling their late model ASs? My previous SOB trailer sold the day it hit the RV Trader back in July. Not sure this is a good example because it was a smaller trailer and I sold it for less than $20k. The price of Airstreams seriously reduces the buying population, but anyone looking for one is usually very motivated. My new GT will also come in around the end of this year beginning of next, so traditionally not a great selling time.

[propchef]

Priced well, it will move quickly. There are 2 2016 FC25s that I'm currently watching, and each has been for sale for more than 60 days. Both are priced high.

[rideair]

There's the old saying "What something is worth and what someone is willing to pay for it, and the two numbers are never the same". Bottom line is this, you can place the price accordingly for what it is worth, then wait for someone willing to pay that price or you can price it accordingly for what someone is willing to paying for it and sell it faster.

The choice is yours, but just know one thing, "generally" the longer you hold on to something, the less it is worth. But in today's world, everything is crazy, so it could be worth more the longer you wait.

Good Luck,

[tjdonahoe]

Tiki me 1 week to sell mine….I priced it to sell

[jaybauman]

Originally Posted by jondrew55

We have a new 30' Globetrotter on order. Supposedly it will be here in October, but I imagine it may fall into next year. We've already gotten a "locked in price" on our 2021 25' GT for a trade from the dealer. Once I'm told my new trailer is in, I would imagine I have several weeks to get ready to do the swap. I'm wondering what people's experience is privately selling their late model ASs? My previous SOB trailer sold the day it hit the RV Trader back in July. Not sure this is a good example because it was a smaller trailer and I sold it for less than $20k. The price of Airstreams seriously reduces the buying population, but anyone looking for one is usually very motivated. My new GT will also come in around the end of this year beginning of next, so traditionally not a great selling time.

In Sept 2020, I listed a 2019 FC30Bunk for sale on Tuesday morning at 9am on Airstream Classifieds. I had a tentative agreement before dinnertime that same day and an earnest money deposit soon thereafter. By the end of day 1, I had 2 "backup" buyers on speed dial if the first deal fell through who were ready to put down a deposit.

It wasn't necessarily priced to sell, but I didn't give it away either; I intended to offer at a fair price. In reflection, I probably could have eked out a few more dollars if I wanted to be greedy. One thing I had going for me was my trailer was absolutely immaculate, so it was showroom-ready.


But my anecdotes aren't necessarily helpful to you. While it is a sellers' market at the moment, that doesn't guarantee a quick sale. You need use the right marketing vehicle and pick the right price to find the right buyer. There are many threads on these fora that offer practical advice and experience in these matters.

[jondrew55]

No, that's very helpful. The thing is we use our current trailer pretty frequenetly (maybe once a month). And we like going to places between Sept and December down here in Florida. I really don't want to sell it in anticipation of a promise date that might fall thru. Not to mention the offer from the dealer is really not so bad considering I'll only be paying sales tax on the difference between the old one and the one. So I guess I'm putting a price on the convenience of driving to Tampa with my current trailer and driving home that same day with the new one.

Originally Posted by jaybauman

In Sept 2020, I listed a 2019 FC30Bunk for sale on Tuesday morning at 9am on Airstream Classifieds. I had a tentative agreement before dinnertime that same day and an earnest money deposit soon thereafter. By the end of day 1, I had 2 "backup" buyers on speed dial if the first deal fell through who were ready to put down a deposit.

It wasn't necessarily priced to sell, but I didn't give it away either; I intended to offer at a fair price. In reflection, I probably could have eked out a few more dollars if I wanted to be greedy. One thing I had going for me was my trailer was absolutely immaculate, so it was showroom-ready.


But my anecdotes aren't necessarily helpful to you. While it is a sellers' market at the moment, that doesn't guarantee a quick sale. You need use the right marketing vehicle and pick the right price to find the right buyer. There are many threads on these fora that offer practical advice and experience in these matters.

[Tater]

About 8 hours after listing. I priced it to sell and count as trade on new AS.

[jnm30327]

Price discovery is not an exact science. I have used the 7 day auction feature of EBay to sell some items in the $200 range. The auction format is a sure way to sell something.

Is there an eBay for trailers? Would such a thing work?

[wineteam]

We decided we needed a larger AS and listed our 2021 FC 25FBT in late October last year. I asked my dealer what I should ask for and they gave me a number which was only $5K off of what I fully paid for the AS with accessories; solar, WeBoost, etc. Lots of lookers but no takers. Dropped the price twice after a few weeks apart and the final time it sold quickly. Basically about 88% recovery of initial sales price. All-in-all it took us about 2 months to sell.
Funny enough the buyer came through Craigslist although I tried Airstream Marketplace and Airstream Classifieds. The buyer was local to me and I knew his business so was comfortable with the transaction. I made more $ off the private sale than what the dealer was willing to give me through trade-in even though the FC was barely a year old with almost every option added to it and 3,600 miles travelled.

[Mark of SJC]

I'll offer my buyer experience to answer your question. We had a used 2017 FB27 Tommy Bahama locked in for purchase at the AS dealer...but they were having issues with NADA not providing a price/value. This dragged on for weeks.

When they came back and wanted even more of a down payment than the 25% we committed to, I searched on RVTrader, which is an awesome "go to" marketplace. Someone posted literally an hour prior to me seeing it. They provided a VERY complete description (including what upgrades they'd done, services & repairs under warranty that had occurred, etc), TONS of pictures (seeing is really believing - especially when you have to describe a dent or scrape - seeing it allays fears). We made a verbal offer within 60 minutes, met them that weekend to confirm and make the sale.

The more you can convey to the potential buyer what they're getting into (Is it still under warranty? Do you have all service records? What "bugs" have you fixed? How old are the tires?) the easier you'll find interested parties reaching out (and fewer questions since you're pre-emptively answering them!). Also, you should help explain your price. It may seem high, until you mention you added $XXXX in solar with XXX amp of lithium batteries, or you changed the mattress for a higher quality one, maybe you've hard wired a surge protector within the coach, or upgraded the crappy stock skylights to hurricane-rated Maxims, or you've paid to keep it indoors when not being used.

[DAVSCH]

It took less than 6 hours for us to sell our 2019 22’ Sport last fall. We used only Facebook Market Place just to see what kind of response we would get. It was priced just 5K below what we bought it for, which was more than fair market value. We’ve seen people selling theirs for more than new value around the country on the same, and subsequent years of same trailer. Guess it all depends on what game you want to play.

[propchef]

Originally Posted by jnm30327

Price discovery is not an exact science. I have used the 7 day auction feature of EBay to sell some items in the $200 range. The auction format is a sure way to sell something.

Is there an eBay for trailers? Would such a thing work?

Yes and yes. There are some good deals to be had if one is patient.

[LiveStreamn]

Prior to the current crazy, we sold outlet first in a week (2018) and 2nd in two weeks (2019). Both sold through airstream hunter. Do not make money, but did not lose much either.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Selling privately isn't just about the speed. There are a lot of threads around here from folks in agony about the mechanics of the sale. Things like just how you transfer the money really get folks going. A dealer trade also eliminates all that "stuff". How significant that side of things is to you, only you can decide.

Up here, we have this thing called winter. That impacts the RV market, both new and used. I've heard rumors that Florida is different in some way ( at least most winters ). Just how much seasonality there is in your local market, I can't say. Up here selling in November through March is not going to be as quick as (say) May / June / July.

Lots of variables ....

Bob

[kajmonty]

Late summer 2020 we sold our 2015 30' FC FBB for nearly 20% over asking in a bidding war involving 2 parties. It took only a few days and we watched it being towed from our residence shortly thereafter.

[jondrew55]

If you look back at when I joined the forum, you can see the nonsense I went thru purchasing my current GT and getting it registered. I think it could have gone smother if the seller and I were a bit more knowledgeable about the process. Not to mention that if you get screwed in the sale of an $18k SOB deal as opposed to getting screwed in a $100k deal we are talking about different levels of pain. I am supposedly "locked in" at a decent trade price with the dealer. Less than I could get privately, but since I'll save on the sales tax difference between the trade price and the new unit and the rest will more or less be a "convenience fee" in just slapping my old plates on the new unit.

When I sold my motor home to a guy from out of state it went pretty smoothly but only because he transferred the payoff funds to my bank and once I had confirmation my loan was satisfied I really didn't care how he got it home. He decided to just drive it home without plates and apparently had no problems. When we did our new airstream I was warned by DMV to absolutely not do that or the trailer was liable to be seized by the cops. Fortunately, the seller just let me hold on to his plates and registration till the registration got fixed (almost 6 weeks as I recall). I would never do that selling my unit.

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Selling privately isn't just about the speed. There are a lot of threads around here from folks in agony about the mechanics of the sale. Things like just how you transfer the money really get folks going. A dealer trade also eliminates all that "stuff". How significant that side of things is to you, only you can decide.

Up here, we have this thing called winter. That impacts the RV market, both new and used. I've heard rumors that Florida is different in some way ( at least most winters ). Just how much seasonality there is in your local market, I can't say. Up here selling in November through March is not going to be as quick as (say) May / June / July.

Lots of variables ....

Bob

[Setterlane]

We sold our 2015 25' Flying Cloud in 6 hours. Listed on Facebook marketplace and on this site. Look at all that are for sale, come up with a fair market value and it will sell quickly.
Good luck with sale!

[ewor]

We have done it both ways. This time we are buying new at a much higher cost than what we were selling. The advantage of the sales tax savings made the profit of selling outright not worth the hassle. We found a dealer that would take it in on trade with a new one on order and locked in the price, allowing us to not pay for storage all winter.
We have also had a good experience selling outright on the same day listed in 2017. Having the buyer wire the entire amount to us and then come three weeks later to pick up the unit. That may have been a perfect situation. My 2 cents is about looking at how much work you are willing to go to and the cost savings. Right now, I think some dealers are eager to do a lot to have a trade-in.

[msimon]

Less than 1 hour after posting advert on CraigsList.

[Susan McGee]

1 day!