What Sellers Love about ChopperExchange

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Selling a motorcycle can be a real chore. Figuring out the right price and finding a real buyer is not always easy. You don’t want to price it too low and get ripped off. But you also don’t want to overprice it and it never sells. And how do you find interested buyers who aren’t just tire kickers?

Luckily for me my buddy Jeff told me how he sold his motorcycle on ChopperExchange. I told him my concerns about selling online. But Jeff told me how ChopperExchange is different and really helps their sellers get their bikes sold without all the hassle.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning and tell you the whole story. This is the story of how I ended up selling my Sporty on ChopperExchange.

At the end of 2019, I decided that I wanted to make a big splash into 2020. I decided to upgrade my current ride to a bigger bike — either a Street Glide or a Road Glide. I was newly retired and I needed the most comfortable motorcycle for long-distance rides with my wife and our group of friends.

But first, I had to sell my 2008 Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 Low. I didn’t want to let my Sporty go because we’ve had a lot of fun together, but I knew that I’d never ride it again once I got my new ride. Plus, my wife kept reminding me that there was no extra room for a new bike in our garage.

Come the first weekend of January, I decided that it was the perfect time to start the process of selling my ‘08 Sporty. I looked up the Kelley Blue Book value for it, which was $4,800 in excellent condition. I was willing to let it for around $4,000 and definitely not a penny less than $3,500.

Next, I called up my local dealer, where I originally purchased my Sporty and asked them if they’d be interested in buying it from me. The sales guy told me to bring it for them to look at it and give me an offer. He also said that he can work it into a deal on a new motorcycle.

Long story short, that didn’t go great. The dealer offered me close to nothing for my Sporty, if I agreed to buy another motorcycle from them. Otherwise, they were not willing to buy it from me because they had too many similar bikes on their lot.

I tried another local dealer and was told pretty much the same thing. Both dealers were only focused on getting me to buy one of their bikes. They didn’t show much interest in making me a decent offer for my Sporty.

Discouraged and deflated, I rode my Sporty home and decided to put a FOR SALE sign on it and park it in my front yard in the evenings and on the weekends. I also posted on my Facebook asking friends if they knew anyone who was looking for a great starter bike. A couple of my friends made joking comments about being able to take it off my hands for free if no one buys it. I wasn’t laughing.

I wanted to sell my bike, so I can start looking for the next one. The drive-by buyers were an even more interesting bunch. Some were broke and some weird, but most of them just showed up to haggle and waste my time. I even had to ask one guy to stop coming by. I think he was trying to wear me down into giving away the bike. People these days!

Needless to say, the Facebook post and my FOR SALE yard sign didn’t bring any real buyers my way. For the most part, no one called and nothing happened. I eventually stopped taking the bike into the front yard and gave up on the idea of selling the Sporty.

My wife even suggested that I donate it to a local vocational school that teaches young kids how to repair motorcycles. One of her friends donated an older motorcycle and was able to use it as a tax write-off. It was a decent idea, but I wanted to find a better home for my Sporty. I knew that there was a passionate rider out there who was in search of a starter Harley in great condition. I decided that I would put a pause on my plans and revisit the idea once I am feeling more optimistic.

A couple weeks later, one of my buddies stopped by to show me his new Ultra Limited he recently purchased. He had a 2012 Softail Deluxe before the recent upgrade. I hadn’t seen him in a few months, and I was excited to see his new ride.

She was a beauty, a 2019 Harley-Davidson Ultra Limited with a stunning dark blue and silver paint job. My buddy’s new ride had everything — the looks, the comfort and all of the latest features I want for road trips. The excitement of Jeff’s new ride got me thinking about wanting a bigger and better bike. 

My buddy Jeff told me that he also had no luck selling his Softail Deluxe to a local dealer. They also made him a low-ball trade-in offer that he couldn’t accept.

Then one of the sales guys told him about ChopperExchange. He told him to list his Softail Deluxe for sale on ChopperExchange and come back to buy a new bike once it sells. He did and he sold it in four weeks! He then went back to his local dealer and bought his 2019 Ultra Limited. He said that he had a 20% OFF coupon that ChopperExchange mailed to him after he listed his Softail Deluxe with them and that he’d send me a picture of it when he got back home.

Sure enough Jeff sent me a picture of the 20% OFF coupon from ChopperExchange later in the day, and I logged on after dinner. The ChopperExchange website was clean and easy to navigate. There were thousands of motorcycles listed for sale.

After browsing around to see how many 2008 Sportster 1200 Low listings they had, I ran a free Bike Price Report for my bike. The results were instant and not one of those scamey-type of teasers that require you to buy things in order to get the information you’re looking for. The report also told me that there were 986 registered buyers who are currently looking for a bike like mine! They were only 4 listed at the moment, which was great news for me. The website was not flooded with 2008 Sportys like mine.

Next, I checked out the ad packages ChopperExchange offers for private sellers like myself. They didn’t have a free option, but maybe that’s a good thing. All the free options that I had tried up until that point were a waste of time. All in all, their ad packages looked reasonable.

I was also impressed by their following and activity on Facebook. They appeared to be passionate about American motorcycles and also very responsive to comments from customers. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but I was also really curious about looking for my dream Road Glide or Street Glide on their website.

I looked around for several more minutes and then decided to sleep on making my decision. I also wanted to call ChopperExchange in the morning to make sure that they’re real. You have to verify everything these days, especially things on the Internet.

After running a couple errands the next day, I decided to give ChopperExchange a ring. I wasn’t 100% ready to list my Sporty for sale, but I wanted to get the feel for their sales process.

The person who answered was a young man named Chris. He was very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. He explained the whole process to me, and mentioned that they can even create my ad over the phone if I’m not comfortable doing it on their website. I was nervous about getting my bike photos to them, but Chris explained that I would be able to upload them from my computer or cell phone.

If I wasn’t comfortable with that, I could text or email them and someone on their team would upload them for me. I told him about the 20% OFF coupon my buddy Jeff gave me, and he said I can most definitely use it anytime before December 31, 2020.

I’m a common sense type of guy who prefers to do business with good people. I can tell you that I felt good about the folks at ChopperExchange after my conversation with one of their customer service people. They answered all my questions and didn’t pressure me to list my Sporty.

They gave me all the tools I needed and told me to create an ad on their website when I’m ready to do it. I felt pretty good and decided to list my Sporty with them over the weekend. I wanted to take some really nice photos of it and write a good description. I didn’t want to rush it.

The upcoming weekend was the Super Bowl weekend. I decided to list my Sporty on ChopperExchange on that Saturday morning since many people would be online.

The listing process on their website was super easy. They asked for my contact information, motorcycle information, one-time listing fee, and photos. The whole thing took about 30 minutes and was smooth like butter. As soon as I paid for the ad, my Sporty was live on the website. I could also edit my ad anytime I wanted.

So, here’s the real skinny on how well ChopperExchange worked. I received a total of 11 inquiries (phone and email) during a five week period. Two were your typical online scammer messages, which are easy to detect and ignore. The rest were real online shoppers.

Two were from the same area as me. I ended up selling the Sporty to a guy who lives 75 miles away. He came with a trailer, brought cash and took the bike with him. It was as simple as that. It was a bittersweet moment, but also a new beginning for me and the Sporty.

I also want to mention that the folks at ChopperExchange were very responsive and professional every time I called or emailed them. They really do go out of their way to help their customers. They even sent me a handwritten thank you card after I listed my Sporty.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I now will be passing along my 20% OFF coupon to my buddies. Heck, I’m even looking for my next ride on ChopperExchange! I highly recommend them to anyone who’s looking for a friendly, no BS platform for buying and selling American motorcycles. At the very least, check out their site and see what they’ve got.

Update: For a limited time Biker.Report readers can also get 20% off any listing option on ChopperExchange. Just make sure to use promo code REPORT when you list your motorcycle for sale.

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