[gwat]

Hi guys. I'm trying to start up a small shop specializing in used gear (www.BikeShed.ca). I understand most people aren't millionaires and can't afford to buy new gear from their local shop all the time, so I am trying to offer an alternative.

I'm just looking for some feedback from the forum users. The shop is for you guys, the online MTB community, so your input is greatly appreciated. Please check out the site and let me know your thoughts.

Some things to think about:

Would you buy from Canada?
Shipping to the US can take up to 10 days. Would you feel comfortable buying from Canada?? (asuming you're an American)

Are the prices on the site reasonable?
I generally try to sell as-new parts for half of retail and used parts for about a third/quarter of retail. For a rough $USD conversion divide the prices by 1.3

How comfortable do you feel buying used parts online?
I know some people are worried about being scammed or recieving junk parts. I offer a satisfaction guarantee (If you're not happy with your purchase I'll refund yor money) so you can be sure everything you buy is in tip-top shape. Now doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

What do you think of the site design?
I was going for the clean, simple look. Is it easy to navigate? Are you able to find what you're looking for?

How is the parts selection?
Most parts I carry are geared towards DH/freeride. I can't offer a huge inventory, but I do try and carry as wide a selection as possible. Are there any specific items you'd like to see?

So let me know your thoughts. Again, I'm looking for some constructive comments. The feedback you guys give me will only make the store better.

Check it out and don't forget to tell your friends!

-Graeme
www.BikeShed.ca

 

[spookydave]

OK, I'll give some feed back.
On my small moniter I can only see a small portion of the links and can't read any of them.
Also I would loose the pic of the dirty living room full of bike parts. I would rather buy from someone who shows me parts stacked and taged in some kind of neat order. You only get one chance at a first impression. I get a sloppy impression from that front page.

Take your pics on something with a white back ground. Pics of parts laying in wood chips is not to good.

It's a good idea but it seems that the free buy sell forum here would be hard to beat. Good luck!

 

[adrenalinerush]

I think the idea is good, but you are going to have alot of work with dealing with the whole used thing. Such as people are going to be comming to you for warrenty issues, how are you going to handle that. How are you going to compete with places such as mtbr and other places the allow to sell used bike parts. How are you going to get your parts, I mean you just cant call up a QBP and get used stuff, and what do you do when you cant find nice used products. Hopefully this is just a side job, because things could get tough if you cant find parts to sell. Also when showing parts, my personaly oppion I would never buy anything that is dirty "the frame pics", so I show only clean and nicly visable pics displaying products.

But to answer one of your questions. Yes I would buy used bike sutff online, and even from Canada. Your website seems very user friendy everything easy to see and get to.

Best of luck, it is ineed a cool idea

Lata
Randy aka Freakshow

 

[gwat]

OK, I'll give some feed back.
On my small moniter I can only see a small portion of the links and can't read any of them.
Also I would loose the pic of the dirty living room full of bike parts. I would rather buy from someone who shows me parts stacked and taged in some kind of neat order. You only get one chance at a first impression. I get a sloppy impression from that front page.

Take your pics on something with a white back ground. Pics of parts laying in wood chips is not to good.

It's a good idea but it seems that the free buy sell forum here would be hard to beat. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback.
I've gotta redo the banner, lots of people are having problems viewing it. It's not really compatible with screen resolutions of 640x480 (is that what you're using?)
I'm still working on an efficient way to take pics. My roomate is a photographer, so he's going to help. Just need to setup the right spot with good lighting, etc.
True, it is hard to beat the free buy/sell forums, although a lot of people have trust issues buying over the internet. I'm trying to get around that by operating a reputable business, so people will be more inclined to purchase from me rather than buying from some stranger in a buy/sell forum. I try to keep prices competitive in the used market, but there are some great deals in the buy/sell that simply can't be beat.
Oh, and the photo on the front page is the shop garage, not my living room. It's a sweet setup, you can't beat wrenching in a Lazee-boy, haha.

Keep the comments coming......

 

[buildyourown]

I am shopping for a used fork so I went to your site thinking I might be able to find one. Then it just links me to ebay auctions that I have already seen. Why would I go to your site rather than just going to ebay in the first place? More pics would be good to. If your trying to set yourself apart from ebay, lots of good quality pics from different angles with really good descriptions help make buyers feel comfortable. In 5 years of buying and selling on ebay, I only got taken once and I have gotten some killer deals. You would have to make me really comfortable to get my business.

Good Luck

 

[gwat]

I am shopping for a used fork so I went to your site thinking I might be able to find one. Then it just links me to ebay auctions that I have already seen. Why would I go to your site rather than just going to ebay in the first place? More pics would be good to. If your trying to set yourself apart from ebay, lots of good quality pics from different angles with really good descriptions help make buyers feel comfortable. In 5 years of buying and selling on ebay, I only got taken once and I have gotten some killer deals. You would have to make me really comfortable to get my business.

Good Luck

Good point. In the future I will take many pics of each part. Until recently I had only a few MB of webspace, so I was limited to a couple small resolution photos for each item. Now I've got more webspace than I know what to do with, so I will be taking lots of photos at higher resolution.

About Ebay.....I put a couple higher priced items up on Ebay, and linked to the auctions to my site. Only two items are linked to Ebay, specifically the Z150FR and the 8-Ball, everything else is sold only through my website.

 

[DHracer1067]

one thing i noticed was with the seatposts. you might wanna tell the people what size it is. ie. 30.9 27.2 whatever it might be.

 

[Kornphlake]

I agree with BYO, it's hard to beat ebay for used stuff, sure the auctions get a little out of control sometimes and there's certain things that you need sooner than the auction ends but can't afford to buy new from your LBS but for the most part Ebay is going to have a much larger selection and comparable prices or better than you could offer.

I'd be willing to buy used parts from canada though, I had one ebay customer who's bank wouldn't allow paypal wire transfers which became a problem when the customer refused to pay by other means, make sure you have easy to use and universal payment options. You may need to make sure the cost of shipping and customs fees if any are included in your prices and are reasonable. Maybe you should include quantites of each item you have. I looked at pedals and got the feeling you have several pairs of each brand listed. I'd like to know if I need to order now since there's only one or if I can wait a couple weeks and still have a good chance of snagging a pair. The picutres didn't work on the pedal page, I wouldn't buy anything used without a working picture. Do you offer a warranty period/ exchange in the event that a purchased product develops a defect within the first month or so. I bought a car that seemed fine on the first test drive but after a week of driving I realized that there was a lot of stuff that was out of whack, the dealer wouldn't give me my money back or let me trade it for another car, I won't buy from another used car dealer who only speaks broken (at best) english, I certainly wouldn't buy bike parts from some place like that either.