flpping electric bicycles on craigslist???

[mr42ndstblvd]

so i had a buddy that used to build motorized bicycle with the 2 stroke kits off ebay he would build them then charge a couple hundred bucks for labour i was wondering if i could do the same with ebikes only with 48 volt 1000 watt kits and prebuilt lifep04 batteries??? say i spent 500 on a prebuilt battery 210 for a kit maybe 100 for a bike i would have 810 in it i could sell it for around 1000 right??? couple hours labour to make 200 profit??? my buddy flipped 100 motorized bicycles i think i could do the same with ebikes???

 

[cal3thousand]

so i had a buddy that used to build motorized bicycle with the 2 stroke kits off ebay he would build them then charge a couple hundred bucks for labour i was wondering if i could do the same with ebikes only with 48 volt 1000 watt kits and prebuilt lifep04 batteries??? say i spent 500 on a prebuilt battery 210 for a kit maybe 100 for a bike i would have 810 in it i could sell it for around 1000 right??? couple hours labour to make 200 profit??? my buddy flipped 100 motorized bicycles i think i could do the same with ebikes???

It depends on how good of a salesman that you are and how well known they are in your area. There's a dude in LA doing this, but his model stinks. He lists all these bikes for cheap and then tells them it's the price without battery. Also figure into it that not everyone wants the same stuff, low gas prices aren't helping the 'savings' aspect of buying a bike, and most people are cheap asses when it comes to anything 'bike'

 

[veloman]

No one is paying more than $200 for an ebike on Craigslist. At least around here, it is a very bad idea. People will drop 2-6k on a new one at the store, but not buy anything off CL.

There is no money in it. You'll very likely lose money, and have to part your ebike out on here. Es is the best market for DIY ebike stuff.

 

[mr42ndstblvd]

honestly i think its doable people where i live like crazy stuff like this if somebody can build 100 motorized bicycles and sell them i should be able to sell an ebike haha

 

[cal3thousand]

honestly i think its doable people where i live like crazy stuff like this if somebody can build 100 motorized bicycles and sell them i should be able to sell an ebike haha

Well, if it works in your area, go for it. Start with 1 bike and go from there. Hybrid style is likely to get you the most attention and it's starting to warm up. Good luck and let us know how it goes. I'm actually interested to know if it goes somewhere.

 

[r3volved]

Or post an ad saying that you'll electrify anyone's bike!
You'd probably need to invest in a couple kits first though.

I've thought real hard about Kijiji myself...

 

[dogman dan]

Sounds like you live in a larger city if your buddy sold that many.

The price of the battery will put them off I think. Your buddy was selling a lot cheaper than $1000. There should be a market niche there to be tapped, but you won't sell as many units as your buddy did at a lower price.

Think making $20 an hour, because you will spend a lot more than the two hours per unit on selling them. Try it, but don't bet on selling enough to quit your day job.

 

[spinningmagnets]

A friend once told me his attitude about art (he had just acquired a painting for roughly $2,000)..."Don't ever get something that you don't like, simply because someone told you it would go up in value".

Only do stuff you like. If it sells, fine, if it doesn't...you have something that you like...

 

[veloman]

If you want to sell ebikes that are not manufactured by the retail names, then you should do some custom work on them, make them look fancy, or such. You have to stand out. A run of the mill generic ebike conversion has almost zero appeal to someone who is not shopping in a store. (even then, they are buying known brands).

I see converted ebikes for sale on CL for $200 and they never move. Totally worth it, but not to the general public. Only to someone like us who would build one.

 

[Nehmo]

so i had a buddy that used to build motorized bicycle with the 2 stroke kits off ebay he would build them then charge a couple hundred bucks for labour i was wondering if i could do the same with ebikes only with 48 volt 1000 watt kits and prebuilt lifep04 batteries??? say i spent 500 on a prebuilt battery 210 for a kit maybe 100 for a bike i would have 810 in it i could sell it for around 1000 right??? couple hours labour to make 200 profit??? my buddy flipped 100 motorized bicycles i think i could do the same with ebikes???

It's a doable business model, but there's more to making a profitable business than coming up with a concept. You are trying to sell your skilled labor (are you British or Canadian or something?), and you are trying to broker the parts for an ebike.
The ebike example you suggest, is NOT very good in terms of profit if it's your own money invested in the parts. Indeed, if you look around, you can probably find something to sell at that mark-up that doesn't require any labor input.
But if you used a well designed marketing strategy (buying search keywords in addition to CL ads) in a suitable area (perhaps a university town), and if you used the customer's advance money to buy the parts, it would work.

Since CL ads are free and there's no reputation system, put up an ad now to assess the marketability of your plan. When someone responds, explain (after you cozy up to them) you need the money first.

 

[wheelbender6]

I think your best bet is to advertise yourself as an "installer" as mentioned above. That way, you have no capital investment, except for your tools.
The new mid-drive kits are tougher to install than a hub motor kit, increasing the demand for experienced installers.
You could also build custom, in-frame battery boxes.

 

[DAND214]

so i had a buddy that used to build motorized bicycle with the 2 stroke kits off ebay he would build them then charge a couple hundred bucks for labour i was wondering if i could do the same with ebikes only with 48 volt 1000 watt kits and prebuilt lifep04 batteries??? say i spent 500 on a prebuilt battery 210 for a kit maybe 100 for a bike i would have 810 in it i could sell it for around 1000 right??? couple hours labour to make 200 profit??? my buddy flipped 100 motorized bicycles i think i could do the same with ebikes???

Can we ask? What country and city is that. Assume it's North America for CL.
Maybe new but not used. Tried to sell 4, I did but no money made there.

Dan

 

[Ch00paKabrA]

so i had a buddy that used to build motorized bicycle with the 2 stroke kits off ebay he would build them then charge a couple hundred bucks for labour i was wondering if i could do the same with ebikes only with 48 volt 1000 watt kits and prebuilt lifep04 batteries??? say i spent 500 on a prebuilt battery 210 for a kit maybe 100 for a bike i would have 810 in it i could sell it for around 1000 right??? couple hours labour to make 200 profit??? my buddy flipped 100 motorized bicycles i think i could do the same with ebikes???

I had the same thought and experimented with ads for bikes I had built in concept only to quantify demand when I determined I could build a "Storm-like" fat bike for less than $600.00. I have a Beast now and just mocked up a battery box out of some plastic I had paying around. It looked good and it the bike was touted as "Brand-New". I started at $850.00 and then continued to lower the price once a week until I finally got a hit - $350.00. I simply told him the bike was sold.

The conclusion for me, in my area, was that demand would justify it. but I would suggest you do the same before putting any money into it. There are many variables that may make your area different than mine; the biggest variable is the legality of ebikes. I have determined that the only way to actually make them competitive with the chinese scooters with pedals that seem to be selling OK, is to start a company as a custom manufacturer of scooters and mopeds. this way I could brand them and give then VIN numbers so they could be registered as mopeds. 20 years ago, that would have been easy. Today, it is a nightmare trying to wade through the bureaucratic red tape. Not to mention the additional expenses of liability insurance, etc. etc. etc.

Just not worth it here. You situation may be different and I am not trying to dissuade you. If you think you can make it happen, then I would encourage you to go for it. Nothing ventured; nothing gained. However, I would also encourage you to sit down and write out your plan and try to identify all of the pitfalls that may arise. To paraphrase Rumsfeld: Its the unknown unknowns that are going to get you.

You can deal with known unknowns and turn them into known knowns and overcome them.

Good luck to you with whatever decision that you make.

 

[mr42ndstblvd]

i know i have posted on this before but i have money now so its time to do this thing im gunna buy a huffy cranbrook on pay day and a kit then next pay day 20ah worth of lead my idea is
mounting a 4 stroke motor plate in the frame then putting a battery box from walmart onto the mount and bolting it down that way even though its heavy the lead will be in the right spot for weight distribution
http://www.ebay.com/itm/27-27M-27F-Battery-Box-Snap-top-with-Strap-Marine-Plastic-Group-Boat-Trailer-RV-/191491595790?hash=item2c95c9de0e&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/bicycle-Motorized-ENGINE-parts-adjustable-4-stroke-mount-plate-/400589416317?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d44fd677d
http://www.ebay.com/itm/48V1000W26-Front-Wheel-Electric-Bicycle-Motor-Kit-E-Bike-Cycling-Hub-Conversion-/291508805761?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43df476081 a china kit from ebay
http://www.walmart.com/ip/26-Huffy-Cranbrook-Men-s-Cruiser-Bike-Multiple-Colors/33396330
pretty much that is going to be the build i may end up adding a key cut off switch for the batterys and putting it on the side of the box but basically thats what im buying and its what im building
my question is what is a fair price to charge for my labor of building the bike??? im thinking about putting 1000 dollars on it and taking the best offer
also in the future i may start buying a few of the lifepo4 batteries from ebay and selling them as an upgrade for a higher price of course comments advice hit me with it

 

[Dauntless]

If you want to sell for $1,000, if you think you're labor on it means much, you should go with a better bike than a Cranebrook. Say, an aluminum frame. . . .

To start with: http://www.walmart.com/ip/29-Genesis-Onyx-Cruiser-Men-s-Bike-Black/16203481

Oh look, multispeed with handbrakes: http://www.walmart.com/ip/29-Men-s-Genesis-Astra-Gx7-Bike-Blue/42732938

Take a good look at what a purpose built bike that does what yours will do and what it's priced at. You should expect to get less. For one thing it's a used bike, no matter what you try to claim about being a 'Manufacturer.'

 

[mr42ndstblvd]

i want to do some nicer bikes but as far as budget goes i have to start with a cheap bike all put front handbrakes on it though i have parts for that but yea my first couple builds have to be easy on the wallet so i can still afford to eat and pay bills

 

[kd8cgo]

If you're looking to enter the ebike (saboteur?) market, a vendor has posted some ad recently you can use for comparison - at about half the price you anticipate. I wouldn't refer to this as the "low end" of the market, since I would say you'd probably discourage future sales rather than encourage them, by selling lead sleds to people.

I would also be very surprised if you could even pedal a bicycle with a group 27 battery box between your legs, but having never tried it....

 

[Ykick]

Forget about or unable to locate your other thread?

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=67076&p=1009286#p1009286

 

[dogman dan]

I don't know what's fair, but expect your time to pay about a buck an hour.

But go for it, if you can afford to keep the bike if it won't sell. Bear in mind, if the seller stubs his toe and sues you, you better have nothing they can take.

 

[Drunkskunk]

I hate to sound like a downer, but what you're describing doesn't sound like anything that would sell. And certainly not for $1000.

SLA are no good for pushing a 1000 watt motor. Forget that nonsense from the start. Next, forget SLA as well. BMSbattery can get you a cheap kit with a cheap battery in the 250-350 watt range, that when bolted to that bike could maybe be worth something to sell. But $1000 for huffy is a pipe dream.

 

[dogman dan]

Might sell great actually, $1000 cash or 20 easy payments of $100.

The vape store down the road from my house has about the same deal, except its $1400 cash, for a china cheap looking lead powered e bike. At least his idea would look a bit better, and could be pedaled.

 

[mr42ndstblvd]

honestly i threw 1000 dollars out as a high end figure of what i thought would be achivable in my town realistically with a lead setup im guessing 800 is tops and id be very happy to sell for 600-650 you gotta remeber walmart sells a production ebike that is like 24 volts for 1200 dollars with lead acid batteries im not trying to build lead acid bikes but to gain enough reputation and the bank it takes to do a decent build with lifepo4 i need to sell a few stock kits plus i can always keep extra 12 volt sla's on hand and install and sell them to customers who ruin there batteries for a fee of course im not trying to get rich but im trying to do something good and make a product i can sell for a profit

 

[kd8cgo]

I usually don't recommend a capital intensive project as a first business, nor do many others that I know of - unless you have traditional business school training and/or can convince someone with capital to lend that your idea has merit - this of course has the advantage that your own money is not at stake in a risky venture. From all appearances, this would be your first jump into entrepreneurship.

Ch00paKabrA had wonderful advice in your first thread about such ideas - run the ads first! Do split testing in different markets, test pricing, ad copy, and venue. Before you ever spend the first dollar of your own money - it costs little to nothing to do this kind of research, and it can be the decisive factor. It's far better to make your mistakes in a dry run, rather than betting it all and spinning the wheel.

 

[mr42ndstblvd]

i dont have investors i dont know anybody with money the only way i can start something up is to throw down my own money and hop i clear a profit if not its a shitty 2 weeks to the next paycheck lol

 

[kd8cgo]

Very good point! I feel that experience will likely be your best teacher, and it has much more to share with you than we do, I'm now all but certain of it. Please, keep us updated on your business plans, as this board as a nice history of entrepreneurs on it - you are in good company!