Buying, Selling, and Trading Salvaged Motorcycles for Profits
In the US bike trade and dealers have found a way to make great profits from buying used or salvaged bikes and refurbishing them for sale. There are large franchises and small dealers flipping bikes on social media every day. The idea is to focus on the retailing of motorcycles to the general public. 
Who can sell motorcycles?
Basically, anyone is an individual or a business entity. Any individual who sources and buys used motorcycles for a reduced price and then sells them to another individual or a dealer or garage can make a handsome profit from this business.
Many of the top used car and bike dealers are always struggling to find quality motorcycles for inventory, so they are generally happy to buy bikes from individuals. This makes it easy to build good business relationships as a trader and set up a good little business with very little capital or overheads.
Selling motorcycles can be very lucrative and has some advantages over actually dealing in motorcycles.
How do motorcycle sales work?
Auto traders are middlemen who focus almost all their energy on finding motorcycles to sell. Once they find a motorcycle they can either be bought right away or a trader will try and sell the bike before they even purchase it. More experienced and confident sellers will always buy a cheaper bike knowing that a buyer will easily be found.
The bikes can then be offered to dealers and sold for the highest price. If you are a less experienced seller or the motorcycle is not in great condition some sellers do carry out repairs on bikes before they sell. But even after repairs on the bike, you can make a handsome profit.
But equally, some sellers sell the bikes on an as-is-where-is basis. It doesn’t matter how you sell it as long as it sells and the market for motorcycles is getting big.
What do you need to find and sell motorcycles?
Initially, a lot of people who got into this business were retired or ex-bike salesmen or even backyard mechanics. So having some experience with motorcycles can be helpful, but it’s not essential. All information you need on any motorcycle valuation is readily available online. These online services offer motorcycle valuations on a subscription basis and are the simplest way of valuing a bike in the trade.
The only other things required are insurance and some working capital. It’s recommended you don’t sell to the general public and don’t keep a location with any inventory to ensure the cost of insurance remains low. Just make sure to cover yourself for road risk on any motorcycle for your peace of mind.
In terms of starting capital, you would only need to start with a couple of thousand dollars or less as some of these salvage bikes can be picked up for a few hundred dollars.
Most people buy it with credit and then sell the bike, pay off the credit card, and bank the profits.
Now the Best part, where do you find motorcycles?
The best place to find these are local classifieds as there are a lot of people offloading their used bikes there. But we have found the absolute best way to make this business work is to get a good relationship with a salvage bike yard and have them contact you as soon as a good bike comes in. This will save you a ton of time searching every day. There are several websites that show bikes that come into these yards. Listed a couple below.
Best motorcycles to buy?
Ideally, you can sell any motorcycle of any age or style. But smart sellers focus on what moves fast. It doesn’t matter if you are getting a bike for a great deal if, at the end of the day, you cannot sell it to anyone.
How much profit can you make selling motorcycles?
Profit margins vary. They really depend on how good you are at buying motorcycles. On a normal touring or sports bike, you can expect to make between $500 and $1,000 on average as a net profit. However, if you are selling higher-end motorcycles the margins can be much larger, the same is true of classic motorcycles where we have seen profits of 80 to 150 percent.
Motorcycle selling tips
- Only buy a motorcycle you know you can sell.
- NEVER reveal where you buy motorcycles from to any dealer.
- Remember when selling motorcycles, relationships are often more valuable than profits.
- Never try to hide anything about the motorcycle, always give an honest appraisal.
- Always do your due diligence and inspect a motorcycle before buying it.
- Always see the motorcycle before buying.
- Make sure you never overpay for a motorcycle.
With practice motorcycle sellers can be highly profitable. Whether done on a full-time basis or as a side hustle, you are well on your way to making money!
