How to price a TD for sale?

[Gerdo]

I'm thinking about selling my teardrop because I'm planing my next build.

How can I come up with a fair price (for the buyer and me)?

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=59317&p=1071173#p1071173

[Weirdnerd]

Cost of materials, you labor in hours at a price you deem decent, minus depreciation over the time you have used it, usually 5% per year (cumulative).

[DrCrash]

My dad has always said a good rule of thumb was cost of materials x 2 to 2.5 equals asking price.

[Socal Tom]

Check the recently sold stuff and see what they went for.
Tom

[citylights]

Check the recently sold stuff and see what they went for.
Tom

Yup. Find comparable sales. Compare to new with similar features and take a 20-40% discount for being used.

Or maybe apply a 20-40% price hike for being custom!

[Roly Nelson]

Well lets see, some years ago, while at a car show, an eldery woman came by and told me she wanted me to build her a woody teardrop, exactly like my 1/2 Nelson. I told her that if I were to do that, then there would be two of us who had a one-of-a-kind trailer and I wasn't too keen on that idea. She responded with: "Oh, come on, everybody has their price, so what would you charge me"?

I asked her how much she thought a little old man's time, for the next 6 months of his life was worth, when he didn't know how much longer his candle was going to burn? Would a half of a year of the life of a 50 year professional woodworker, be worth a fair price? I told her that about $50.000 might just about cover the cost, plus materials. Oh, she looked like I had slapped her in the face, as she turned around on her heel and departed without further comment. So, from that time on, I don't build TD's for unknown others.
Roly

[absolutsnwbrdr]

I'm in the process of selling mine, and I dont think there's a "cut-and-dry method" to sell a used custom home-built teardrop. You cannot base it solely on materials. Just because you put $xxxx in it, doesn't mean you should be able to get 2 or 3 time $xxxx. That may hold true in a manufacturing environment, but custom home-builds may be a different story - much of which depends on quality of craftsmanship. I'm no professional builder, so is it fair to charge a professional rate? I'd love to get $10,000 for my camper, but its not realistic. I LOVE my teardrop, but I wouldn't pay that much for it.

As others have said, check out going prices (and more importantly actual sale prices) for similar trailers, of similar age, with similar features. Don't base your prices solely off of eBay listings either. We run into this a lot in the Coleman community.... if you answer an ad on Craigslist for a lantern and go to the persons house to buy it from them. You ask what they'll take for it, and they'll say something along the lines of "Well I saw one like this on ebay and its listed for $xx". Well that's peachy. I can list a snotty rag on ebay for $1.2 million, but that doesnt mean thats what somebody will actually pay for it.

Which comes down to my last point. What would you be willing to pay for your trailer?

As I said, my trailer is currently for sale. I'm only asking a little bit more than what I actually have into it. If I calculated my hourly rate based on my asking price, I'm only worth about $0.50 an hour.

I'm not in it to make a profit though. I enjoy my hobby, and am looking forward to finishing my new trailer. Thats all I'm in it for.

As Roly said, if someone were to approach me to build them one (which quite a few have done), now that's a completely different ball game. My time for myself is one thing. My time for somebody else is another.

[tony.latham]

The two points I'll add to this thread are these; How long are you willing to sit on it? and when are you thinking about listing it?

I sold my 2004 Hunter (commercially built) 4x10 teardrop last fall. It was on Craigslist for a couple of months at $2900 which I think was low. When it finally sold after two months, I was surprised since it was December. Who looks for a teardrop in Idaho/Montana on the leading edge of winter? I had one other offer that wasn't reasonable. I was to the point where I figured it'd sell in the spring. It really didn't matter to me, since I didn't need the cash and had plenty of parking space.

I might get yelled out for saying this, but in reality, the teardrop buyer's market is small. (Okay, it's growing, but it's still tiny.) I'd guess there's somebody in your section of Colorado that'd jump on your fine looking Benroy at a reasonable price (whatever that may be), if it's listed this spring or early summer. I'd guess the same price listed next November many not.

Tony

[Vedette]

Resale is a hard thing if you calculate your time.
When I built Miss Piggy we stole time from the shop that could have been billed out.
If the actual amount of time was billed at my shop rate.......MP would be one of the most expensive TD's on the road today.
Which brings us back to Roly's comments. When people ask "How much to build one like that for me"........they just have no idea!
Or can't conceive that other people's time and talent are worth money!
What you can get for something is only what your prospective buyer is willing to pay.
I am sure the guy who I bought my Waffle Dog maker off of on Ebay is still rubbing his hands together! But I WANTED IT!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[Gerdo]

Lots of good info to think about.
I need to do some cleaning and figure out a price.

[working on it]

The seller has to price the merchandise after determining:

• a) demand for the category of the product (mainstream design usually=more demand, specialty/oddball usually=less demand)
• b) quality of build/uniqueness/features/age of the product within that category
• c) value to keep versus motivation to sell

My little trailer will never be sold (not that anybody else would ever want it!-it was always intended as a "personal" item). Even if I were to try to sell it:

• a) oddball design=no demand
• b) quality/features is good in some ways, others not; unique-but in a user-specific way, not generically appealing; will never have a "vintage"-aged-appeal
• c) the value of the build-ing was more to me than the value of the finished trailer (memories-challenges-experiences gained=priceless)

[Roly Nelson]

I am convinced that no one will ever take care of one of our home-built teardrops, like we would. So, with that in mind, and knowing that I'm gonna die in the next 20 or 25 years, my little 1/2 Nelson Woody will probably end up as a kid's play house or a chicken coop behind the garage in the back yard. If left outside, it will soon dwindle into just a pile of decaying wood, with no clue of what it once looked like. What a dismal thought, but entirely possible, seeing what some of the other old tears, found abandoned, look like. No one will probably take care of them like we do, but that is just a fact of life, and after I am out of the picture, who cares?
Roly ~~