Trouble selling Camper?

[kylarama]

set it up perfectly and take lots of shots.

This!

There's nothing worse than see ads with the camper half arsed setup on the too small front lawn with the wife half in a photo holding up the tent or awning because their too lazy to actually set it up properly.

Last year we looked at a few 2nd hand campers for both ourselves and friends and I noticed the following on a lot.
The below is in no way directed at you kalex, but observations about others for sale.

Poorly setup in photos and then sellers being reluctant to set it up so you can have a proper look, one guy wouldn't even get it out of the carport!  If you don't have the room be prepared to take it somewhere and set it up for a prospective buyer.

Understand what you are selling.  If you don't know what it is fitted with find out off the manufacturer.  Just because it has white sunraysia's and an axle flip, it doesn't mean it has 'fully off road HD suspension' as one seller put it.  Turns out it was a 40mm axle on slipper springs!

Scrub, scrub, scrub.  There is nothing worse than a putrid camper, I know its a quality Aussie made tent and trailer that can handle all conditions, but I don't need the red dust as proof.  Wash the canvas and scrub the trailer, if the paint is bad give it a fresh coat, but not a half arsed job like one bloke did to his rear fold camper.  Tried painting the rims and trailer with cheap pressure packs, but mainly got the tyres and canvas.
 
Some accessories are good, but don't try and offload all of your old camping junk, most buyers are already tent campers and thowing in your 6 year old 'used' porta-pottie is not a good selling point to most people.

Be realistic on price.  Allot of brand name campers we looked at people were trying to get 80% of the new purchase price on a 10 year old camper.  Unfortunately (good for some) there are more campers on the market than there is buyers.

[Pipeliner]

I have to agree about the photos.  Looking at the photos in your MySwag ad I would comment:

Photo 1.  The cover is badly fitted and the photo appears to have been taken at the back of a junkyard (sorry, I know you are probably very proud of your house, but that is the impression it gives)

Photo 2.  Good view of the kitchen totally spoilt by the surroundings - surely all that roof insulation could have been moved out of the shot?

Photo 3.  Better, but spoilt by the wrinkled appearance of the cover hanging down at the front and the totally uninspiring location!

Photo 4.  The ridge line sags, the camp site is too cluttered, and the washing on the guy lines spoils the effect.

Your camper is a very neutral colour, so to show it at its best you need to find a background that contains colour, such as a lake, the sea, with trees in full blossom behind it or possibly sillouetted against a lovely sunset.  With photos like that, showing a perfectly set-up camper just by itself (no sags or bags, no washing, no clutter) you may well get offers at your original price - isn't that worth a few hours of your time?

Try and get some good interior photos as well - you may need to find a friend with a good wide angle lens for these.  Make sure it looks light and airy, and the bed looks comfortable and inviting, and it shows how much space is available.

Look at the last photo in my signature line - and then think of the same photo but with the awning perfectly adjusted, the second camper (on the right) removed and all the camping equipment out of sight and you will be heading in the right direction.  The middle photo would suit an ad just as it is.

[jaycamrie]

Yep have to agree with most a friend of mine is looking at buying a camper and the photo,s are not that great , he does not get on the internet much so i have been looking for him i showed yours and the photos did not excite him even though i told him tambo,s are good trailers i would set up in a park more inside shots plus the fact we live rural so its gotta look good to make people like us want to have a look.When they see all them cheap ones on ebay they look great and i can see why they appeal to people who do not really know about the quality thing

[Pebble]

Sometimes your location can have a bit to do with it, if you live in a smaller town, but you seem to live close enough to Melbourne so that shouldn't be an issue.

When we were trying to sell ours we live 3hrs drive from a major city so our market was more limited. For the well known expensive campers (name any popular brand) people are willing to travel because what they're buying 2nd hand is pretty much exactly the same as what they would buy new.

But with cheaper and particularly custom jobs it's true first it has to appeal to someone in a photo and then they have to decide that either it's exactly the kind of camper they want or that it's cheap enough that they will buy it anyway and then modify anything that might not suit them personally. The custom height you specifically wanted could be working against you because that won't appeal to everybody. It's not that there is anything wrong with the trailer it's just that being different can limit your market which means it takes longer to sell. Your trailer could be worth $40k but if it has a custom feature that doesn't appeal to the mass market well even selling it for a ridiculously low price wouldn't guarantee a buyer quickly.

The last trailer we sold we had success on Gumtree, it was a camper trailer without a tent,  I think we were pretty lucky to find a buyer quickly because it wasn't going to appeal to everyone either. But with sites like that you do get a lot more scammers too (compared to here on MySwag) so just be weary, because they seem pretty good at sounding dinkum these days, they ask for extra photos etc before telling you they're on an oil rig or something!

I agree that you need to take better photos....if people see all the useful bits and pieces (some might call it "junk" or "clutter") in the photos it can be a turn off, it can give the wrong impression or perception and just not as appealing as opposed to taking pictures in a more tidy and nice looking location. Kind of like selling a house and taking pictures of it with heaps of clutter compared to it being neat and tidy.

[kylarama]

Another thought kalex might be to seperate the trailer from the tent?

The extra height in the tent might suit people wanting to build a slide on camper for the back of a 4wd  ute.

The trailer would probably appeal to tradies as a heavy duty tool trailer.

Might be something to think about down the track if you still have trouble selling it.

[Bird]

The thing is the people gererally buying these $5000ish campers are young couples/families on a tight budget and with the reality that it will probably only ever get used at Christmas, Easter and maybe 1 or 2 long weekends.  So Chinese quality will probably hold up for its intended use and they figure their getting more bang for their buck with a cheap new one with all the bells and whistles, as opposed to a 10 year old Aussie made one thats been dragged all over Australia

... but what about the aussdie made ones that have been used 2 or 3 times ever?? Seller paid $15k selling for $5-8k...
18203957092348098% better value than woo-flung-dung for same price, plus usually have many extras added to them....



I agree with others, Shit time of year to sell anything... theres been a few threads on this subject over recent months.

[kylarama]

... but what about the Aussie made ones that have been used 2 or 3 times ever?? Seller paid $15k selling for $5-8k...
18203957092348098% better value than woo-flung-dung for same price, plus usually have many extras added to them....

I'm not disagreeing with you (As I said We'll buy a 2nd hand Aussie canvas one over an import), but why are the 'woo-flung-dungs' and the 'creamosumyoungguys' selling every 2 minutes on eBay and a 2nd hand Aussie ones taking weeks or months to sell?

Allot of campers have no interest in buying something to clean up, mod, accessorise and join up to Myswag to talk about.  They see the new cheapies as something they just have to throw bedding, clothes, food in and off they go.  Everything is bright and shiny and has a nice stainless steel kitchen,ect, ect, drive away no more to pay! 

The market is so saturated with camper trailers now, in 5 years time you will have to pay someone to take away your used 'woo-flung-dung'!

[Bird]

The market is so saturated with camper trailers now, in 5 years time you will have to pay someone to take away your used 'woo-flung-dung'!

I think most would be wrapped if it was 5 yrs LOL!

[Apollo]

There is an old saying I work buy - you can't sell a secret.  Set it up perfectly in a nice location in plain view of passing traffic and see how you go.  I agree with most comments here about photos - you want them to sell a perfect dream - ideal setting, perfect site (grassy, flat, etc) and a perfect setup without the normal camping crap you get when camping (ie clothes/towels hanging on guy ropes, stuff laying around the camp and kitchen. IF people ar ein the shots, make sure they are in happy mode with smiles, relaxing and perhaps having a quiet one - again, sell the dream.

Other option is to take it camping in park and set up next to tent campers with a big FOR SALE sign on it.

FWIW, I bought a 2nd hand Aussie camper for more $ than I could have bought an import, but only after I had crawled over a few imports as they were pert of my intial consideration.

All the best with the sale.

Steve

[Bird]

Is it just me or are others out there having trouble selling there soft floor campers?

nope... plenty with the problem...