Tips on selling a bow

Teamclark

Spike
So I upgraded my bow and need to sell my old one. It is a bear agenda 6 so it was a bear’s flag ship Bow a few years back.

Anyone have any tips for the best way to sell it? I’m trying to figure out if it would be more sellable as a bare bow or with accessories at a slightly higher price.
 

brownisdown

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Used Bows are like used golf clubs.......they just don't hold their value worth a crap. I'd put it up for sale on archery talk with a bare bow price and a fully rigged price. If you have high end rest and sight you may do better selling them separate. In all honesty a 3 year old bow is worth at most about 50% of new price. There are a few Mathews with a cult like following that will hold value a little better than that but not many.
 

useyourbow

Eight Pointer
1st. Lower your expectations. Unlike a firearm a bow looses commercial value much faster. Probably be lucky to get back 50% of what you bought it for.
2nd. Cater to the crowd you expect to sell it to. Go onto a Bear archery friendly site or Craig's list.
3rd. The fun of purchasing a new bow is to customize it therefore how it is outfitted now will probably be removed by the new owner so all those accessories are not appealing and again those accessories depreciate in value faster than the bow does.
4th. Contradicting the 3rd. statement above. The closer we get to hunting season the outfitted bow becomes more appealing. New comers to archery on a budget crowd and last minute archers.
5th. Consider keeping it as a back up and use it to introducing a friend to archery. Turn the poundage down, make it a warm up shooter.
 

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
Bear bows and other secondary name brand bows don’t hold very much value. I bought a 2017 newbreed gx2 for 250$ and it was in mint shape. I’ve bought sold and traded a pile of bows. The market is so saturated. I might have had this bow longer than any other I’ve had in a long time.


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woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
heck I have a stack of ancient compounds (well ancient to some - my "new" one is 10+ years old and bought it new)

so if someone finds a plan, let me know!! But doubt anyone wants a bow from the 80s or 90s now,,,,

now my recurves and longbows? Bury me with them babies! Only weapon allowed in Valhalla,,,,,,,,
 

Aaron H

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Just for an idea you might check ebay. Tons of bows get sold on there- I've bought a bunch of them. Not saying that's the way to sell it but might be worth looking at. Also there are some archery selling pages on Face Book. Craigs List could work for you as well and then there is the classified page on this site.
 

Teamclark

Spike
Thanks for all the tips guys. I’ll try the local options first so I don’t have to mess with shipping and hopefully I can get it sold soon even if it isn’t for a lot (selling this one was part of the way I convinced my wife I should upgrade my bow so I gotta follow through on that one). And if anyone knows someone looking for a 50-60lb Bear Agenda 6 give me a shout!
 

Triggermortis

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Your audience is likely to be first time shooters or someone looking for a backup bow, so market it as such. For the beginner they will want as many accessories as they can get so they can shoot it right out of the gate. It would need to have at least a rest on it, and preferably a sight as well. Folks looking for a backup bow won't mind so much getting a bare bow - they have some experience with them already and have some preferences for accessories and can fashion their own rig.

I do check Craigslist for lots of thngs. Listen to me here - if you put something on craigslist you are much more likely to sell it if you provide good pictures with good lighting and good descriptions. If you post a single picture of a bow sitting in a bow case with the lid flipped open its never gonna sell.....
 

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
If you have a buyer. Maybe to help you sell it I will set it up for them for free.


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Dolfan21

Ten Pointer
1- Use Offer Up/Craiglist/Ebay to sell local. If that doesnt work go to
2- Archery talk - by far best site to sell archery gear, I love it. You will need 20 posts minimum though, and there are alot of bows for sale so competition is high.
3- Facebook forums. There is one called Nothing But Releases that I use, I am sure there are similar for just bows. I just dont trust FB but it is an option for you.
4- like others said, 50% is probably the most you will recoup. You can probably hold out and get close but if you want to sell it fast it will be less.



FWIW - I kept my old bow as a bowfishing rig ( yet to be set up but you know....one day.....lol). just another idea if you dont get what you want for it.
 
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