[smong2000]

I have only bought 3 new bows in my life and owned at least 25. Also have sold all but 2 on forums, Ebay and Craigslist. All my buying experiences were perfect, got what I expected quickly, in great condition, and at a very fair price. My selling went great as well except for one, where a guy thought that asking me a question about the bow gave him dibs on it and someone else committed before he did.
I only buy when I figure that I could recover 85-90% of my money if the bow isn't for me and that has worked out well for me.

What kind of experiences have you had?

 

[TX_RDXguy]

In my opinion, "buying used" is all about asking the right questions, the seller's credibility and knowing what you're getting into. I would have no issue paying 50-75% the original fair market value for a used xbow that's 1-3 years old.

I don't have near the experience you have "selling used". For me it has been tough but it's all been trying to sell lower price point xbows that I've invested in and improved. In that case I've been lucky to find buyers for excellent condition xbows and get 30-40% of their value even for 1 year old xbows. And maybe that's an anomaly.

 

[JOE PA]

I did a whole lot of buying and selling of compound bows on Ebay. I may have owned 100 or more. (Looking for the "perfect" bow.) I really didn't lose much money on most. I would always buy bows for my sons in the spring. When they had outgrown them, I would usually sell between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most deals were fine. A few times there was hidden damage. I was burned by Ebay and Paypal when I sold a bow that was working perfectly (and I had several pics to prove it.) The buyer HAD to have dry fired it, and ruined it. Claimed I sent it that way, and Ebay/Paypal backed the buyer. That was it for me, I quit both.

I guess I got most of my traderitis out of my system before I had to move on to crossbows. I bought one new crossbow, then a few used ones. All have been great. I learned to make good shooting frankenbow compounds (15) before moving on to crossbows, so that has continued too. I must also thank bbahunter, ironhorse89, Jack Pine, and a few others for sending me parts and limbs (and one phenominal whole crossbow) to play with, and make things that I couldn't buy.

 

[tpcollins]

My Ventilator and Dagger were used - I had some is with the Vent that Jim fixed up great. My other 2 were bought new.

It's like TX said, ask the right questions. I would add to check out the seller's posts by looking at their profile and view what they've posted. Get a feel for how they converse and relate to others - are they considerate, seem knowledgeable, and positive - or do they sound like a know-it-all boisterous jerk wad? I'd stay away from later.

Good luck.
.

 

[Runningbuck]

When I was really into stickbows, I bought ,sold and traded some really high dollar stuff. I have never had a bad experience with a buyer, seller or mail carrier. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I had transactions all over the USA without a hiccup. The last few years I did buy a few crossbows used with the same outcome. If you make it point to call and talk to the buyer/seller for a while you get a pretty good feeling of how things will go with a sale.

 

[Slayer1962]

I have done this with guns and crossbows both. I am willing to lose a hundred or two to upgrade to what i really want.
I have owned about 7 crossbows i guess. sold each to do what i thought was upgrade. This has brought me to Ravin so I am happy. yes it costs me along the way but if you get something you are happy with its worth it.
I am on my third wife too . Cost me about $400,000 to get rid of the first two. The third is a keeper going on 14 years now . Upgrades are always good ( except wife #2)

 

[Lamplighter]

I once traded, in 2011, a mint Martin Dream Catcher recurve to knock $ 400 off my then new Parker Hornet Extreme.

Fastforward to today - i got my new limbs in, and new 60 x string, and just left that same shop , under new ownership. Had them string and time my bow. Do you know , that same dream catcher is still there.

 

[dynamo61]

Listed a CenterPoint 370 Specialist on the free Ebay Classifieds (Kijiji) here in Canada.
It was a couple weekends ago, a Saturday afternoon.
Around 5pm the ad went up.
By 8:30pm, it was sold.

Fellow drove almost 2 hours to pick it up the next morning (Sunday) at 9:30am.
We met at a coffee shop parking lot.

I showed him how to cock it with the rope and the Crank Cocker.
He was a first time crossbow owner, had shot vertical before and a few times with his buddy's xbow.
Nice fella, we chatted for some 30 minutes.

His buddy was having coyote probs on his farmland and invited me up to shoot if I wanted.
May take him up on it some day but I would have to take up some local requests first that I have been turning down lately.

I was going to keep the CP 370 but we hardly ever used it after getting the narrow Ravin and TenPoints.
It just seemed so large and clunky.

Now there is room for a new system,
But what to choose?

 

[robertyb]

S W A T X 1
B U R R I S

 

[dynamo61]

S W A T X 1
B U R R I S

Maybe...
Maybe Ravin R500E (really like it so far).
Maybe Excalibur Twin?
Maybe Havoc/XERO?

BTW, sold the Ravin Scope that came off our R26 with the CP 370 to the same fellow.

 

[SEW]

I’ve sold all past crossbows as a complete setup: ready to hunt that day. A few arrows with field points, a full quiver of arrows/broadheads, rope cocker, wax for strings, crank (if needed), scope and sighted in, allen wrenches to fit every part of crossbow, instruction manual and a couple of hours checkout on everything. Doing this, I’ve lost very little $ over what I’d paid.
FWIW, I bought most of my crossbows used, or offseason new and used, previous demonstrators, etc.. Scopes are generally original equipment scopes as I always switch my Optimizers/rifle scopes to my primary and back up crossbows - these optic sysrems don’t get sold.
I don’t think this methodology would work as well with high end ($$$) bows, optical systems, etc , especially bought at normal prices. The last complete setups I sold were a SWAT/XB75, M405/TR530IL, M405/XB30, M380/?(forgot what scope), detuned (375/400) SWAT XP/EvoX . Note: all the Excals had reworked risers by Excal and then further finished and polished by me, except for the M380 which I had done initially.

 

[Lamplighter]

The first thing i think anybody does, i know i do, is check new prices on same. The seller will have to be well below it. No matter the condition. 50 or 75 dollars will not buy me off that knowledge that my item is brand new in a box, sealed, and no one has ever tinkered with it.

When i bought my Hornet back in 2011, i told the pro shop not to take it out the box and assemble it. I know they like to tinker too.

 

[GARY W CURTIS]

I've bought a dozen or so, and still have three bought on classifieds. I have never sold one through classifieds, as I have buddies that like the "deals" and the setups, so have saved the hassle of shipping, and all the bad that can happen with it. I was a lurker here and at CT for many years, so knew the rep of the people I purchased from. The Vent that was my latest purchase, came straight from the factory service center, so no qualms with it. It has to be a good deal to not get a warrantee as far as I am concerned.

 

[JOE PA]

I have mostly had good luck. Bought two Middletons from Inspector 98, and both are still going in one form or another. I recently bought a used Mission Dagger, hated the trigger. Wanted to sell, but TP Collins asked me about the limbs, and I saw splinters on the inside of two of the 4 limbs. Had the bow and shot it a bunch before I noticed the problem, so really couldn’t contest the deal. Decided to make lemonade. Fixed the trigger, increased retainer pressure, and now it drives tacks, even with the limb splinters. Buying that one did cause me to pass on a few much better deals afterwards, but it is what it is. It’s hard to be sure when you are buying from forums. Are the savings worth the risk? Case by case.

 

[Hester]

I've bought and sold a lot of vertical bows and accessories along with some crossbows and arrows on Archerytalk and Crossbowtalk over the last 5 years with very little issues. I always loved to buy used or something new that was a couple years old from old stock. When the site was different where you could check feedback that was the 1st thing I looked for before buying something used.

 

[archer36]

I have sold 4 bows but only bought my first one used. It was a Horton Vision 175 and they were in the process of going bankrupt soon afterwards. I have a distaste about buying used crossbows, mainly because of warranty. With the complexity of the new bows, you are taking a big chance buying used and not having a warranty.