Senior Spring Swap Sale: Information & FAQs

What is this sale all about?

To put this in economic terms, we are providing a common time for all buyers and sellers of bikes on campus to redistribute their resources. Despite our targeted audience of Dartmouth Seniors and Sophomores (for the purposes of graduation and the upcoming sophomore summer term), anyone is permitted to participate in the sale—Dartmouth students of any class year, Hanover residents, and anybody from far and wide!

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One large reason we are running a sale like this is that it eases the burden that Dartmouth Bikes will take on in the coming terms—every year, we are overwhelmed with having to tag and collect hundreds of abandoned bikes across campus, and one of the largest sources of these comes from seniors not knowing what to do with their bikes once they graduate. By making sure to remind seniors about their bikes before they've left campus, we're allowing less bikes to be abandoned in the first place by putting them in the hands of students who can still ride them across our campus, and to get some quick cash in the hands of graduating seniors!

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In addition to finding bikes being offered for sale by third parties who will be at the sale, we will also be offering used bikes from our own inventory, if you'd like the peace of mind of having an expertly tuned up bike from Dartmouth Bikes.

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The way we envision the sale going is like so:

Graduating seniors and others who no longer want their bikes should arrive outside our shop on Fahey Hall Patio between 3:30-4:00pm on May 29th, 2023 (Memorial Day). Upon arriving, we will give you a small tag where you can put your Venmo handle, intended sale price, and other contact information in case the new owner wants to contact you about anything related to the sale after they have purchased it. You are recommended to bring the lock that you've been using for your bike as well, and you can include that in the final sale price of the bike.

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As far as valuation goes, we recommend you search for your bike's make and model online to find an MSRP if possible. If not, student mechanics from Dartmouth Bikes will be supervising throughout the sale and can assist in properly valuing the sale price of your bike, along with making sure that everything is functionally sound with the bicycle.

Please note that if there are any mechanical issues with your bike, we will not be performing any repairs on-site at the sale, and instead, will make clear to any potential buyers of any issues that we may have discovered, and we recommend that you price the bike accordingly by taking into account any fixes that we may have to perform in order for the bike to ride safely.

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Once bikes have been dropped off and labeled, buyers will begin browsing through the selection starting around 4:00pm, lasting until 6:00pm. You do not have to be present for this time period if you would not like to be—we will handle all the logistics of the purchase, (re-)registration, and explanation of any issues with the bike. If a buyer takes interest in your bike, we will allow them to test-ride it before having them Venmo you with the handle provided when you dropped off the bike. If you would like to accept payment in a different format, you will need to specify that on the tag for your bike, or stick around to accept cash from any buyers. Otherwise, you will not have a way to receive payment, as we will not be facilitating any payments between ourselves (Dartmouth Bikes), the buyers, or the sellers. Payments will only be directly from buyer to seller.

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If your bike is not sold to anyone during this time period, you will have the option to come back between 6:00-6:30pm to collect it if you would still like it. If you specified a Venmo handle during the drop-off period, you will know if the bike was sold by checking your Venmo transactions. Otherwise, if you do not collect it before 6:30pm, your bike will be considered a donation to Dartmouth Bikes, will be tuned up, and then added to our rental fleet or sold to other students at a later time. If you are collecting your bike again after the sale, please respect our time and be sure to arrive before 6:30pm—we will not make any exceptions as the sale will be run entirely by student mechanics from the shop, and we won't have time to stick around longer than planned as we approach finals week.

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If you would like to sell your bike but are unable to make it to the sale, we recommend going on Dartlist or Facebook Marketplace and listing it there.

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Please contact us through our contact form if you have any further questions.