The Specialized Sale is nuts!

The other day I noted a used bike seller on Craigslist had been undercut by a Specialized sale.

Then a few days later I noticed the price was back up again on the Specialized site. What gives?

Well I took a look at the site of a bike retailer that reps Specialized products, and they list a sale price range from the original $2,099.99 to the not sale price of $2,800. Hmmm.

Further searching on the latter site sheds light on the issue. The price depends on what size you want and, potentially, which color. The S1, S5 and S6 sizes are at the lower price in white, but the middle size ranges are full price. Since Craigslist guy is selling an S2, he’s back in competition. Whoops, I spoke too soon. Another local retailer has a S2 at the lower sales price, in white but not black, which is full price. That orange color is pretty, I’ll admit and it seems to be sold out locally so perhaps he will get his price.

It appears as though this sale is going to be a moving target based on what retailers need to get rid of most urgently. I don’t know how this works if your nearest shop doesn’t have your size (or color). It may be possible for your local dealer to get the one you want from elsewhere? But probably not at sale price, one might imagine.

It’s all worth negotiating, says I. If you are in the local bike store, credit card in hand, and ask for the S1 sales price for that S3 that fits you…maybe you will get lucky.

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