A Guide to Sell a Motorbike in Vietnam Without Losing Money

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Unfortunately, your amazing motorbike trip around Vietnam is almost over and you’re leaving the country in a few days. Wait! You still have a motorbike and you need to figure out what to do with the bike and how to get the most of your invested money back! Many people claim they get the same or even more money they paid for the bike once they sell it.

How true is that statement? How can you sell your bike fast and get the most of the money back?

If you don’t have much time left in Vietnam, but still have a bike, then this guide is definitely for you!

We sold two bikes and tried two completely different strategies while selling, so we’re going to show you the results and how you can apply your marketing skills when it comes to selling the bike.

Where to Sell Your Motorbike

Where to sell motorbike in Vietnam?

Selling in huge cities like Saigon, Da Nang or Hanoi was never a huge hustle since the market is enormously big!

So the first question that arises is what is the best place to sell your motorbike. As most people usually start their trips from Saigon or Hanoi, it would be the ideal place to sell your bike. The market in both cities is enormously huge and you won’t have much hustle when finding the buyer for your beloved bike. The biggest hustle you'll have is to get the asked price for your bike!

We bought our bikes in Hanoi and sold two of them in Saigon. David started to do marketing for his Atilla when we were in Mui Ne (5 days before selling) and Antonio sold it in few hours without any prior marketing!

We tried different platforms when we were posting our bike ad, so we found out these few the most effective:

  • Vietnam Backpackers Travel & Sales - the huge facebook group with more than 50k travelers who’re actively selling and buying used motorbikes. Also, you can find motorbike shops doing the marketing there which can help you in selling your bike fast. Leave it as the last option if you really don't have much time left since they will offer funny prices.
  • Craigslist - the best for travelers who don’t have much time left since many buyers are looking to buy cheap bikes, do some adjustments, and sell it for a higher price. It’s the place for people who just want to get rid of their bikes. Don’t expect to get even close to the invested money back!
  • Walking around expat and tourist areas - in these areas, there are many hostels and shops that want to buy your motorbike. Walk-in and ask people at the reception if they’d like to see your bike. That works like a charm, but the price you get can be far from the ideal.

Alright, now you have more options when it comes to selling your bike. Ideally, if you have enough time, you can try all of them and go for the best offering price.

Extra help: Facebook groups for selling/buying used motorbikes in Vietnam

If you’re really scarce on time, then we recommend using Facebook groups for the best offer!

A Step-By-Step Guide to Get the Best Price for Your Motorbike

Honda Win and Wave side by side

Selling bike, with a bit of creativity and enough time isn't a struggle in Vietnam.

We can’t say it’s the best guide ever and we can’t guarantee you’ll get the best money following it, but it may help you! That’s the exact same process we were doing while selling the bikes and we were very lucky and happy with the deal taking in the account that we sold our bikes just an hour before David had a flight.

  1. Start posting on Facebook a few days before you arrive at the final destination since it will give you more exposure and time to negotiate with people. That way you won’t have time pressure and you don’t need to worry about putting the price down. It would be awesome if you have two days in the final destination just for selling the bike!
  2. When posting on Facebook, don’t hesitate to write a witty and detailed post with pictures and videos of your bike and journey. We took many photos and videos around Vietnam and in our postings, we included many of them. Also, our advice is to talk about the maintenance, breakdowns, new parts, the current condition of the bike and extras you have on the bike. Be honest about the breakdowns, new parts and include costs!
  3. If you don’t have, invest in a good quality raincoat, luggage rack, a few extra bungees, a bike lock, a good helmet, and phone holder. These things won’t cost you a lot, but it can add up to the value of your bike since travelers need these things to conveniently travel around the country.
  4. Wash and clean the bike! You can find a bike washer everywhere! Just look for the sign that says “Rua Xe”.
  5. Change the oil, tighten the brakes and chain and fill the bike with the gas.
  6. As for at least 30% higher price than your lowest accepting price (buying price), so there is still room for negotiation.
  7. Offer free driving lessons, route and experience exchange. It goes great with free beers!

That’s basically it! Just be honest, witty and go into details! People love it and the quality of the posting will definitely catch their attention.

Also, they will notice that you’d take good care of your bike which means the condition of the engine is probably good (the most important thing!).

Other Handy Tips for Selling Your Bike Fast While Getting Your Money Back

SYM Atilla on the road With the guide above, you should be able to sell your bike pretty fast at a good price. Still, there are few more tips that go handy and that can help you a lot! If you’re following backpackers groups and market, you will notice that the most bikes that are being bought or sold are Honda Wins or Waves.

There are many fake Honda bikes on the market, but you will instantly see it by different brand name on the engine. Nevertheless, these bikes are easy to sell. Other slightly popular bikes among travelers are SYM and Yamaha. With these brands, you might have trouble finding the buyer since parts and qualified mechanics are a bit harder to find which means the prices of repairs are bigger. It’s not an attractive fact for budget travelers looking for an adventure of their lifetime.

David had SYM Atilla, a fully automatic motorbike and he managed to sell it for $180 in Saigon. He lost $20 on the sale, but it was a good deal since he had only a few hours before his flight.

Antonio sold his Sufat Win for $110 which was pretty good since he has got the bike for free as a gift in Hanoi. Another tip is to not invest so much money in the motorbike when you’re buying since it will be hard to get the same price. Of course, these bikes will provide you with a better experience on the road, but in the end, you want to sell it for almost the same price you bought it, right?

Our friend bought a real Honda Wave for $350 in Hanoi and got so many offers that weren’t higher than $250. To sell these bikes, expect to stay at least three days in the final destination actively looking for a good sale. Also, when buying a bike from the shops, many of them have a deal to buy your bike back in Saigon or Hanoi.

They will usually give you 70 to 80% of the buying price, but at least you have a sure thing. You can also put it into consideration.

Note: Shops claim to give you that price on the bike, but we haven't tried it, so we don't know for sure how reliable it is!


So now you have an actionable guide when selling the motorbike in Vietnam. Don’t worry, it won’t be much of the hustle to sell your bike since the demand is huge in both cities. The usual advice from the traveler is to buy a bike in Hanoi and sell it in Saigon since the price you will get in Saigon will be better. The opposite is for buying the bike of course.

We wish you all the luck to sell your bike and get the best money, so you can continue your trip without worrying about the money.

Please let us know how did you sell your bikes and what was the difference between buying and selling price!

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