How are you selling horses these days?

[Hey_Mickey]

How are people selling horses these days?
Is it all done via FB? Are people using equine.com or dreamhorse anymore?

Ive sold horses off fb in the past, this particular horse’s price is much higher then my typical resale (he’s very very nice) but I also don’t have time to deal with tire kickers- which is the bulk of fb responders- and I also don’t particularly want people to know my “bussiness” since your name is obviously attached to anything you post on fb.

Ive also sold plenty of horses off of the websites- but it’s been so long that I don’t want to waste my money by posting an ad if that’s not how people are shopping now.

[mad.equestrian]

I don’t sell horses but figure I’d give you a buyers perspective. Yes, facebook is a huge resource and probably your best best especially if you’re FB friends with a large horsey community. Specifically event horses, I’ve also browsed through eventingnation.com classifieds and my local area (Area II) classifieds. Bigeq.com is also a great resource but event horses are scarce on that site for obvious reasons.

[Foxglove]

Thinking outside the WWW box —I’d write up something about the horse-no more than one page --have a great pix then send a hard copy to every eventing trainer/stable within an hour’s drive. Ask each to Please Post in the stable. I’m pretty sure you can search locations of riders/trainers/owners on the USEA list of competitors --or you used to (haven’t been a member for 5-6 years). Two reasons --people tend to LOOK at what comes in the mail --especially if it’s a nice looking horse. Second reason --if someone knows someone who is looking, he/she can easily take a pix of the flyer and send it via phone to the interested person. Finally (and maybe less and less) horse people of a certain age are not on social media as much as the younger people.

But, having said that, I filled a clinic pretty fast by making a hard copy flyer, then made that into a Jpeg then posted it on my Facebook page and asked all my friends (I think I have less than 30) to share-share-share. Reflecting, only one of my participants came based on my hard copy flyer (I sent/posted 50 around the area). The rest came from having seen the information on Facebook. I also sent the Jpeg via Messenger to stables in the area and asked them to post on their social media accounts. Most did. The advantage to social media is you could add a video of the horse --I had a video link on my flyer illustrating the venue (great video).

[Foxglove]

Ooops – one other thought --our highest selling 3-Day horse that we heavily advertised as a successful Intermediate 3-Day horse sold (at the price asked) to a Dressage rider . . .after leaving us, the horse never did another jump (according to her blog where she writes about him often). On the one hand, sad to see that amazing horse that could fly never have the chance to do that again; on the other hand, I think he’ll perform much, much longer in dressage than he would in upper level eventing --and the new owner is really great! Takes him to FLA every winter --I should be so lucky.

[ndirish07]

I just bought a lovely horse that was listed on sporthorsenation. He ended up only being a little over an hour from me. I had also looked online on facebook groups (eventing specific groups) and asked my friends via word of mouth what was available as well, but may not be formally “for sale.”

[Auburn]

I bought my current horse off of a dreamhorse ad. The horses for sale on most Eventing sites were way out of my price range, so those might be your best bet.

[devvie_continued]

How odd that FB is a major way to sell when technically selling of animals is not allowed on Facebook.

[FitToBeTied]

I’ve just started looking for my next hunt/event horse and the thing I find very frustrating is that people will not list the price of the horse in the ad. Then you see so many people that are selling horses complain about tire kickers. Well, provide the price and I won’t kick tires.

[wsmoak]

@devvie_continued

How odd that FB is a major way to sell when technically selling of animals is not allowed on Facebook.

I remember the big uproar about this, and they’ve since clarified the policy:

Selling animals isn’t allowed on Marketplace or buy and sell groups. This includes posting about animals for adoption. Keep in mind that it’s okay to create a News Feed post or an ad about selling an animal.

From: https://www.facebook.com/help/130910837313345

[findeight]

The old fashioned way…word of mouth. Personally visit all your local barns, tack and feed stores, leave a flyer. It’s a bit more work but effectively weeds out tire kickers and doesn’t put your name out so many cyber pests who waste more of your time then personal visits.

If you still have him when the season starts, market him at events, post flyers, talk him up to trainers. The more in your target market who know he’s for sale the more chance somebody knows somebody who will bite.

[wsmoak]

@Hey Mickey

Ive sold horses off fb in the past, this particular horse’s price is much higher then my typical resale (he’s very very nice) but I also don’t have time to deal with tire kickers- which is the bulk of fb responders

If the price is enough that you’d be willing to hire help to filter out the tire kickers, I just listened to a Major League Eventing podcast interview with a lady who does all kinds of business services and has an eventing background / has a special side line of horse-related services.

Responding to emails [1] and only passing on the ones who are real prospects is one of the things she specifically mentioned doing for some clients.

https://www.majorleagueeventing.com/…art-a-business

https://mythiclanding.com/services/

-Wendy

[1] which often means repeating things that were IN THE AD ALREADY – my patience would be worn out almost immediately I’m sure

[RizenPhoenix09]

This is a timely question. I have sold many horses of varying prices and abilities in the past without much effort. However, I have found the old stand by methods of dreamhorse and equine.com to be solid. With a good photo, you do get interested parties reaching out. My biggest issue is getting the video everyone wants to see. For me, that is a challenge as I am usually alone with my daughter. Her idea of a video is a 2-minute clip of a 30-minute ride. EYEROLL

Like the OP I do not really want to post my business out on FB and selling a horse certainly feels like it draws a lot of eyes onto you as a person rather than the horse itself. Or that is how it seems to me.

[RebeccaBarber]

Hi! I sell quite a few horses both consignment (with me) and remotely. While I love playing “Equine Matchmaker,” I find that most people hate it. Thus there is a demand to hire someone like myself to market, edit videos, respond to inquiries, set up the vetting, etc. For my work I tend to depend primarily on social media, word of mouth, Virginia Equestrian, and Sport Horse Nation.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or if there is anything else I can help you with,

Respectfully,
Rebecca Barber

[Mulligan314]

I guess I just technically bought my new horse off of facebook, but I have known the breeder for over 10 years…so, really I was just watching for the right foal to be born. FB definitely helps with the ease of making updates. She doesn’t necessarily specifically advertise sale horses a ton, just simple updates with how the foals were coming along, and that they were still offered. She also continues to update even after they are sold. She really cares about the horses she breeds. Anyways, I just fell in love with one of her new colts this year and decided that he would be fitting for what I wanted. I will say that because she is active on fb with information about not only her few foals she offers each year, but with the horses that they retain as well, it has reminded me to go back and check our her website to look at future breeding pairs she had planned for the coming seasons when I may not have remembered if I didn’t see her regular posts. I believe she also advertised on the breed’s webpage/marketplace, and dreamhorse, possibly other places as well.

[RedWine121]

I have a database of emails of interested customers and I send suggestions using mass mailing services. After that, the answers come and people come to see the horses.

[RedWine121]

I have a database of emails of interested customers and I send suggestions using mass mailing services. After that, the answers come and people come to see the horses.

[Couture_TB]

All of mine for the last few years have either sold to people I didn’t know off of FB or to barns that I know the trainers there and they want to know when I have stuff coming up for sale. But these are all under $10,000 horses

[Wanderosa]

@devvie_continued

How odd that FB is a major way to sell when technically selling of animals is not allowed on Facebook.

You’re not selling an animal, you see. You’re selling an amazing halter that happens to come with a horse in it

[Wanderosa]

@RizenPhoenix09

This is a timely question. I have sold many horses of varying prices and abilities in the past without much effort. However, I have found the old stand by methods of dreamhorse and equine.com to be solid. With a good photo, you do get interested parties reaching out. My biggest issue is getting the video everyone wants to see. For me, that is a challenge as I am usually alone with my daughter. Her idea of a video is a 2-minute clip of a 30-minute ride. EYEROLL

Like the OP I do not really want to post my business out on FB and selling a horse certainly feels like it draws a lot of eyes onto you as a person rather than the horse itself. Or that is how it seems to me.

Perhaps set up a separate business page? I did that when I owned the farm stand. In theory people can make the association to your personal page. Few bother, IME.

[Jleegriffith]

I sell upward of 100 tb’s a year mostly via facebook (my personal page and my business page). I keep a website that I update frequently. Tons of my business comes from word of mouth, repeat customers and people sending friends but they still tend to view my facebook.