Trade, locate, auction or wholesale: what each exit really costs

What does each way of moving a new unit cost? A direct trade costs mostly time and trust. A locate adds a fee and exposes your inventory. Auction and wholesale cost the gap below invoice. On Locates.io selling is free, and the buyer pays a flat $199 per unit plus freight locked at terms, with no monthly fee.

When a new unit needs to go, there are four common exits: a direct dealer trade, a locate through a locator service or tool, a dealer auction, or a wholesale buyer. This post compares them honestly, including our own fee and freight. We don't quote typical prices for other services, because they vary by provider, region and contract. Instead, we name each cost so you can fill in your own numbers.

What are the four exits?

Direct dealer trade. You and another store agree on a unit and swap it, usually at or near invoice, often by phone between managers who know each other.

Locate. A tool or service helps a buyer find a specific unit at another store. Sometimes a shared locator system, sometimes a third party that charges for the find.

Auction. The unit goes to a dealer auction, physical or online, and sells to the highest bidder.

Wholesale. A wholesaler buys the unit outright, usually quickly, at a price that reflects their own resale risk.

Locates.io is a fifth option combining parts of the first two: a dealer-to-dealer trade, found through a blind marketplace, with paperwork, settlement and freight run for you. See how it works.

How do the exits compare?

Where a cost depends on your provider or contract, we say so rather than inventing a number.

What does the table tell us?

Direct trades are cheapest in dollars and most expensive in time. With a trading partner you trust, who may know your inventory, a direct trade is hard to beat. The cost is the manager's time and the trust risk.

Locates add a fee but don't remove the work. A locator helps you find the unit. You and the other store usually still negotiate, paper and settle the deal, and on a shared locator every store sees what you have.

Auction and wholesale are fast but often below invoice. That gap is the real cost, often bigger than any fee. They're right when a unit won't trade at an acceptable number.

Locates.io sits between them. Selling costs you no fee; the buyer pays the fee and freight. You keep control of your price, and stay anonymous until signing. The trade-off: it only works if another dealer wants the unit at a delivered price that makes sense to them.

What does one unit cost each way?

These numbers are made up to show the method. They are not market data and not a quote.

The right exit depends on which costs apply to your store and how likely the unit is to retail if you wait. The Hold vs Move calculator puts your own numbers into this comparison.

What costs never make it into a table?

Information. Every exit except a blind one tells someone about your inventory: every competing store on a shared locator, every bidder at auction. That has value to your competitors.

Momentum. A unit that sits while you decide keeps costing interest. A quick, imperfect exit can beat a slow, perfect one.

When is Locates.io not the right answer?

If a unit has no realistic buyer among other franchised dealers at a delivered price that works for them, Locates.io won't change that. Auction or wholesale may be the honest answer, and the sooner you take it, the less it costs. If you have a trading partner you trust and like how it works, keep doing it.

Where we're useful is the trade you'd make if it were easier and more private: a store you don't know, a unit you don't want the locals to see, a deal papered and settled without chasing anyone. See pricing and the FAQ.

The short version

Every exit costs something. Direct trades cost time and trust. Locates cost a fee and expose your inventory. Auctions and wholesale cost the gap below invoice. Locates.io is free to sell; the buyer pays $199 a unit plus freight locked at terms, with no monthly fee and your name sealed until both sides sign. Put in your own numbers and pick the cheapest exit for each unit.