Best Site to Find Airplanes for Sale

What’s your favorite website regarding aircraft sales?

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    50
Alex Batista

Alex Batista

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Other than Controller, Trade-A-Plane, Wing Swap, and Barn Stormers; are there any other reliable (and easy to use) sites to find airplanes for sale? Which one do you like best and why? What’s the best way to (start to) shop for airplanes?
 
That pretty much covers it. Airport bulletin boards are another good source.
 
Facebook. No seriously there's a lot of for-sale ads on there if you join the right pages.

I bought my plane from facebook, it wasn't even listed on other sites.

Being the exceptionally okay moderator that I am, I should also list PoA. We have a classifieds section and quite often some amazing planes come on through.
 
I found my Zodiac in a broker's ad in InFlight USA, a free rag distributed at FBOs.

I found my C172 in Trade-A-Plane.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Being the exceptionally okay moderator that I am, I should also list PoA.
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There you go exaggerating again.

But to the OP... it sorta depends on what you're looking for. Barnstormer's has by far the worst web interface, but if you're looking for homebuilt or cool old stuff you'll find more there. T-A-P has a good wide range of product and a bit better interface. Controller has the best interface, and the best access to foreign aircraft (that there was a joke).

Never heard of Wing Swap. I'll be checking that out shortly.
 
The type club sites. I see a fair number of planes only listed, or first listed on a community site like Beechtalk or piper forum


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If your buying....you're looking at "all" sites for new listings....and ready to pounce with cash in hand.
 
Other than Controller, Trade-A-Plane, Wing Swap, and Barn Stormers; are there any other reliable (and easy to use) sites to find airplanes for sale? Which one do you like best and why?

ASO got missed in the fray, although they seem to be losing relevance rapidly. TAP and Barnstormers are my go-tos.

Alex Batista said:
What’s the best way to (start to) shop for airplanes?
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Goodness, that could fill a book. Do you have a type in mind, budget, ideal equipage, and a target timeline? These variables interact in very complicated ways. :)

Since you put the "Start to" in there, I'd say pick a few example types you're keen on, stalk their type forums/message boards, and watch new listings come and go. Note how swiftly certain planes get snapped up vs. others that rot endlessly. Build the knowledge you'll need to execute swiftly when the right one comes along. Just like dating, there are multiple "right ones" :)
 
Wherever other people aren’t looking... and word of mouth. Also, the longer a plane has been listed, the less likely it is to be a “deal” - though I’ve personally proved that wrong.

Seriously though, one of the planes I owned was a fire-sale reply to a wanted ad. Different strategies can work at different times.
 
Type club. Type club forum/mailing list. A&P that specializes in a certain type.
 
Alex Batista said:
...What’s the best way to (start to) shop for airplanes?
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Put the word out through your aviation network. You'd be surprised how many good airplanes are bought and sold in private deals through word-of-mouth. Even on a national basis, light GA is a small cohort. If pilots and owners that know you also know what you are looking for you might be surprised at the leads they generate.

I don't know this for a fact, but I would venture an educated guess one of our more prolific airplane buying & selling members, @pigpenracing , does most of his deals in low key private transactions.
 
Yeah, aso for some of the off beat birds (looking at you, Commanders.) I like their set up but spend my time on TAP and Controller.
 
Rgbeard said:
I don’t like their site as well as the others
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Yeah, their website is a big turn off. Very old-school, non-mobile, basic html site. But I hear the info is good.
 
Seen some good deals on FB marketplace as well as facebook groups for the airplane I am interested in.
 
"Want to Buy" on type club forums, etc, works great to find a plane before it is actually listed for sale.

A friend did just such a thing Saturday night at 11pm, made a deal over the phone pending pre buy inspection at 2pm Sunday from a "I've been thinking about selling recently, give me a call" reply to his post.
 
Ryanb said:
Have you looked on Craigslist recently? Majority is a bunch of crap! Not a great resource.
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Not a great resource is still a resource. If the what happens to be the right plane shows up there, then that's where you'd have to look if you wanted to find it. There are people who list their planes there and only there and some of those planes can be worth looking at. The Facebook type groups are also worth subscribing to IMO.
 
schmookeeg said:
Do you have a type in mind, budget, ideal equipage, and a target timeline?
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Yes, I’m pretty close to knowing EXACTLY what I want. Based on very extended research and our mission (my GF and I) we are looking for a Piper Arrow (prefer Arrow III but a II would do). 200hp engine NA, prefer 1975 or newer, prefer <8,000 hrs TT, Garmin 430 (prefer 530), ADSB out (prefer in AND out), prefer a low time engine of course, but if high time reflects on the price I’m ok with that. Nice interior and exterior is very important. Budget is $80,000 but if the deal is right I’m willing to pay more. And timeline would be 4th quarter of 2020 with God’s help.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Facebook. No seriously there's a lot of for-sale ads on there if you join the right pages.
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Any examples of some pages?

Mtns2Skies said:
Being the exceptionally okay moderator that I am, I should also list PoA. We have a classifieds section and quite often some amazing planes come on through.
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Hey, that’s cool too! The only problem that I have with blogging sites’ classifieds is the inability to “sort”. I can only do a general “search” but I can’t just go and narrow the search results to certain criteria’s.
 
Ravioli said:
Barnstormer's has by far the worst web interface, but if you're looking for homebuilt or cool old stuff you'll find more there. T-A-P has a good wide range of product and a bit better interface. Controller has the best interface, and the best access to foreign aircraft (that there was a joke).
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Agree. Agree. And Agree.

Ravioli said:
Never heard of Wing Swap. I'll be checking that out shortly.
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Yep, I heard of them thru Instagram. Their website is https://wingswap.com/. Interface is clean, they just don’t have a lot of inventory.
 
catmandu said:
"Want to Buy" on type club forums, etc, works great to find a plane before it is actually listed for sale.
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I’ve been hearing this a lot. I need to find me some Type Club Forums On Piper Arrows. Maybe I’ll get lucky!
 
Alex Batista said:
Budget is $80,000 but if the deal is right I’m willing to pay more.
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^^^ That's a BAD buyer strategy, FYI.

Just go create a Barnstormers ad.

Wanted: Piper Arrow, 200hp, 1975 or newer, prefer Garmin 430 (prefer 530), ADSB out. Send specs and photos. My offer varies on options and condition.
 
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