posted on September 7, 2005 03:46:35 PM
A friend of mine wants to sell his BMW on Ebay
Am I reading it right? There's a $40.00 listing fee and a $40.00 transaction fee with the first bid (unless the reserve is not met) but no final value fee?
posted on September 8, 2005 12:08:54 PM
Let me illustrate this with a few personal stories... (sit back and get yourself a cup of coffee):
I've bought and sold a few vehicles on eBay Motors. The fee does sound a bit steep, but it's not so bad really. If you use a paid newspaper classified it could easily cost $40.
But I've found that the cars which do well on eBay are oddball cars, or just cars that might not do well locally. For example, there may not be a lot of people locally interested in your 1976 AMC Pacer, but there are probably a few individuals scattered across the country that are and will bid fiercely to get it.
I sold a vintage 1965 Ford Mustang for a friend. The winning bidder was a car dealer who flew in from New York to pick up the car and drive it the 8 hours back home. Sidenote, he got the car for a steal because the car was being sold in October. This is typically a summer car, so that was not a good time of year to sell, but he needed the money.
A 10 year old high mileage Volvo station wagon with a manual transmission might not be easy to sell locally. Nowadays most people want automatic. But, for those few who specifically want manual transmission, and more specifically, an older Volvo wagon with a manual transmission that they just have to have, and can't find locally, they'll travel a bit to get it. This kind car will likley sell for more, and sell easier, than trying to sell locally.
I had an older motorycle a few years back, but threw a connecting rod. It was a beautiful bike otherwise, but nobody wanted it, except a motorcycle shop that was willing to pay $25 for it. Had it been running, it was worth about 100 times that (yes, about $2500). I listed it on eBay, and sold it for over $800 to a guy from New Hampshire.
Finally, I once bought a fixer-upper motorhome locally in September 2003, paid $500 for it. Again, wrong time of year to sell a motorhome, generally speaking (maybe if you're in California it doesn't matter). I promptly gave it a 15 minute cleaning, took pictures and posted it on eBay. Sold it for $1250, so it was certainly worth the $80 in eBay fees!
My Rule of Thumb... if your car would sell well from an ad in the classifieds, or by putting a For Sale sign in the window, then do that. If it's an oddball or highly sought after car, list it on eBay Motors.
[ edited by powerwebmedia on Sep 8, 2005 12:10 PM ]
posted on September 9, 2005 09:45:31 PM
Don't waste your time with ebay to sell your car. Well over 90% of the people bidding on cars just do it to have fun. The rarely buy leaving you out a ton of money.
You are much better off listing it at autotrader.com.
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Alive in 2005
I have to disagree with you Stone, Maybe its because I sold 6 cars on Ebay motors and they all were used cars not new cars.
I think the key to selling a car is to be very honest with all you information and make the opening bid price a price you will except if you only get one bid. Don't put a reserve but instead put a buy it now price.
Also, be fair in you opening bid price and the rest will take care of itself.
Just how I feel since I have had a little experience with Ebay Motors.
The fees are well worth the coverage your car receives.
Autotrader sounds like a good place also, but I have never used them.
But I will check them out since I have a few more cars to sell,
posted on September 10, 2005 04:33:49 AM
I have had had six eBay Motors transactions myself too. Three were as a buyer, three as a seller.
eBay Motors sells more cars by 9:00 am on a given day than most car dealerships sell all year, and it's getting bigger every month. I did some research on eBay Motors about a year ago when I was taking an ecommerce course, plus with own personal expereience, I must say that it's an excellent place to buy and sell motor vehicles - for the most part.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, some vehicles are much better suited to eBay than to listing locally. Autotrader.com can also be a good place, but in my personal experience, it hasn't been as successful as eBay Motors. Not sure which one gets more exposure. The only negative experience I've had on eBay Motors was once when a 13 year old kid used the Buy It Now in the last 12 hours of a heated auction on a friend's 1965 Ford Mustang. It was a hassle, I had to relist, but eBay credited me the fees.
Vehicles I have sold on eBay Motors:
1965 Ford Mustang
1973 Dodge Motorhome
1984 Honda Nighthawk 650 Motorcycle
1992 Dodge Spirit (the only vehicle that did not sell on eBay Motors, later sold it through local newpaper classifieds)
Vehicles I have bought on eBay Motors:
1988 Ford Tempo GLS
1992 Ford Tempo GL
1994 Ford Mustang Convertible
The vehicles I sold would have never sold in the local classifieds for as much, and I'm doubtful they would have done as well in autotrader.com. I tried selling my father's 2001 Pontiac Sunfire with Auto Trader, but in the end, it was sold through the local newspaper classifieds.
The vehicles I bought were absolute bargains. Those people would have got more money for them with Auto Trader or their local newspaper classifieds. Some vehicles are better suited to eBay Motors, some are not. It can work to your advantage or disadvantage. As with any eBay transaction, you are prone to a deadbeat bidder or silly kids, but for the most part, I like it.
[ edited by powerwebmedia on Sep 10, 2005 04:34 AM ]
[ edited by powerwebmedia on Sep 10, 2005 04:36 AM ]
[ edited by powerwebmedia on Sep 10, 2005 04:36 AM ]
posted on September 10, 2005 12:23:10 PM
The only way I'm aware of is to set your preferences to not accept bidders with feedback below zero, etc. Also, I believe that if any auction is over $15,000 the bidders must have a credit card on file.
There might be other ways to preapprove a bidder, maybe someone else knows of other ways?
posted on September 11, 2005 08:41:16 PMThe only negative experience I've had on eBay Motors was once when a 13 year old kid used the Buy It Now in the last 12 hours of a heated auction on a friend's 1965 Ford Mustang. It was a hassle
