Selling a car on Ebay, does it work??

[alan kemp]

After a company has gone bust on me recently and in an attempt to save my business and pay my suppliers, I have to sell my car, (amongst other things). I have watched a few on Ebay but they dont seem to make their reserves so therefore dont sell. The reserves are not given but the highest bidders seem well below what I would assume a reasonable price might be.

Would I be wasting my time trying to sell on Ebay or is there a better method. I have used Automart years ago, twice without success, once with success.

How would you sell your car.

This is not my challenge truck by the way, nothing would part me with that.

[Tonk]

i've never sold a car on ebay, but i have sold through pistonheads before reasonably quickly

[JSG]

I sold my Series III on ebay using the buy it now feature - had lots of bids but someone viewed and paid the £2k I'd wanted.

[alan kemp]

i've never sold a car on ebay, but i have sold through pistonheads before reasonably quickly

What is pistonheads?

Landy do sell on Ebay, lets face everybody wants one. I was talking to some guys who have a work based L/R club, they all intend buying one but only 2 out of 5 actually have one.

[Tonk]

pistonheads

register, post some pics up, desciption etc, and wait for response

[Happyoldgit]

Bear in mind Ebay fees are based on final selling price. If I were you I would ensure you set an appropriate reserve and make it clear that anyone with less than say a score of five positive feedback or any negatives should make contact with you prior to bidding. Autotrader can still provide a reasonable amount of local punters.

[Jon White]

IMHO the problem is with reserve prices. If I see an auction hasnt met the reserve I just ignore it as do alot of other people. I reckon its better to set your starting bid as the minimum you'll accept for the item (more or less like a reserve).

I've had no luck selling cars on ebay at all. Everyone always seems to want something for nothing, make you silly low offers, or you get a super high selling price at auction close, and when you contact the buyer get asked to ship it to Nigeria etc.

I've found Autotrader to be the best outlet in all honesty.

Jon

[alan kemp]

Bear in mind Ebay fees are based on final selling price. If I were you I would ensure you set an appropriate reserve and make it clear that anyone with less than say a score of five positive feedback or any negatives should make contact with you prior to bidding. Autotrader can still provide a reasonable amount of local punters.

I thought it was £30 to sell above a certain price bracket. Good advice on the 5 positives but does that not put people off?

Had a look at piston heads, similar cars to mine have been on there for more than 20 days, the prices seemed OK, I guess it just a case of putting it on at a genuine realistic price and hitting all media options for selling.

I take it the Nigeria type of bids are dickheads wasting everybody's time?

[sotal]

I've sold a couple of cars on ebay, really easy and with both I got more than I wanted for them, neither sold properly through ebay though so wouldn't show as selling - which happens a lot.

With both I had people come look at the car first and make me an offer whilst they are there to save them having to go and come back, then I had to cancel them on ebay.

Also a colleague tried selling a rover on ebay which didn't meet it's reserve, but straight after it finished (with no bids) he had 5 people contact him wanting to buy it and ended up selling it for £50 less than the reserve.

It's a great way to get it infront of a lot of people.

[SteveG]

sold two Range Rovers on ebay motors with no problems at all. Both went on 7 day auctions, with reserve, which was set at part-ex price.

Made over reserve on both and no hassles in sale. Buyer had to pay 500 pound deposit in 48hrs and rest in 7 days.

As you have said ebay motors fees are different from rest of ebay and are a fixed fee, based on ranges. IIRC it cost 40 pounds per car to sell.

Cheers

Steve

[Happyoldgit]

Personally I found that setting a reserve and starting the bidding below attracts more interest ...but what works for one may not work for all and all that

[GBMUD]

I have sold four cars and a caravan on ebay, in each case I made it clear (implied) that the car/caravan may be withdrawn and that anyone wishing to come and view could do so and make an offer there and then - try to suggest that an offer would be appropriate rather than say so outright. Each time I have sold to a personal visitor and ended the auction early having sold for a price I was happy with.

The key to successful ebay trading is a good advert. Give all the information as well as the negative aspects of your sale. Add LOTS of pictures, including of any dents, damage etc. That way you come across as an honest guy who is not trying to hide anything. I always include a phone number in my ads.

My last two ads, which attracted personal cash buyers within 3 days, were numbers 320147313721 and 320147335496 if you want to take a look.

Chris

[T1G UP]

^^^^^ agreed. I use eby as an advertisement,set the reserve,SELL the vehiclle,best points,history etc etc,be honest aand put the write to remove on it,let people view the vehicle,put a 10 day auction on and sell it using the advert privately,saves on the fee's if you pull it.

[Mikey]

My mate has bought 2 jeeps via ebay, I also know people who have sold cars via ebay. As others have mentioned it is a good way to advertise and people will often come to view and make a private offer.

Defo worth using. Nothing to stop you advertising in Autotrader at same time. Make sue that you mention that the vehicle is also being advertised elsewhere so the item may be withdrawn if it is sold. Nothing to lose really. I agree about requesting that only bidders with good positive history need bother.

Good luck.

[Happyoldgit]

^^^^^ agreed. I use eby as an advertisement,set the reserve,SELL the vehiclle,best points,history etc etc,be honest aand put the write to remove on it,let people view the vehicle,put a 10 day auction on and sell it using the advert privately,saves on the fee's if you pull it.

So you are just using Ebay as an advertising board but concluding the deal elsewhere?

[Ruuman]

all very good points,

I've started putting youtube video's on my sales recently and that seems to work well.

only other thing is make sure you time the auction finish for when most people have got home from work and had their tea, 7/ 7.30pm ish and when selling a car make sure you don't end on a weekend so that people can come and view easily.

I personally don't like reserves and just start at the lowest I'm willing to accept.

[alan kemp]

All good points, need to go out and buy a camera now as mine was busted on the last event. I think I will post it on e-bay with the above points taken into account, also Autotrader and pistonheads.

[dred90]

I have sold four cars and a caravan on ebay, in each case I made it clear (implied) that the car/caravan may be withdrawn and that anyone wishing to come and view could do so and make an offer there and then - try to suggest that an offer would be appropriate rather than say so outright. Each time I have sold to a personal visitor and ended the auction early having sold for a price I was happy with.

The key to successful ebay trading is a good advert. Give all the information as well as the negative aspects of your sale. Add LOTS of pictures, including of any dents, damage etc. That way you come across as an honest guy who is not trying to hide anything. I always include a phone number in my ads.

My last two ads, which attracted personal cash buyers within 3 days, were numbers 320147313721 and 320147335496 if you want to take a look.

Chris

I'd do what chris says, encourage viewings and suggest you're willing to sell at the right price off ebay..

worked for me selling two motorbikes on there..

[FridgeFreezer]

I'd echo what Chris said - write the description well, list all the good & bad bits, include millions of photos of the bits you'd want to see if you were buying it and include your phone number. If you set a reserve, you'll get a load of people asking you what it is and either not bidding, or bidding £1 over it so IMHO I'd just start it at the minimum you'll be happy with and save everyone's time.

Oh and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - you always get muppets asking stupid questions, sometimes you get scammers, and often people expect to pay well under the odds for things. However, with a good description and the right muppet punter you can sometimes sell for more than you were expecting.

Audience is important - if it's a nice car they will be different than those who bid on a cheap old banger, so priorities and expectations will be different. People buying an old beater don't care about dents but do care how much life there is left in the mechanicals, for example.

Oh and don't pay ebay for photo hosting, upload to Photobucket etc. and paste them in for free. Same with the "themed" auction wallpapers, you can copy and paste the HTML code into your listing for free

[stobbie]

I really hate it that almost every ad is pulled again on Ebay nowadays! I buy a lot of cars on Ebay, and I live in the netherlands so I'm not in a position to come and view first. I try to place a bid at the end of the auction (if it's not cancelled).

Ebay is an auction site, not a cheap way to advertise your car. An auction should run it's course! This way a lot of people will loose interest in buying on ebay, and selling will become harder too!

[maverick]

what you selling now !!! is it the disco ..sold a few but the last one was sold using the classified bit cost around £12/18 on for 28 days can put your price and ono plenty of pics no scamers or people with less than 20 poss feed back with priyer arrangement and gives them time to view without having the pressure of bidding in an aution and dont accept a bankers draft

[alan kemp]

what you selling now !!! is it the disco ..sold a few but the last one was sold using the classified bit cost around £12/18 on for 28 days can put your price and ono plenty of pics no scamers or people with less than 20 poss feed back with priyer arrangement and gives them time to view without having the pressure of bidding in an aution and dont accept a bankers draft

So how should you get paid, I am selling an 03 5 series BMW.

[rtbarton]

So how should you get paid, I am selling an 03 5 series BMW.

Cash is king!

Although with a valuable car don't arrange to meet at night in a deserted carpark to do the deal.

[Warthog]

IMHO Get a PAYPAL deposit at the end of the Auction then the rest on pick-up in cash, Thats if it gets to the end of the auction, like everyone has mentioned. Cars seem to be purchased outside of ebay.

A few other things:

1: Get an associate to post up a question like; "Thanks for letting me view the car. I have decided i really want it, as i hav'nt found one in such good condition. Would you considered a buy it now?" In 3 cars i have sold, this seems to get a few more calls and mails to view it.

2: Get an associate to "Shell Bid" on the product. So as to try and push the genuine bidders up a little. Dont go crazy though! Has been known to work pretty well. But your associate could end up with it?

3. Sunday Evenings is the best time for a Auction to end. Week auction best to end in the evening before 9pm (Kids bedtime, out to the pub otherwise) If you have an auction for the morning. Then after 10 o'clock seems to be best. After those with work access to the www, have done their bit for the day at work.

Hope that helps a bit?

[will_warne]

Alan, I've just bought a car through ebay although I used it more like a classifieds (saw the ad, called the seller and went to view) although I've used pistonheads in the past aswell. I think what you use really depends on what the car is and how you come across in the description - a friend of mine sold a very dodgy Alfa on ebay 4 months ago but he was totally upfront about all the problems and he ended up getting £1500 when he'd been expecting half that!