Is BAT any good? Who has used it?

[unclebilly]

I want to sell my 76 Turbo Carrera.

I'm nervous about shipping the car and not getting paid or being issued a fraudulent payment.

COVID-19 has kinda prevented me from doing an out of country in person deal on the car.

Who has used BAT? What went well? What didnt go well? Were you happy with the transaction as a seller?

My car is a wonderful all original survivor car in excellent condition with most records back to new. I drove it to Luftgekult and back last spring.

[pavulon]

Why not advertise (with a thorough ad) with a price that satisfies you first?

[LWJ]

No experience. Probably a good place for your awesome car.

Consider an alternative. When I sold my 930, I really did't want every idiot on the web picking it apart. It was VERY nice. But, not 100 pts perfect.

I placed an ad on Pelican. No pics. Limited info. I had people email me if interested. I got about 14 responses in 12 hours. Shut down the ad. Sent pics and details to the interested parties. Sold full price after a PPI. Used an escrow service.

Clean as a whistle. Protected me and the buyer from envious nut jobs saying how the carpet nap was wrong or something.

Good luck. Early 930's are special.

[p911dad]

Within the last year I sold a car and bought a car on BAT. it was a good experience both times, got my reserve on the sale and just crossed the seller's reserve on the one I bought. No problems with payment, done with wire transfers. I had previously listed the sale car on Hemmings and Auto Trader, got a few tire kickers, nothing more. BAT "curates" the listings, and not all cars get listed. They were picky about the writeup and I had to edit it several times. Professional photos for a high price car is advised. It is best to show every little blemish and wart and some relevant records.

[herr_oberst]

I sold my car thru a local broker (avant garde) who posted to BaT.
Best thing I ever did.
The broker detailed the car top to bottom, checked mechanicals, took BEAUTIFUL pictures, answered all questions on-line, and arranged payment and shipping. I was satisfied with the money I made on the deal, and it was a lot of fun to sit back and watch the auction. (Those last "2 minutes" could lead a body to hard liquor if you get a couple of interested bidders!)

If you want to see examples of avant garde's BaT work, look for seller 911r. His photography and videos set the standard of what should be expected if one is buying or selling a used car from an online auction, and if you want to create your own auction, you could do lots worse than try and emulate what 911r has done in the past.

[blucille]

I listed a car on BaT fairly recently....I got every dollar I had expected and I hoped for....a good bit above my reserve. I would have been bummed if I got only 10% (or less) above the low reserve, but that’s life....bidding picked up as the end of auction neared....lots of good comments, I had previous owners vouching for the car, and several mechanics that did significant work on the car....great photos and videos.

It was a ton of work, but I think I sold it for more than I could have using any other format, forum or auction.

It did take a long time to get the auction started, and some of the BaT communications took longer than it should have.....but in the end, I’m happy.

If the scrutiny of BaT is a concern at all. Or you have other reservations, I highly recommend a phone call to Paul Kramer at autokennel.....I’ve bought cars from paul and know many people who sold thru paul and it’s always a great experience. From both sides.

[unclebilly]

Thank you for the input so far. What does BAT cost? How much if it doesn't meet reserve?

I have plenty of great shots of the car as it was featured in Pano 7 years ago and more from another pro who shot the car for another magazine article that wasn't published. I have a hoist so I can detail the underneaths and get plenty of photos there too.

I will have a look at what 911R has done - this should prove quite useful.

I guess in the meantime, I could post it on Pelican and see what happens.

I have sold a car to europe before and would do so again. That car was the chump 911 and I made the seller come see it first as it was possibly the WORST running 911 race car (cosmetically) on the planet. Given Covid and the travel restrictions, this options is not in the cards.

[gregpark]

I sold a car on it, a good experience. Truly a good deal at $99. for a week of national and international exposure. I can't see myself buying a used vehicle without driving it but it sure worked for selling. I'm in norcal and a socal guy bought it on trust and pics. A car hauler showed up, I helped the guy load and that was that. He's happy, I'm happy. Be truthful, take lots of pictures and wear a thick skin.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I sold my car thru a local broker (avant garde) who posted to BaT.
Best thing I ever did.
.

What did the dealer charge for his services?

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

What did the dealer charge for his services?

I was charged an amount that both parties found agreeable.

I'm convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that I made a lot more money going this route than I would have done on my own, and all I had to do was remove personal items from the car, drive to AG and drop it off.
A while later my car was listed, and maybe 10 days after that I picked up a check.

I learned a lot, and I may try to list a car myself in the future, but for a relatively high dollar car I used the pros from dover and I'm happy I did.

[Scott Douglas]

As a follower of BaT, and a photographer who is on their list and has photographed a car for sale, I will say that 911r gets lots of criticism for 'artsy' pictures that don't always 'document' the car all that well, but, they sure do look pretty.
IF I were selling a car I'd rather have good photo's that document the condition of the car rather than have them used as desk top photo's by all the lookie lou's.
YMMV.

[herr_oberst]

^
That's the first I've ever heard that, but I don't hang out in photographer's circles, so yeah, I guess.

Josh does a great job monitoring each of his auctions, answering all questions and providing follow up photos if a potential buyer wants to take a closer look at something questionable.
All I can say is he did me a great service. I don't have an affiliation, just a satisfied cu$tomer.

Plus, I like the BaT model. It's very well done IMHO.

[Scott Douglas]

I read a lot of the comments on a lot of their auctions. Granted they don't get a lot of comments about the pic's not documenting the cars, but enough of them have been posted that I would recommend limiting the 'art' shots to a few, rather than the majority of the ad pic's.

[speeder]

I've bought and sold on BaT and I think that the OP's 930 would do extremely well there if it is photographed and marketed properly. A big part of that is answering questions promptly and not getting adversarial in the discussion thread. Good cars get praised there and crap cars or sketchy sellers get the reception they deserve.

It costs something like $100, the buyer pays a fee on top of the selling price, which goes 100% to the seller. Financial fraud is not an issue if you use common sense wrt long distance transactions. Obviously, the car does not leave your garage until funds are completely verified in your bank account.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

I read a lot of the comments on a lot of their auctions. Granted they don't get a lot of comments about the pic's not documenting the cars, but enough of them have been posted that I would recommend limiting the 'art' shots to a few, rather than the majority of the ad pic's.

This is good advice. A beautiful, "art shot" for the cover photo will get a lot of positive attention but then stick to informative, high-res photos of every inch of the car. You can post an almost unlimited number of photos. DO NOT use old photos, (other than maybe the art shot on cover), that really pisses people off. Good luck!

[onewhippedpuppy]

One point of clarification, BaT provides the listing, nothing more. If your car sells they collect the buyer fee and then you are on your own for the vehicle payment and title transfer. They offer zero escrow services and if the seller flakes you are SOL. They also will not re-list your car if the buyer flakes.

I’ve never had an issue writing comprehensive for sale ads with detailed photos and as such find BaT to be non-value added. I have listed two cars on BaT, their ad was in my opinion mediocre as they omitted much of the detail that I provided. Expect at least a month lead time until your ad is listed and they will push for a low reserve to insure that your car sells so they get the buyer fee. Neither of my cars met reserve and I sold them for far more on my own. I also tried to list an SC and 986S with them, they pushed for such a low reserve that I again sold for about 25% more on my own. If you don’t mind waiting and don’t want to deal with the for sale process hassles it’s probably a good option, and sometimes certain cars that are “hot” (like air cooled 911s) bring stupid money when there are multiple interested parties. Your 930 is beautiful and would likely do well on the site. Wish I could make you an offer!

[blucille]

In general, BaT frowns on old photos if they can tell they are old. A friends photos were rejected because they had been taken 6 months prior to the auction and it was obvious based on the seller being in colorado and the weather conditions didn’t match what was in the photos. They frown on cars that have been advertised elsewhere - but an ad here on pelican wouldn’t be enough to raise a flag. A recent auction had on pcar market during the time of the bat auction. Many cars also appear on dealers’ sites.

Yup, $99 is all the seller pays.

[John Rogers]

When I sold my 914-6 race car to Puerto Rico, I charged $26,000 for the car and all the extras and $2,000 for an enclosed trailer for it as the buyer didn't want a 36 foot toy hauler! He sent me 10 x $1,000 US Postal money orders every 3 days until the total was reached. I had the car listed on the big VW site which is seen around the world. I was able to get our credit union to verify each money order which went into my checking. When we sold my wife's 1987 930 Turbo the buyer in L.A. had his bank do a transfer to my credit union and their bank never saw my account numbers.

[slow&rusty]

It cost $99 to list a car on BaT..simple.

Good detailed photography of every square inch of the car without HDR and limited artsy fartsy...simple

Staying plugged in with the barrage of questions and comments...simple

Don't take it personal with the keyboard warriors who are self proclaimed "experts"...simple

Brag on the receipts and money spent...simple

Shipping from Canada....NOT simple. While simple for some of us who have done it, this one thing will scare most Americans (esp. post Covid-19) and WILL affect your final hammer price. Happens to most if not all cars being sold out of Canada.

[Yorkie]

I used Pelican,s own Techweenie to sell my ‘70 911S. Super nice guy and he simply puts together buyers and sellers for a flat fee. He knows his Porsche’s and has a very good list of vetted buyers. Could not be happier with the transaction.