any ebay car sale advice?

[hkspwrsche]

Have avoided selling anything on ebay because of the stories. anyone have advise for car sale procedures?


thanks,

[trader220]

Ebay is fine for getting your car out there so that the buying public knows it’s for sale. You may even find a buyer in the auction. My first experience selling at car on Ebay came about a year ago. The top bidder at auctions end emailed me saying he would be in the area in 2 weeks and will come over and “check out the car” then. My add clearly said that I needed a 2k down payment after the auction ended and then full payment within a week. It also said clearly I was NOT interested in any sort of trade. After dismissing the top bidder, I offered the car to the second place bidder since his bid was greater then my reserve also. He was really happy and said he would take care of sending me the 2k down payment right away. Then he started asking about swapping titles since his bid really consisted of a trade plus cash for his 951, where he placed a market value on his own car.

Basically expect anything and everything from the Ebay crowd. That’s not to say you can’t find a good buyer there, I have had success selling cars there. My experience has thought me you get a better quality of buyer from Auto-trader. Since it’s not an auction site the people really have to contact you before they make an offer and you can get a feel for their seriousness.

I have also found as much as you want to just be rude to what you think is an obvious tire kicker you never know what buyer lurks within those people. The “no tire kickers” usually discourages about nobody. I had plenty of people call me via my adds in Autoweek and on Auto-trader that clearly just wanted to talk about Porsches.

Good luck with the sale, keep us posted.

[jtkkz]

Do not buy something you can not inspect and see personally.

[TMH]

I actually don't think that you can get any better nationwide (worldwide?) exposure for a car you are selling than on eBay. With that said, wide exposure also allows many "unusual bidders" to come out from under their rocks.

Personally, I have bought all three of the current Porsches I have through eBay:

1) The C4 was at a local small, speciality dealer. I would not have known about the car if I hadn't seen it on eBay. Before the auction ended I went down and drove the car, liked it and then had it checked out mechanically. Made an offer to the seller which was above the current bid price (money talks, nobody walks). The seller took my offer, ended the auction (it had not met the reserve), and I got a great car for a great price.

2) I was the high bidder on the '87 Targa when the auction ended, but the reserve had not been met. I e-mailed the seller, who was not well versed in P-Car value. I explained why my top bid was appropriate and that I was willing to buy the car for that price. She needed the money, so I got the car. No PPI on that one, but the price was low enough that I was willing to take the risk. The risk paid off as the car was very mechanically sound, ended up having LSD, and I have used it as my daily driver for the last 14 months without a single issue.

3) I was the high bidder on the '87 Coupe, and my bid had met the reserve price. Also no PPI on this one, as I was going to turn it into a track car anyway. Once again got a great car at a bottom-dollar price. It was local to me, so I was protected if the car was absolute trash when I went to pick it up: If it did not meet the auction description I just would not turn over the cashiers check. But the car turned out to actually be better than the description, and I am quite happy with it. It has done 6 DE days this year without an issue. The only things I have done to it is pull stuff off (weight reduction program), and had a 4 wheel alignment and corner balance done. And I made ~$2000 at a Porsche swap meet selling the stuff I had pulled off it!

Understand that some potential bidders will want you to arrange a PPI for them (at their expense, of course!) Be overly honest in your description of the car, and pay for the extra photos. Be ready to e-mail additional photos at bidder's requests. And, unfortunately, be ready for some real flakes to try and give you low-ball offers, trades, etc. Even your winning bidder may ultimately flake out, but you might want to give an "out" in your description (like they have to pay for your auction fees if they cannot complete the auction to avoid negative feedback). Many times back-up bidders will come through. Start off at a low-but-reasonable price with a reserve. That way you will most likely get a multitude of bidders who you can later contact if the high bidder flakes. Make sure that you are clear on acceptable forms of payment: e.g.: Don't accept PayPal for payment unless you want to eat the fees (something like 3%?).

And if the reserve never gets met, you still may be able to get your bottom line price after the auction, whether to an eBay member, or just to someone who saw your auction.

Finally, be ready to answer many e-mailed questions, some serious and some pretty stupid. One reason that I got the '87 Coupe at such a low price is that the top 2 bidders tried to get in touch with the seller, and he never responded. They got cold feet and pulled their bids, leaving the door open to me getting the car for a steal.

Good luck,
Tom

[jshape]

I sold my '76 912E last year on eBay without any problems. I set a very reasonable starting price (about what I had in the car) with no reserve. I had about 10 bidders and sold the car for a price that was actually better than I expected. I include lots of pictures and gave buyers a link to a hosting service where I had posted lost of pics of the car. Be sure and list every thing that's wrong - no matter how trivial - you'll be glad you did when it sells. You might want to limit bids to bidders that have a minimum of 5 positive feedbacks and no negative feedback. Indicate clearly that you are not giving any warranty at all and that a PPI or other inspection needs to be done BEFORE the auction closes, not after. Be prepared for lots of questions from people that have no idea what they are asking about and some from persons that know as much or more than you do. Hope this is helpful.

[anthony]

Think of ebay as just another online ad. Don't expect to actually sell the car during the auction. Relisting is free so setting a high reserve the first time around doesn't hurt. The question is whether you need national exposure to sell your car.

Write a great ad with lots of detailed pictures. Use you're own web site to host the pictures because the resolution is too low on ebay hosted pics. Most people write crappy ads with low res pictures.

You might even go as far as getting a PPI from a well known shop in your area and including a picture of it in the ad. That may help it sell to those who can't do a test drive/PPI in the 7 or 10 days of the auction. I think a solid PPI would certainly raise the final price by more than the $200 it would cost.

[Randy Webb]

BE sure to figure out the whopping fees from eBay and PayPal....

[epbrown]

I thought eBay charged a flat rate for car auctions? And I've yet to see someone accept Paypal for anything over a grand, personally. Maybe the deposit, but never the entire car. In the case of the 911 and 944, I flew out Saturday morning with a cashier's check and drove them home over the weekend.

Emanuel

[WhyDoIBother]

Haha I'm still in the Bargain News league