Ebay S: What went wrong, here?

[Jack Olsen]

This nice-looking 71 S Targa didn't generate a whole lot of interest. I think it was discussed on the board, but maybe I missed something.

I've seen a lot poorer examples sell for a lot more money. Is it the bad ad copy? The so-so photos?

[Wayne 962]

Just no silly people willing to bid it up to $40K this week...

-Wayne

Could be that everyone got a copy of that darn Kelly Blue Book...

[jluetjen]

I have two interpretations of what happened:

1) The seller's reserve was set "too high" which thus prevented a deal from happening. He obviously feels that he could do better.

2) The market was not able to reach an "equalibrium point" between the buyers and the seller.

Having seen a lot of "reserve not met" auctions (most of the sub-$10K Porsche listings which I have followed), I wonder if Ebay's system has a flaw in how it handles reserve auctions. Right now if 2 bidders do not bid an item up to the reserve, the auction ends with a no-deal. They then will put out the "Private Offer" feature to try to salvage a sale. A different idea might to ask bidders when creating their bids if they would be willing to purchase the item if they are both the high bidder and the reserve is less then their maximum bid. This would treat the item's reserve the same as any other bid.

I wonder if their "Private Offer" system actually favors bidders by potentially closing a deal at less then the original reserve. The trade-off is that fewer deals will be consumated since the seller may not chose to pursue the "Private Offer" through Ebay.

Anyone here good at "Game Theory"?

[carnut169]

1) Seller's feedback is -0-
2) Car in in NJ (rust a definate possibility)
3) Not enough details!
4) Not enough photos!
5) No guaranty of satisfaction....

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Bah, nobody wants a Targa.

[Reg]

how about color?

[Chuck Moreland]

Just not a good ad. Not enough information about the car, not very enticing.

The pictures are not that flattering. Looks like a clean car but the pictures are ho-hum.

Orange has limited appeal.

I think if your max bid is over the reserve on ebay, the bid moves to the reserve price even if there is no other bidder.

[boyo]

eBay is funny that way... My wife will put something on there for $20 and get no bids. Then she'll put the same item for $5, with the same description, and it'll sell for $40.

The description can do wonders. I wouldn't spend $10K on a 1 paragraph ad...

-Boyo

[pwd72s]

I'm among those who saw the NJ location and immediately thought "salt car". Perhaps erroneous on my part, but I still thought it. Paint & bondo and a digital camera can make bad cars look good. PLus, it IS a Targa ...

[silverc4s]

I agree with the many posters here who state that the car was poorly marketed....just too many unanswered questions, and not enough detail & pictures to get into the right range.

ex: 5900 miles???? we all know that's bs, right?

[Kurt B]

Note to all early car owners. Put the RS front and rear spoilers and ducktail on your car.
Put the "Carrera" on the side.
If you do, then I'll follow you and check out your ride, and my passenger will say "It old racecar, but it look fast"
Otherwise, I'll say "Check out that early 911," and my passenger will say "It look old."

This explains that ebay auction.
Oh, and that one is a targa which is not my flavorite model, and others may agree.
Coupe Coupe Coupe if you want to look like a racer (plus the items above), Cab if you want to be sleek and groovin'.

[Early_S_Man]

Numerous obvious problems were:

1. Zero (0) feedback eBay seller ... BIG Warning Flag!

2. Poorly written ad with glaring spelling and grammatical errors == owner doesn't care about small details == arogant, neglectful owner/seller!

3. New Jersey location.

4. Reserve auction ... which really are a good idea, though many buyers don't. Maybe by the tenth or twelfth offering he will have a decent ad! I figure he will correct one problem per relisting, maybe.

The Targa issue isn't ... except for perhaps 2-3 % of the potential buyers ... I don't see too many people complaining about '67 911S Targas! Except, maybe that there aren't enough on the market!

[Harold_89_911]

Originally posted by jluetjen
Having seen a lot of "reserve not met" auctions (most of the sub-$10K Porsche listings which I have followed), I wonder if Ebay's system has a flaw in how it handles reserve auctions. Right now if 2 bidders do not bid an item up to the reserve, the auction ends with a no-deal.

Actually, I don't think that this is true. I bought my 911 on e-Bay with a reserve auction. I had put in some bids earlier but the high bid ($18,700) belonged to another guy, still not meeting reserve. So, just before the end of the auction, I put in a significantly higher bid in ($22,500), just trying to be the highest bidder and not expecting to meet reserve (from my discussions with him expected it to be around 23k -24k). I just wanted to be on top so I would be first in line to talk to the seller about a private offer. With that bid, the price went straight to $21,000, meeting reserve without any other bidders.

During the actual transaction, the seller was very surprised that I had guessed his reserve price. I did not tell him that my actual bid was quite higher.

So, moral of the story, if there is one bidder that is willing to pay at or above the reserve price, the transaction will occur at the reserve price, without requiring a second bidder. I was not aware of this but I guess it makes sense. The seller definitely did not know this either.

[YTNUKLR]

The seller looks like he took those pictures on an overcast day, which wouldn't show the coolness of signal orange! The ad reads like it was written by a 10-year-old and omits serious details such as rust, which it probably would have being in NJ. It's a Targa, plain and simple. If he took a few different photos, added in some HTML jazz matazz and relisted it with a description that looks like someone literate wrote it, it would probably sell. As said before, bondo is a cover-up and can make junk look like treasure for not much $. There you have it.

[cegerer]

I think this goes to Wayne's recent post about colors that make a car easy to sell. This isn't one of them. That doesn't mean it's not a good color, it just doesn't have widespread appeal, at least on a Targa. The color issue is extremely important for Targas, IMHO. For whatever reasons, silver for early Targas with stainless roll bars and black for later Targas with black roll bars look best to my eye.

In this case, I'll bet if the car had been either A) silver metallic, or B) a coupe in the same signal orange it would have topped $20K. Only because it would have drawn more interest.

Lastly, the photos are horrendous and don't show the car at its best!!! Not only a drab day, but they caught all the wrong 'angles' of the car. Had the same car been photo'd by Cal. Classix, it would have been on a beautiful sunny day on a winding road with just the right lighting and angles (and maybe Simone spread-eagled on the hood or something!). And the bidding probably would've topped $30k! -- Curt

[jluetjen]

OK; How about this one? Why did it seem to elicit such low interest? Admittedly it is a 2.0 (Lots of unique parts, low torque) and it didn't have any women of ill repute hung on it like a dead moose, but it is a pretty clean S that sounds like it is reasonable condition. It would certainly make a hoot of a driver or track car, and a fairly inexpensive ticket into the world of the S-car. Why did it get such luke warm bidding?

[stuttgart]

It's just MHO... but i think everyone on ebay tries to low ball the owner i know it's intent to get a good product for a great price, but i think sometimes the bidders feel they should do nothing but low ball everyone and alot of the bids i see look like a joke and i question even placing things on there as the bidders seem to try to play around too much. but i really don't know a whole lot about the ebay thing.. it is just what i have seen. i hate seeing cars that should bring a good price try to get low balled.

Eric Mckenna

78Sc

[cegerer]

Wasn't this the same car that was subject of a thread about 'the most honest eBay ad' or something? Maybe there was a little TOO MUCH detail in that ad for the average eBay buyer??? In any case, the rust is a major concern. The seller indicates it needs a new door or door skin right off the bat. That would pretty much necessitate a paint job for the whole car to do it right. So I think - as is - this could be good driver and maybe not worth much more than the $10k high bid. But to get into top condition, requires some major $$. Most of the early cars selling for top $$ on eBay are 'needs nothing' type cars.

Oh yeah, the photos stink too! Cal. Classix could have sold this for $15k!! -- Curt

[kcope]

take a look at this one

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1855965372