Classifieds - Best Bang for the Buck vs. Exposure

[WERK I]

Title pretty much say sit all. Who do you think is the best venue for selling Porsche's to enthusiasts by private owners?

[Christien]

Been wondering the same thing myself since I put my baby up for sale. I figured I'd start here and Auto Trader online (free now for private listings). I'd rather avoid craigslist for now because of the flakes. Rennlist requires membership for posting wts ads, and frankly I don't think it's worth it - most of the cars listed in their classifieds are ridiculously overpriced, so I doubt many serious shoppers look there. They seem to sit there for a long time, too. Posting in the local rennlist forum is also a pretty small market.

I'll be curious to see what others have to say.

[dienstuhr]

For what it's worth, I am seriously looking to buy a 911 and here is where I look:

Pelican
thesamba.com
PCA Mart (mostly overpriced stuff there)
rennlist (ditto)
jaxed.com "mash" (collects results from craig's and ebay)
kijiji

I sold my '72 240Z through a kijiji free ad.

Cheers

w.

[Christien]

Hey, that's really helpful - thanks for the glimpse from the other side of the coin!

[racer]

I think it depends on the type of car you are selling/buying.

When I sold my modded SC, I posted to Pelican, Rennlist and PCA.

When I sold my stock boxster, I posted to those, but ALSO to Autotrader and Craigslist because the type of buyer may not have been an enthusiast.

when I looked for another 914, I looked to 914world, 914club and thesamba first, and then Pelican and Rennlist as there seem to be fewer on those last two boards.

If I wanted to buy a longhood 911, I'd look on pelican and the early "s" registry first.

For a quality 356, I'd hit 356 registry first but would scout the others I've listed on the offchance you find one being SOLD by a non-enthusiast.

[Matt Monson]

For all the negative comments and grumbling people do about it around here, I think that Ebay is one of the single best venues for getting your car out to a wide audience. In the last few years I have sold several early cars and every time Ebay was where I found my buyers, even though not all sales actually went through Ebay.

In the summer of 2007 I sold a 1970 911t. I advertised it here and on craigslist for about month before I put it on Ebay. I was asking $6000 in my ads, had very little interest, and commonly had people offer me $4500. I ran an Ebay auction on it and sold it to The Netherlands for just shy of $9000. The car had over 5000 views. I've never had a car here or on other boards get over 500 views!!!

While all of my experiences haven't been that stellar a sale, I've had good experiences on the whole with Ebay. You constantly see members here posting threads asking about cars they've seen on Ebay. For every car I've sold on Ebay or advertised there, I get dozens on inquiries. When I list them elsewhere online I get a couple of inquiries. Just something to consider since I don't see other people even mentioning Ebay as somewhere they shop or sell. Ebay offers a large and worldwide audience if you're willing to ship. I've sent several cars overseas and it continues to be a very viable market for these cars, even in economic down times.

[floete]

Well, here's a question. As a buyer, how can you buy a big ticket item like a car with any fair assurance that what you're getting is what you think you're going to get. My experience is that many owners have blind spots when it comes to their cars, so their descriptions often don't include the bad stuff or even the neither here nor there stuff, often only the positive. They're not being intentionally dishonest; they're just not seeing the car objectively, and who can blame them, if it's a car they love? And let's not even talk about dealers; that's a whole other kettle of fish.

As a buyer, the only way I could see working with eBay is by keeping an eye out for cars that don't sell, then contacting the owner, seeing if you can settle on a price, and then getting a PPI to prove things out.

How would you do it, from a buyer's perspective?

[Christien]

I couldn't agree more. I would never buy a car sight unseen without a PPI (or even locally without a PPI) and thus would never buy an ebay car during the auction, because I can't see getting a PPI done and getting results within a week. I suppose it's possible, but not likely. However, I think your idea of approaching the seller of a car that didn't sell at auction is a good idea, and I suspect that's what many people use ebay for - cheap advertising, then close the deal outside ebay. From a seller's perspective, if my car doesn't sell through the usual channels (like here, early S, etc) then I might try ebay. But ebay is full of hassles due to flakey bidders. Check out my recent experience for a laugh (or maybe a cry):

why does ebay suck so badly?

[floete]

Why can't there be a 5th option "ask for buyer's address so you can punch him in the face"?

-- Ha, good line, Christien!

[anthony]

I wouldn't discount craigslist. I bought my SC off of craigslist after a test drive and a PPI.

[Matt Monson]

As a buyer, I have used Ebay exactly how you guys suggest. That's how I got my 914 Bumble Bee. I watched the car run through 2 auction cycles before I contacted the seller. As the 3rd auction was running I was talking to the seller. We negotiated a tenative price on the car with the contingency that that if the car didn't check out I was free to walk on the deal. I sent him a $1000 deposit via pay pal.

Friday after work, we left Boulder and started driving to Houston. We got to Houston about noon. I spent an hour going over the car, paid the balance in cash, loaded it on the trailer and started driving home. I got the car home about sundown on Sunday night.

For something like that to work, you need something I find is often absent in this day and age. That thing is a modicum of trust. In the couple of days I spent talking and emailing with the seller, I developed that trust. At least enough trust to send the guy $1000 (secured by the fraud protection of Visa) and to personally go down there to view the car.

I know I am in a unique position in that I can do my own thorough PPI. But the fact of the matter is that there are good Porsche independents all over this country who can do a PPI. But even with that inspection, I would never pay the final balance on a car without seeing it in person. This means a willingness to buy a plane ticket or take a drive. It's just the nature of the beast when shopping on a national market for a collectible. It's not a Buick Le Sabre we're buying. It's both a financial and emotional investment for most of us. While we're not generally looking at it as a way to make money, we do have a reasonable expectation that what we spent on these old cars we're going to be able to get back out of them at the end. Obviously the same logic doesn't really apply if you're looking for a 3.2l Carrera or a 964 as a driver. But it holds for the early car market, which is where I play.