Burned on BAT

[Unobtanium-inc]

I always thought No Reserve meant No Reserve. Won this auction, seller informs me that BAT had told him the car would sell for $30,000 but wouldn't let him have a reserve. So he said he couldn't sell it for my winning bid. In BAT's defense, they said they are going to return my buyer's premium and did try and get the guy to go through with the deal, but I don't think there is much they can do.
Good thing I didn't get on a plane to look at the car, only to find out there was a secret reserve. Or pay for a PPI.
Not a fun day.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-porsche-911t-37/

---Adam

[996AE]

I wouldnt let it go for that either.

Sellers remorse.

He holds all the cards.

Get ahold of the guy and find a more reasonable price and make a deal.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Originally Posted by 996AE

I wouldnt let it go for that either.

Sellers remorse.

He holds all the cards.

Get ahold of the guy and find a more reasonable price and make a deal.

He said he thinks it's worth $30,000. Which is nuts.

---Adam

[Mad Max]

30K for that! I thought your winning bid was a fair price for a project.The market spoke and the owner did not like the answer.

[rxtrom]

My condolences, I had the same thing happen to me on BaT and started a thread here too.

I argued with BaT in my case they should take a significant deposit from the sellers when they list cars, say $2500. Much like they do with buyers when bidding, your CC is charged the premium. IF the seller backs out, buyer gets the $2500 plus refunded buyer fees.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

30K for that! I thought your winning bid was a fair price for a project.The market spoke and the owner did not like the answer.

That was kind of my attitude, 22,000 eyeballs looked at this auction and the bidding ended at $8700, there is the market. No reserve means no reserve.

Luckily, I do this for a living and miss out on cars every day, so it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but if I was a guy who watched this car all week, lined up the funds, bid and won, finally getting a 911 project and this happened I would be furious.

---Adam

[Matt Monson]

That car is a steal at $9k. But the seller is a fool for buying BaT’s line. If he wants a reserve he needs to have one. He should have gone to EBay.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

That car is a steal at $9k. But the seller is a fool for buying BaT’s line. If he wants a reserve he needs to have one. He should have gone to EBay.

I think the major sheet metal work and shortage of needed parts scared a lot of people. I have a front clip, and I have a roof section but most people don't.
Not to mention the car is pretty stripped.
The consensus is the car was worth about $10,000, which was my high bid.

---Adam

[Matt Monson]

Then why does the link say $8700?

Sure, it’s worth $10k to you. But you don’t buy at retail. Let’s not forget that.

[Unobtanium-inc]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Then why does the link say $8700?

Sure, it’s worth $10k to you. But you don’t buy at retail. Let’s not forget that.

No one else bid, so I got it at $8700, but I would have gone to $10,000. I buy at retail if I have the advantage of having the parts to fix a car, like I did here. And this wasn't some CoPart dealer auction, insider's only. This was BAT, open to all, over 11,000 views, so everyone had a shot at this car, and on one wanted to go above $8700, so that's the market, this week at least. To the average dude a car like this is terrifying, very pricey metal work, hundreds of missing parts, and I think the market price reflected this.

---Adam

[techweenie]

Yeah, I was set to bid and had Internet connection problems; asked a compatriot to bid and he got called into a meeting.

But our top bid would have been $10K, and Adam would have beat that, so from my perspective, I just saved some heartburn.

Having dealt with BAT folks on setting reserves, it's very hard for me to imagine the 'seller' was told his car could bring $30K. I saw $14K in welding & sheetmetal work right off the bat (pardon the pun) and complete rebuild of drivetrain plus trim & interior... Easy $75-85K to get that car presentable.

[Matt Monson]

Most of BaT’s buyers aren’t the kind of dreamers who buy a project car. They are monied up and ready to buy something close to their own vision. They are neither restorers nor hot rod builders. I don’t buy that this single auction defines the actual value of this car.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Most of BaT’s buyers aren’t the kind of dreamers who buy a project car. They are monied up and ready to buy something close to their own vision. They are neither restorers nor hot rod builders. I don’t buy that this single auction defines the actual value of this car.

Agreed. Wrong venue for this 30K project, lol...

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Agreed. Wrong venue for this 30K project, lol...

Don’t put words in my mouth. It’s not a $30k either. I say it’s worth half that, which is 50% more than two wholesalers with the ability to fix and flip it, think it worth.

[1979-930]

Car is a big project. You probably got lucky


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Don’t put words in my mouth. It’s not a $30k either. I say it’s worth half that, which is 50% more than two wholesalers with the ability to fix and flip it, think it worth.

Never meant to imply that you did.

[creaturecat]

a narrow escape!

[Unobtanium-inc]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Don’t put words in my mouth. It’s not a $30k either. I say it’s worth half that, which is 50% more than two wholesalers with the ability to fix and flip it, think it worth.

Well, half of $30,000 wouldn't have bought it either, according to the seller. So all the facts stand, no reserve didn't actually mean no reserve, which is BS. I know BAT pushes the NO Reserve angle on buyers, I've bought several cars from people who were going to list them on BAT but didn't want to go NO reserve, so they sold them to me for what they wanted. Maybe BAT should back off the no reserve hard line and things like this wouldn't happen. Sure they might sell less cars because they wouldn't meet reserve but at least you wouldn't have people thinking they won a car, only to have the rug pulled out from under them when the seller has his fingers crossed behind their back, hedging their bets.

---Adam

[Mad Max]

When is an auction not an auction?

When everyone decides, after the fact, to renege on there contract.

The market spoke.

[colingreene]

Sounds like no one missed out on anything other than the seller.