Are trolls destroying BAT auctions?

[mrdeezy]

I have seen so many auctions adversely effected by false statements or malicious statements with the sole purpose of negatively affecting the value of a car. This has been a growing problem on Bat. Many collectors are choosing not to list on a BAT for this reason. What do you guys think?

[Unobtanium-inc]

The peanut gallery has long been a problem on BAT. The people who make a game out of tearing a car apart and asking unanswerable questions really take away from the people who post real knowledge and ask real questions.

---Adam

[nathanbs]

Honestly I have yet to see dishonest or malicious comments that were inaccurately made. Any noteworthy examples?

[JMS935]

BaT’s refusal to negotiate the reserve probably keeps more cars from getting listed than shying away from the usual BaT trolls.

[mrdeezy]

True, its just the perception. Say if I told you your coworker was in jail last night. Even if it’s not true. You would look at him differently. If I told you a girl you liked had a disease you probably wouldn’t be interested even if it’s not true. I just keep seeing these things over and over again. The optics are really bad. It seemed to be a great idea to find the perfect or rare car. It’s turning into YouTube or twitter. Some stuff is legitimate, of course. But it just makes me upset. There is a 997 for sale with low mileage. Some new guy made about 10 negative comments in a row that were completely absurd. The guy is just some moron, and he just ruined an auction. The 996 turbo last week some guy accused the car of having frame damage over and over again. Ruined the auction. Just dumb unfounded stuff like that. It takes a lot of time to do an auction photos and videos etc. Plus it takes weeks just to get the listing up. So it’s frustrating.

Bat negotiate reserve? They don’t care. They have a several weeks long line of cars to sell with a skeleton crew. They make money hand over fist. I doubt they even care. It’s so much easier to do no reserve. But with the trolls and in the winter I would never consider it. You either play on their playground or it’s off to eBay and the forums., unfortunately.

[wayner]

I rarely tune in to BAT auctions because of the peanut gallery.
It just turns me off so while I used to enjoy seeing the show, and even some of the early comments, now it just seems to be oneupmanship amount the peanut gallery as to who knows more or can comment more than the others.

The site seems to be as much a competition to be heard and recognized with a car auction as the sideline.

[patina]

Originally Posted by JMS935

BaT’s refusal to negotiate the reserve probably keeps more cars from getting listed than shying away from the usual BaT trolls.

My experience has been quite the opposite. First of all, they do negotiate on reserves. Secondly, in my opinion they are fairly accurate with their reserve expectations and if anything lean towards liberal vs. conservative with what they are willing to do.

At the end of the day the site exists(and profits based on) cars actually selling.

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by mrdeezy

True, its just the perception. Say if I told you your coworker was in jail last night. Even if it’s not true. You would look at him differently. If I told you a girl you liked had a disease you probably wouldn’t be interested even if it’s not true. I just keep seeing these things over and over again. The optics are really bad. It seemed to be a great idea to find the perfect or rare car. It’s turning into YouTube or twitter. Some stuff is legitimate, of course. But it just makes me upset. There is a 997 for sale with low mileage. Some new guy made about 10 negative comments in a row that were completely absurd. The guy is just some moron, and he just ruined an auction. The 996 turbo last week some guy accused the car of having frame damage over and over again. Ruined the auction. Just dumb unfounded stuff like that. It takes a lot of time to do an auction photos and videos etc. Plus it takes weeks just to get the listing up. So it’s frustrating.

Bat negotiate reserve? They don’t care. They have a several weeks long line of cars to sell with a skeleton crew. They make money hand over fist. I doubt they even care. It’s so much easier to do no reserve. But with the trolls and in the winter I would never consider it. You either play on their playground or it’s off to eBay and the forums., unfortunately.

I’ve seen the other side of the that. I’ve seen a guy saying a car has frame damage(it did) and everyone else brushing him off and shouing him away, saying he didn’t know what he was talking about(he did). Like I said I’ve yet to just see the saboteur that actually was successful in doing so. Often times it’s all about the sellers response to the idiotic comment that can spoil the vibe. When I sold a few of my cars on there I honestly think any negative comments and my responses to them helped my auctions.

[robertmark]

Originally Posted by Unobtanium-inc

The peanut gallery has long been a problem on BAT. The people who make a game out of tearing a car apart and asking unanswerable questions really take away from the people who post real knowledge and ask real questions.

---Adam

Who tore a car apart? Example? I've seen that happen with the 356 guys doing their typical nit picking. But haven't really seen it anywhere else.

[996AE]

Its why the last car I let go I used a high end consignment shop.

So very tired of these no money dreamer keyboard warriors.

[specialtyoneinc]

I hop on BAT every once in awhile. They seem to be pretty quick at taking down the trolling comments. Buying a car online or at auction will always have its risks. BAT seems to be vetting cars pretty well in general compared to their competition.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by JMS935

BaT’s refusal to negotiate the reserve probably keeps more cars from getting listed than shying away from the usual BaT trolls.

That has been our experience as well. This was was rejected by them.

[mrdeezy]

It seems to me that dealers who do any kind of volume there can basically name their reserve. For others not so much. Reserves are usually 10-20 percent below market value from what I have seen for the average guy.
I have also seen troll comments deleted more often on cars that would sell for max commission for bat. On sub 35k cars they could care less.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

That has been our experience as well. This was was rejected by them.

Most of us are not fans of Autozone wheels, but BAT often has cars with Ebay rims like that. Did they reject the car outright, or could not agree on the reserve?

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Most of us are not fans of Autozone wheels, but BAT often has cars with Ebay rims like that. Did they reject the car outright, or could not agree on the reserve?

Umm aren’t those Porsche Speedlines?

[Reno775]

I saw an auction for an 80’s 911 a few months back that someone bid on, ended up as winning bidder and immediately posts a message that he didn’t think he’d win and wanted the seller to try to double back with the 2nd highest bidder. No idea what ultimately happened but I found it very troubling. The only reason to bid on a car you don’t intend to buy is to manipulate the result of the auction. As I mentioned, I didn’t follow up on whatever happened, it’s not my car, wasn’t bidding and my mind was made up but now that I’ve seen this thread I’m curious..

[sugarwood]

The real answer is to stop following BAT auctions. They are a waste of time and very boring now. I stopped opening their emails a long while back. There was very little to be gained after the first year or two, and it became the same old comments deja vu. Every 911 for sale has the identical cut and paste comments "compression check! expect a top end! rebuild needs to be factored into the price!"

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Most of us are not fans of Autozone wheels, but BAT often has cars with Ebay rims like that. Did they reject the car outright, or could not agree on the reserve?

shug showing his true knowledge, or lack there of....

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by nathanbs

Umm aren’t those Porsche Speedlines?

His ignorance is showing again.

[MrBonus]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

That has been our experience as well. This was was rejected by them.

Their acceptance/rejection process is utterly illogical and from my conversations with them, based on how many of a certain vehicle they're getting submissions for during the current period of time.

I tried to list my rust free, restored Ghia and they rejection the submission. When I asked why they wouldn't list it, they said they received too many at that price point so they wouldn't list mine. Meanwhile, they had sold a few rust-filled ones within the few months prior with limited seller participation.

Regardless, I ended up deciding not to list my 911 with them as I didn't want to spend a couple of hours putting together an auction only to get rejected. I don't foresee myself using them again in the future to sell either due to the unpredictable nature of their acceptance process.