I'm new to Ebay as a seller. I manage a small used car dealership south of Boston, MA. I've had three vehicles up for auction on Ebay and my opinion so far is that this has been a complete waste of time and money. Is it the economy, or are Ebay users just cheapskates? I had one vehicle for auction with a starting bid of $3,999.00 with no reserve - $1,500.00 below it's retail value, and no one bid. No one at all - it's a nice car - it's now on our lot with a sticker price of $5,250.00 and we took a deposit on it today. The first day out, but a five day auction on Ebay produced nothing. I just don't get it. I tried to auction another vehicle with a starting bid of $1,500.00 and no reserve - half the vehicles retail value. Again, no bidders but lots of questions like "Would you sell this car for $1,000.00?" I felt like replying: "Are you f***ing nuts?" That car I wholesaled today for $1,500.00, the first dealer I called took it. Why are Ebay users so scared to buy? Possibly because I am new and have no feedback yet? Any thoughts would be appreciated as I'm at a loss as to what is going on here.
Added 11/05/07 Last week I sold a full size Chevy van for $4800.00 Average retail value of the vehicle was $5800.00 When I posted it on Ebay I started the bidding at $500 with a reserve of only $4,000 - The highest bid we got was $1500 I'm probably all done trying to sell on Ebay but am still hoping someone has some ideas as to why no one here seems to want to spend any money, even if the vehicle is worth considerably more than the asking price.
Just a suggestion. You might consider building some positive feedback. Buy 'stuff' you would ordinarily buy anyway, but through the same user ID you post cars through, usually about 10 should be a good start. Builds trust, I'm told. People are skeptical of used car dealers to start out with, anyway. Can't hurt. Good Luck, Don
Sounds to me like you have the wrong attitude. I am a used car dealer here in Orlando, FL and I too had problems understanding the eBay buyer. However a year later we have learned a lot and sold a lot more! We now average 30 vehicles per month just on eBay. I would recomend using a listing service like eBizautos or Auction123. They have tools that allow you to not only list on eBay but also to other thrid party web sites. I recomend using one of these because it helps you reach more people faster. Also make sure your listing is very attractive, professional and most important you must have 30 or more pictures of each vehicle! Don't make the vehicle look better than it is, try being honest and take pictures of any defects. eBay shoppers are NOT cheapskates as you suggest, they are simply smarter buyers. They research and won't just impulse buy to buy something. Especially not a vehicle. I sell used cars that are well over 10k some are over 100,000. I have sold every thing from beetles to bentleys all on eBay. So don't give up! Instead of looking for less complicated customers, try working for more skills...:-)
Hmm...both of the other people are right. I'm in the market for (probably) a used car, and I'm using ebay for research and comparison purposes, so it'll still be a while before I buy a car. What I'm looking for in a seller is someone with a known track record and lots of positive feedback. I'm also looking for lots of specific information on a select number of brands that are close to where I live (so that I can look and test drive them before I commit to buying them). In the end, I don't know if I'm going to buy through ebay, but it might lead me to a listings' dealership for a purchase.
the other two issues you're facing right now is a drowing economy and the amount of people that put their junk on ebay. Just like dealers have done for years, in taking their crap cars to auctions so they don't have to sell it to a customer, many of them are now taking them to ebay instead. The feedback thing is huge for that very reason though. Good luck!
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
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