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Selling car on ebay?
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:47 pm
by Conan
Thinking of puting my car on ebay - but wondering if anyone else has tried it and found it useless.
just worrid that even if someone does bid the right price i still might end up with a tyre-kicker on my hands.
Anyone got any thoughts. i was gonna whack a reserve on it so as not to lose it for less than a grand

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:15 pm
by Gwynleym10
Ebay is a strange game...
If you do decide to here are a couple of pointers.
1)Firstly start from 1p and have no reserve, a reserve is pointless as it cost more money to list and it puts off bidders. If, 24 hours before the end of the auction, the bids are way off (i.e less than Ԛ£350) what you REALISITCLY want - end the auction.
2) Pay extra for a more prominant ad you'll get the extra Ԛ£15 or so back easily
3)Have lots off good photos
4)Describe ALL the bad points as well as the good, detail is the key. Then you wont have loads questions.
5)Say in the add that you will take sensible offers.
6) only let people with good feedback bid.
7) make sure you get the title correct with all the "searchable" words
8)List it for 7 days at least.
I have done it with no problems
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:43 pm
by dobbie82
Hiya,
I have sold a few cars on eBay (err about 6!) and bought two.
I dont think cars sell for as much on ebay as everyone wants a bargain, but you get hundreds of potential buyers. (I had over 1600 look at my touring in under a week)
I always put a "buy it now" price and most of the time it sells for the buy it now price.
I agree a reserve probably puts people off, but i still put one so as not to make a loss.
I usually list the bad points first, then sell the reader the good points.
Touch wood, I have never had a tyre kicker yet

Everyone was extremely pleased with their car.
ONE IMPORTANT TIP
Never....NEVER use paypal when selling a car. They took money back out of my account, held it for 6 weeks then gave it back to the buyer because they dont cover the sale of cars! (lucky i had an honest buyer who paid it direct into my bank account) (sorry a bit off topic there!)
Good luck with your sale!
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:58 pm
by Gwynleym10
Never....NEVER use paypal when selling a car. They took money back out of my account, held it for 6 weeks then gave it back to the buyer because they dont cover the sale of cars! (lucky i had an honest buyer who paid it direct into my bank account) (sorry a bit off topic there!)
eh I paid (well part paid) for a car by paypal....
I dont think cars sell for as much on ebay as everyone wants a bargain, but you get hundreds of potential buyers. (I had over 1600 look at my touring in under a week)
Really? I think there is a lot of overpriced turd on it......but there is also a lot of good bargains as well (from people who don't follow the golden rules....)
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:04 pm
by Widge
If you do decide to go through with it, don't put a reserve, but DO put "Advertised elsewhere, I reserve the right to end this auction any time." Then if it's not going for as much as you want you can end it whenever you want. There are loads of cars htat are withdrawn with a couple of hours left. Just think of it as cheap advertising avalible to lots of people.
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:13 pm
by jonb
conan
i would avoid putting your car on ebay. not unless your interested in a p/x for a h-reg cavalier/rover 216i/suzuki vitara etc. i think you get the point.
ebay is full of losers. and is best avoided if you want to sell your car. although i think the point that gwyn made was wrong, as most bidding goes on in the last hour of an auction.
your car looks tidy enough, i say put it in the autotrader. you may get close to what you want for it then.
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:26 pm
by Widge
If you think ebay is full of loosers mate I think you are missing the point, I have sold loads of stuff on ebay including 1 car which went for the buy it now price to a very nice chap who picked it up the next day. And I have also bought my 325i and my flatmates 628csi on ebay. I got more junk emails offering fake bank drafts from ungo bongo land from having it on the autotradr website, and they kept coming till I changed my email address 6 months later. Fair enough you may not sell the car on ebay, but it's a good way of getting interest and offers and it's cheaper than auto trader. But if you are not comfortable with it then don't do it.
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:31 pm
by Conan
cheers for the advice guys -might give it a go but will do it very differently having read all your stuff!

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:32 pm
by ad318i
if you dont want any offers to excahnge your car for crap.
Just put on
dont e-mail me about a px as this will not be accepted and your bid removed.
or just ignore there messages
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:42 pm
by hoshy
When I sold my last car I put it on eBay and Autotrader at the same time. I the end it went to an autotrader buyer because they came up with the goods and were keen.
BUT. I got an awful lot of serious interest from eBay also. Easily as much as I got from Autotrader, I'd generally agree with Gywn.
eBay is full of a lot of good people. Some tossers yes, but hey you get them everywhere, right ?
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:47 pm
by Widge
Well said. Ebay reaches a wide audience and is a cheap advertising medium. The more you sell on it the better you get at ignoring the bad people. Do both really, I would/did!
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:51 pm
by 6potWil6pot
I sold my old E30 on ebay, i listed it for 10 days and paid extra for more photos and to appear at the top of searches etc!
Yes alot of losers said "part ex for this and that" even tho i slammed in bold NO PART EXS CONSIDERED!!! The positive advice given here is sound tho!!
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:53 pm
by hoshy
And don't forget to ignore all the Western Union/Nigerian scams etc...
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:01 pm
by 6potWil6pot
Yes beware the infamous Nigerian car scammers, i had one when selling mine

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:46 pm
by agent006
I sold my old Audi on ebay. Reserve at the lowest i would take from a regular buyer, and buy it now at what i wanted to sell for. By far teh least amount if nutters compared to local paper and autotrader. Sold for the buy it now price. Paid cash, sorted.
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 7:08 pm
by daveyw
sold a few using ebay but won't use again. twice now some prick that obviously doesn't get out much has bid, won, not paid and left negative feedback! he done it the second time under a different user name. i WILL find out his proper address. he has done this to a few folk now but picked on the wrong person this time. everyone wants you to give your car away on ebay. don't think you'll get what you're looking for even if your car is worth the reserve. good luck