| Author | Message | ||
| Patrick (Patrickr)
New member Username: Patrickr Post Number: 21 Registered: 4-2002 |
I work at the Leake Auction Company/Kruse International Tulsa Car Auction every summer. At these auctions if a reserve isn't met, the car most likely goes up on "the big board." The cars are pulled off the turnstile and moved to a "for sale" section. Interested parties can then go to the 'big board' and put in their highest offer for the car. The seller can then decide whether or not he wants to sell it. Many sell this way as the seller doesn't want to take the car home or just wants to get rid of it. Patrick  | ||
| Richard Stephens (Dino2400)
Junior Member Username: Dino2400 Post Number: 93 Registered: 10-2001 |
I bought an ebay listed car after it didn't meet reserve. I negotiated with the seller and the price seemed fair enough at the time and it went smoothly enough. Car turned out to be a lot worse that seller claimed but what the hell - two years later I have yet to see another same make/model of the car for sale anywhere in North America so I probably would have bought it even if I'd known the true story. If it were Ferrari money, I'd certainly inspect myself or have it inspected but this was "just" an $8k transaction when dot.com money was falling from trees (oh, those were the days, ha!). I also sold a '64 Fiat 1500 Cabriolet on Ebay for $4550 last summer. That went smoothly as well. | ||
| Jack (Gilles27)
Member Username: Gilles27 Post Number: 306 Registered: 3-2002 |
Terry, I'm glad to hear of a positive ebay motors experience. When I began looking for my 328, I would check there every day, mostly for the pictures. I just didn't have the nerve to buy a car this way. Otherwise, every transaction I've had on ebay has been great. | ||
| michelangelo pinto (Michelangelonyc)
New member Username: Michelangelonyc Post Number: 24 Registered: 2-2002 |
settign the reserve low and letting it build up works on an item that will get lot of viewers and intrest.. but if you selling a rare item .. i wouldnt take the risk.. i have purchased a bunc of items on ebay and its true once the bidding war takes off i sometimes paid higher than i originally planned just to win the auction.. i the trick is place your bid with about 40 secs left | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 951 Registered: 6-2001 |
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1828570424 speaking of ebay, this wsa on it. It looks like it was owned by a rapper or something like that. | ||
| J. Grande (Jay)
Member Username: Jay Post Number: 377 Registered: 10-2001 |
I sell alot of stuff on ebay also (Ferrari and non Ferrari). I even sold a car on ebay with no stipulations, AS-IS for over $9000US. Everything went smoothly. But yes, the idea was to get exposure for the vehicle, I think most people do that. You'd have to be pretty comfortable about buying something without seeing it first, and most high end sellers understand that. | ||
| Terry Springer (Tspringer)
Junior Member Username: Tspringer Post Number: 70 Registered: 4-2002 |
I just bought a '77 308GTB off ebay. Before bidding, I contacted the seller and requested some stipulations on any bid I made. He agreed if I bid and won the auction, the purchase would be contingent on a full pre-purchase inspection by a mechanic of my choosing and on my personal inspection. With this understanding, I bid on the item and won the auction. I then had the car inspected. The seller had told me the A/C system did not work and the inspection turned up a couple of other things. Because the car needed these things, the seller offered to knock a couple thousand off the auction price. This was enough to cover the necessary repairs and I thought it was very fair. The end result is I met a very nice guy and got a great car at a fair price. I am very happy with ebay.... but as you can see from my experience ebay really is just an ad service. Both the seller and I knew during the "bidding" that there would probably be further negotiations based on the inspection ect. after the auction closed. I think this happens whether the car is sold in the auction or afterward. | ||
| Robert Davis (H2oquick)
Junior Member Username: H2oquick Post Number: 154 Registered: 8-2001 |
Hey anyone who can screw ebay, more power to them. I must admit I am both an ebay buyer and seller. I have been scammed on several ebay transactions where the seller did not have an item for sale, but falsely advertised it and several other items all ending about the same time. Collected the money and hauled ass...usually changing his sellers name and doing the process over and over again. Ebay does not do very good checks to confirm the sellers, when we pulled the private info on the seller after the auction went bad and he scammed more than 30 people out of 26k. The auction info on his home location was Anytown, Anywhere USA..he used a post office box for payment. Ebay only insures up to 200.00, which they keep 25.00 processing fees. And usually you have to fight with them to get it back. Plus in the old days of selling with ebay the fees were much more reasonable...not no more they charge for everything and then some. | ||
| Chris Richardson (Boozy)
Junior Member Username: Boozy Post Number: 154 Registered: 11-2001 |
I sell a lot of things on eBay and you always get more money if you set the reserve at the absolute minimum you'll take for it and let it get bid up. Set the reserve at $1 if you have the stomach for it and let me market determine the value. I watch the Ferrari auctions all the time and it's true; cars rarely sell. If you read the descriptions of the cars you'll be surprised how little info people put up. If they just don't know how to list things properly it's just ignorance, but usually it's that they have something to hide. | ||
| Jack (Gilles27)
Member Username: Gilles27 Post Number: 302 Registered: 3-2002 |
I find that the ebay "psychology" can be pretty interesting. I've sold some items before, and a perfect example was a couple of old (80's) Grand Prix posters. One, which was more valuable, had a very modest reserve. The other had none. Well, the non-reserved poster got bid up and sold ridiculously high, while the reserve poster saw no action. I'm pretty sure that as a seller, you reserve the right to pull an item any time you wish if a deal comes together on the side. As for items that don't have their reserve met, it's pretty common for the seller to contact the high bidder and offer it to them. You also see a lot of re-listings. | ||
| Mr. Doody (Doody)
Junior Member Username: Doody Post Number: 197 Registered: 11-2001 |
EBay is just a showroom for high-end cars. Very few deals get done via EBay. It's really just lead generation. Although the listers pay a listing fee, the real income for EBay is on the commission. Since they mostly sell these things outside of EBay, these guys are largely screwing EBay in violation of their listing agreements. Although it's quite a Puritan perspective, you might want to ask yourself the following: if they're willing to screw EBay are they probably willing to screw you? Caveat emptor. I bought a spot in line off EBay once. We did the deal offline and the seller closed the auction early. I'm sure he didn't pay EBay a cut. As to the "Reserve Not Met" stuff, it's springtime - a lot of bozos are listing their cars on the "there's one born every minute" theory. I inquired about an f-car part that was listed at well more than 2X what the going price is - the response was "yeah, I'm just stuffing it out there to see if anyone bites." Sheesh - there should be a way for us to post comments on sellers like that so people know not to waste their time on unreasonable folks. My two pennies. Doody. | ||
| Stanley DiGuiseppi (Standig)
New member Username: Standig Post Number: 3 Registered: 5-2002 |
I agree with Ed and Marv. I found a 348 on ebay and rather than bid I e-mailed the seller and negotiated outside of auction. It was a good experience for me. I purchased from Naples Auto Sport and I must say the car was Exactly as described on ebay. I did not get it cheap but I feel I paid a fair price. | ||
| Edward Gault (Irfgt)
Intermediate Member Username: Irfgt Post Number: 1421 Registered: 2-2001 |
There is probably no where in the world that your car can get that much exposure for so little money. | ||
| Marv B (Mdb69)
Junior Member Username: Mdb69 Post Number: 51 Registered: 4-2002 |
I would have to agree with Craig. It's a very cheap way to get their cars in the spotlight. I would like to see the % of cars that actually are "won" on ebay. Probably quite a bit less than the % bought afterwards. | ||
| Craig Dewey (Craigfl)
Member Username: Craigfl Post Number: 378 Registered: 1-2001 |
I can't speak about all of them but I bought mine after the auction -- "reserve not met". I approached the seller after it was over and started the purchase process. Since you really don't have the time to do a proper purchase when it's up for auction, I think a lot of the sellers may be using the spot to just advertise the car. | ||
| Bill Sawyer (Wsawyer)
Junior Member Username: Wsawyer Post Number: 191 Registered: 2-2002 |
Sorry, missed the part about eBay. I was talking about traditional auctions like RM, Kruse, etc. I bet eBay has more reverse tire kickers than traditional auctions. | ||
| Bill Sawyer (Wsawyer)
Junior Member Username: Wsawyer Post Number: 190 Registered: 2-2002 |
Generally, these cars go back into the barn and they try to make a deal before hauling them home. Sometimes they are sold, sometimes they're hauled home. Oftentimes, sellers are reverse tirekickers, putting a car in the auction with an artificially high reserve just to see if they can get it. If they don't they tow it home and forget about it. If they do, they make a few extra bucks. | ||
| Dave Wapinski (Davewapinski)
Junior Member Username: Davewapinski Post Number: 183 Registered: 8-2001 |
It seems there are more Ferraris on e-Bay now. However, there are definitely more "Reserve Not Met" status at the end of the auction. I was curious, what generally happens when the Reserve is not met? Does the seller contact the highest bidder and lower the price some? Or does the seller try to sell it another way? I am sure each case is different, but what happens in most of the cases? |