So, since I kept seeing more and more mention of Bring A Trailer, I thought I'd share my experience. Hint: I'm embarrassed for them. Right off the bat they lost the original email to request an auction. After pinging them again after two weeks, they just simply said they didn't get it (even though they had responded). Then they proceeded to come back with question after question dragging out the whole process for another several weeks rather than just giving me a list of things they needed. They insisted on a lower reserve when they clearly dont have an understanding of the Ferrari models. They demanded certain pictures and then didnt use them. They asked for a write up and then cut out all the most descriptive and important service related information. My car has been serviced by Dave Helms and is loaded with his upgraded components, but they stated they wouldnt allow mentioning products or businesses. They decided when to hold the auction and without any warning held the it over a holiday weekend. I sent them a bunch of pictures thinking theyd use the best ones when in fact they used the worst ones. if I had had known this then I would have given the bare minimum but then it would have drug the process out more. I never talked to the same person through the whole process; Three different people to set it up and then a completely different person informed me the auction was live. After it ended there was a bidder that had a timing issue on his screen. How does that happen? Timed web auctions are about the simplest thing to build. Ebay never has this problem. Their response to the failed bidder: too bad. They won't give me the contact info for all the bidders, only the winning bidder. Quite frankly, I dont know how they have any business. I can't figure out if they are just a bunch of arrogant, uninformed idiots or they are all chromosome deficient. Pathetic.
Saw your listing as well: was shocked at final value. Hope you close the deal with the highest bidders! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
exactly. ebay is fairly reliable and has (assuming, but pretty certain) much more exposure. Sure it can be a hassle at times with idiot/fake bidders but in the end its a pretty reliable place. I've bought and sold several cars there.
I'm interested in this as well. I watch their site regularly. Fascinating insights. Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
Watched the auction. Saw it was Dave Helms serviced with upgrades. Nice car. Maybe could have sold for more elsewhere, who knows? Unusual well cared-for t coupe, hard to value as few comparables available. Sorry to hear about your experience. Looks like they have a fairly large audience for the unusual.
I watched the auction(and commented once) and thought the buyer stole a great car. I had some issues with BAT as well(took a while to list, multiple requests for various items, too low reserve,etc). I will say this though-their system(if working correctly) is far superior to Ebay's as everyone has skin in the game. If you bid, there is an immediate hold on your CC for the BAT percentage. This eliminates the game playing and idiocy that has overtaken Ebay of late. I have had multiple bogus bids and "winning bidders" in Ebay that never followed through. Ebay does very little about this and actually make it difficult to even get your auction fees back. Ebay still has a huge audience and sales do occur after an unmet reserve auction, but it's still a hassle.
I don't see many of the cars they sell reaching what I'd call good sales prices for the seller. But I don't track it regularly either. If I was ready for another project I'd kinda like to grab the Pantera GTS project they have up now. Looks like a lot of missing parts too though so it could get spendy to fix up.
I am assuming that Futureman's car was the 328GTB that did not reach reserve yesterday. I too would have been annoyed with the timing of the holiday, a lot of people are not paying attention to BAT when they are not at work, or at least not on their daily routine. I am sorry to hear that the process sucked, I spend a lot of time on that site and a lot of people seem pretty happy with the selling process. I don't feel like it is the best place to sell a Ferrari right now, I don't know why but I think it may have to do with the typical Ferrari buyer. I think in general, when someone decides to buy a Ferrari, they know just what they want and search it out, and it can take a long time. The one week duration on BAT doesn't give someone very long to make their decision. On the other hand, I think when people are buying other interesting cars, they may be more open to what is put in front of them. An orange 240z is awesome, if it was green, that would be OK too. I think condition is the draw on those other cars but the Ferrari needs to be the right one. I'm glad your reserve was not met at that low price, your car seems really nice, I am sure you can sell it for more elsewhere.
Yes, mine was the GTB. I thought the watcher/bidder comments were on point and valid. They have the audience, they just seem like they are in over their head. I thought I'd give it a try before going the Ebay route since I've really been in no hurry to sell the car. (maybe that's a subconscious thing) But winter is coming and I don't want it taking up space in Dave Helms shop again this winter.
I have considered trying to put my '77 GTB on BAT. Interesting info. I will say that I have noticed that they have gotten much bigger in the last year or so. I wonder how much of the issues are growing pains.
The discussions around BAT auctions are quite informative. Some good insight.Alfas especially are well discussed. Ebay, is good advertising platform. interested parties not willing to show their hands will contact seller off ebay. that's was my experience. Mostly wheeler dealers but serious buyers also
No one got a great deal, except Futureman. IT DIDN'T SELL! Nice car, no need to panic. Nothing lost...nothing gained. BTW, if our cars are just flying out the door at exorbitant prices (Hemmings), why is he having trouble selling it for his price?...Answer...because they're not selling! Bubble has burst!
My observation of BAT is that they are looking for cars like yours, with documents and records. You do have to be realistic as to what you will accept in the current market conditions. As Tinterow stated the prices are falling. I am quite surprised they would not let you share the maintenance history as that adds value to your car, along with those upgrades. These are typically the things their readers are looking for. I would have escalated that to the top of their org and not proceeded if they did not allow you to essentially share the history and modifications of the car. If you don't share those then you diminish the value. I personally paid them for advertising a Lotus I sold. The car sold on ebay but the winner did find the car on BAT. I only had correspondence with one person. BAT did not offer auctions at the time.
Sorry it didn't work out for you. I sold a car on BAT a few months ago, everything was easy, no issues.
I don't really agree with that. I don't think the market has burst, it's cooled down. Cars are still drawing Much stronger numbers than they did just a few years ago. Are they continuing to rise? Probably not. But to say the market has "burst" implies the cars are drawing numbers from years ago, when in fact they're still pretty high. You're going to start seeing cars that need work and have miles really get hit on values. The day's of a 60k GTS QV that needs a major or really isn't all that clean with an asking price of 70,000 "BUY IT NOW" are pretty much gone. (or at least the buyer for it is) As for BAT, i've heard a lot of mixed things. It seems to be hyped up waaaayy to much. I had a friend list his Porsche and like others they wanted the reserve to be crazy low. It's a way they can advertise such a high sell through rate. I see why they do it, and it's the owners taking the risk not them. I do like that they hold bidders accountable. Wish eBay did that..
I have never used BAT but have a friend who is a bit of a car collector and he uses BAT quite a bit for both buying and selling. He has been quite happy with it over several years of use, most recently (a couple of months ago) buying a 1938 Packard and selling an MB G wagon. He had a big issue with a 1956 Caddy he purchased last year but the issue was with the seller not following through on some specific items he had agreed to, not with BAT per se.
I would say the if there is a bubble its a selective one. Just like the boxers and Testarossas, great cars bring the money rather than people throwing money at any example that comes for sale. So if most 308's are drivers with mods and aftermarket stuff (which I believe is the case) then they'll be the ones that sit or sell at a bubble burst price.
I think it'***** or miss with BaT. They had a 355 a couple weeks ago that did well. But then a 308 and 328 one right after the other didn't sell. But a couple of months before they had a 328 that sold fot 108k. I've sold three cars on there. None of the three met the price expectations I had for them. (They were not Ferraris) I think it's just hard to tell what's going to light it up on there sometimes.
IIRC, BAT has been a great place to find non-running or project vehicles, barnfinds and odd or unusual cars viewed by someone on a local Craigslist or Ebay and shown on BAT as a friendly "heads-up". Somehow it seems to have changed to an auction site for high end restored cars and the project listings have all but disappeared. Too bad, I liked it the original way. Maybe they should change their name from "Bring A Trailer" to "Bring Your Checkbook".
My impression is that BAT isn't really capable of running the number of auctions they do right now. Some of the cars they select are sketchy, in my opinion.
Bat went from a glorified aggregator to an App version of an auction site. Hype, bugs, little if any accountability sugar coated in eco, trendy, pc talk. In a transaction it's important that all parties are held accountable, including the site. Btw, you can hold Ebay buyer/sellers accountable by suing. Did that a few years ago on a pre-war motorcycle that the seller tried to sell to someone making a higher post auction offer.
Yup. It seems they started getting a lot of eyeballs (I was easily baited early on) then decided to try and morph into something other than their branding indicates I'd say the original spirit was their cars were supposed to be sketchy, that's where the trailer part comes in. When they started moving more legit cars it gets more complex and you're right they don't look very capable. Should have stuck with the trailer!
Futureman's GTB is a beautiful, well-maintained example, so I don't see it fitting this characterization at all. As someone else mentioned, auctions are often very hit-or-miss in terms of who's looking, and when. Maybe posting a notice on the FerrariChat market thread (if that's allows) regarding the ongoing auction might have generated more action.