EBAY: I want the truth!

Most of the auctions on eBay for cars are auctions that have a reserve price (like the 360 in the link). If the reserve price has not been met, then the car will not sell. This auction the car has not met the reserve, so a "reserve not met" is listed by the auction.

There are auctions that are listed as "no reserve" auctions. If this is the case, the car will sell for the price listed at the end of the auction.

Hope this helps.

-Tom

 

There is no way to see if the auction is a 'no reserve' auction unless they advertise it in the listing header. There are many shady practices on Ebay such as shill bidding, id theft, non existent items for sale, duplicate auctions, and the list goes on. If you are even thinking about buying a big ticket item off an ebay 'auction', you should read as much as possible about the process before hand. Ebay and their sister company Paypal are about as useless as tit$ on a bull if you need help after you get defrauded. Trust me. I found out the hard way.
BT

 

You can tell if it's reserve or no reserve but looking next to the current bid. If there's a reserve, you will see "reserve not met" or "reserve met" in blue letters. With no reserve, there will be nothing.

 

As has been said many times on this forum, Ebay is a great way to get cheap nationally (and internationally) based advertising for your car. But it's a wide-open, raw market and for buyers who are unable or unwilling to exercise due diligence, it's a pit for their money.

There are great buys on Ebay for the knowledgeable buyer but it's not a market for the uninformed or lazy buyer.

I've bought many, many items on Ebay as have many people on this board- and not gotten burned- but I've also walked away from deals that had a bad smell.

I'd say, all told, I've spent well over $100K on Ebay (no, never bought a car) and am very satisfied with all purchases.

If you'd like to see a well thought-out ad by a reputable seller, take a look at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-NAIA-Show-Car-Check-out-the-description-inside_W0QQitemZ4607740687QQcategoryZ6290QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This is an ad by a F-chat member. There's no way you can get national exposure like that in one of the major car mags that reach the target audience. Yes, there's always Autotrader, etc but look at all the info on the Ebay ad. It's a great tool but that's all it is: you're on your own when you use it!

 

teachdna has it right, but I should also mention another tact used by some less than honest sellers.

Sometimes they will run a "no reserve" auction and either (1) pull it before it ends if the price isn't high enough...some say "item advertised locally and subject to local sale", (2) have alternative Ebay id's where they shill bid the price up (evidenced by a large number of very low feedback buyers...often with "fresh" id's.. bidding on an expensive item, or (3) holding a "private" auction where you can't see the id's of those bidding against you.

(I actually had a dealer tell me by phone that he was doing #3... after I turned down his offer to stop the auction early, I said "I'll take my chances with the no reserve auction"... he laughed and said "do you really think I'll let the car go for less than I offered it to you? It will end up at or above that price.")

WAY more car transaction close due to the advertisement angle of Ebay than ever close ON Ebay.

Bill

 

Hey that ad looks familar (thanks Jeff for the nice compliment).

Jeff is correct - I had ads in Dupont, Autotrader, Collector car trader - I had about 3 calls in 2 months (people just looking - no real buyers).

In less than 1 week with the ebay add - I have had 10 calls - 2 of which I believe are somewhat serious. I do not expect to sell the car on ebay at all - it is more generating calls. It would be a big surprise to me if someone clicked the buy it now without calling about it or wanting to see it, discuss it, etc.

It is a great tool for exposure for sure - overall the ad cost about $65 bucks which is about the same as putting it in Dupont or another site/mag.

Rich

 

from bidders who sellers know are interested in cars...helps them develop a very targeted mailing list they then rent out. Also helps out with dealership traffic and the weak dollar might sucker in a off-shore buyer, sad to say. Our sports cars, esp. our ferraris are very cheap relative to their markets. Ebay is very dangerous place for cars..too easy to pass off accident damaged cars, yes, even with car fax.