selling on eBay: which works better?

[akku]

so you are going to sell a car on eBay.

So which is the best option?

Put your car up as a fixed price and allow people to make offers?

Start the car really low and use a reserve to make sure you don't get sold out too cheap?

Start the auction at the price you want for the car and get less bids but don't have a reserve?

[scoobypete]

Ive just had my ebay account suspended pending investigation as when i put my grans 04 plate renault kangoo on for 4995 buy it now and with a 4500 reserve,the guy whos final bid was 1800 quid complained to ebay cos i didnt let him have it.............
I know he hasnt got a leg to stand on but jeez.....some people

[Deleted]

Or option four, 99p start with no reserve. I do this when I have no idea what the car is worth & don't really care what I get for it as long as it sells.

Out of the choices you have given I would say option 3 would be your best bet.

[cobblers]

Id always go with a classified ad - People will send you offers that are usually frankly ridiculous, but it lasts a month and you don't have to deal with bidding, or people not turning up etc. Only costs £15 and you don't pay any final value fees or have to deal with cocknocks trying to pay thousands of pounds through paypal.

[speedy88]

3 is best. At least if it doesn't sell you didn't let it go for rubbish money.

[Autofive]

i like 99p start and a realistic reserve

gives the bidders a week to fall in love with a cheap car, then if the reserve isnt met - email all the bidders with a price they can have it for

[Mystery Machine]

99p no reserve. Seriously.

Just sold a car this way (and quite a few in the past) and you usually get way more than you'd expect.....if you get to the end of the auction that is. Often you'll have offers pouring in for buy-it-now's which usually end up in ending the auction early. This is what happens most. My Smart car, my GF's Barchetta, my Nissan Rasheen, one of my older Delica's...all 99p cars and all sold by offers before the end of the auction.

99p NR hooks a lot of people. Get some proper cracking shots and a decent description and you won't go wrong. Bottom line for me with the latest motor was £3,500 (about right for the car) and it went for £4,000

Check item number 250729174058

Then do a search just for the term 'Delica' and then select completed listings....check the prices in green for all other Delica's that have actually sold. See if any come near the £4k I got? Then look at all the unsold completed listings with 'normal' start prices (e.g. £2k) or buy it now prices.

Like I say, 99p no reserve and a DECENT set of photos and description will work wonders in a sea of camera phone pics and 2 line sales pitch. It's the only way.....

[PandaSelecta]

I'm with Autofive on this (shock horror i know ) put it on at £1 then wait for it to appear on forums etc as a 'cheap car that i hope i can afford'.

You also might get someone offering to buy the car outside of ebay for more than you were going to ask

[akku]

I'm still nervous about the "no reserve" business. Especially being close to Christmas. And bad weather. Unfortunately I've painted myself into a bit of a corner LOL. Don't we always...

[Autofive]

snow on the ground puts off a lot of buyers and pre-sale viewings.

put a reserve on, you can still pull the auction and sell outside (avoiding the high fees) before the end.

less scrupulous sellers get a mate (or another ebay account) to bid it up to what they want for it - but once you have done this and relist the car (or other cars) buyers KNOW you are a dodgy seller and don't bid next time (all previous selling is available online to view) and I have noticed these cars never sell for more than their first auction.

[Mystery Machine]

The thing with a reserve is it puts a lot of people off....me included. People look at the listing, see the 99p start but it means nothing because always in their mind they are wondering what the reserve actually is (i.e. "99p start but he's probably gonna want silly money for it?")

My Delica had 215 watchers and since the end of the auction I've had people offering £4,100, £4,250 and £4,300!! Tough to them and to me because I've already taken a large deposit from the genuine and very nice buyers.

99p all the way...with no reserve. Sure it seems like a gamble, but all the other options will put some people off and limit your sales....and possibly your chance to make even more money.

After all, you did ask what the best option would be. You're great with a camera, great with words so perfect for making some good money by selling this way. If in doubt, go through the info I talked about above as a perfect case sample of how 99p NR works better than the other sales techniques. I'm sitting £500 better off tonight because of it. ;D

[tonycocacola]

i don't trust the no reserve route.
i had my 500 sec on a couple of months ago, excellent, honest description and 12 really good pics.
it didnt make the reserve, and no one hit the buy it now.
i still have it.
if id done it bruces way it would have sold for £860, way short of the, frankly, givaway B.I.N of £1750, and £1500 reserve i had on it.
got loads of people offering me scrap value for it too, strangely.

[retrowagen1234]

don't put a reserve on. Just auction it from 99p no res

I use ebay quite alot buying and selling and i never touch stuff with reserves on, Its allways a dreamer that thinks its worth more than it is. Id be more inclined to bid knowing i could win.

Plus as has been said, People get drawn into it, and that whole another £500 wont hurt.. Next thing you know they are bidding at 7k

[Soopahfly]

Just get a mate to bid against

[g40jon]

Nov 29, 2010 20:15:25 GMT Soopahfly said:

Just get a mate to bid against

and hope you don't get caught out and done for fraud.
I find the best policy is to put it on for the minimum you would take for it. anything higher is a bonus.
everytime ive listed for 99p no reserve, it either sells for 99p (mind you its normally junk anyway!), or doesnt sell. but then I don't cheat, by getting a friend to bid the listing up. People are getting wise to ebay these days and don't tend to bid till the last few seconds.
with selling cars on ebay classifieds is deffo the way to go

[arrocuda]

Ebay is a very unpredictable medium I have found......... things that I expected to get little if any interest in have sold for way more than I thought and have experienced the complete reverse with things that I expected a bidding frenzy on going for almost nothing. Not just cars either. I sold some lab equipment on ebay a few weeks back and one item in particular saw no bidding until the last millisecond when all the last second turkeys piled in to it. After it was over I received 3 emails offering more money than the guy that won it. Truth is.... they all wanted it for nothing!

[retrowagen1234]

To be fair, I wouldnt list anything atm... Its a bit slow.... I cant imagine someone buying a car for a friend for crimbo....

[composimmonite]

I never bid on reserve auctions. I wait until someone else has reached it before I get seriously interested.
My vote therefore is start price is the min you'd accept.

Paul H

[Lewis]

I always do a 99p start, with the reserve set (if appropriate, most of the time I run it without) as the minimum amount I'd accept. It encourages initial bidding and gets lots of interest rolling in, from numerous parties, which encourages further bidding

[Deleted]

I'm just about to have to sell 2 of my cars due to lack of funds i need a daily and I'm not selling the van so any other cars i have are going on the bay at the end of the week just hope i don't end up losing out on them to much sadly it will be the V8FB wagon that goes along with the MK5 tina