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I sell a lot of cars, mainly classics to be honest. I find that eBay usaly has the best results; You do have to put up with a lot of questions from people, and almost sift through the time wasters to get to a genuine buyer, but every car I have ever advertised on there- I seem to have sold via their site- even if I have had to re-list the car several times due to people wining bids then not showing up to collect etc. EBay themselves are pretty good to be honest as if its an auction and the car is won by a idiot- then they will reburst you your fees to put it into another auction etc. A classified add is about £20 but it will last a month and pr*cks cant press a 'buy it now' button or win a bid- they are forced to email or phone you to make the contact- thus you should only have genine people getting in touch.
In my opinion and experiance car clubs are mostly full of people who want to know your car inside out, and ask all weird questions- and they are not at all interested in buying- they just have too much time on their hands, and every time a car pops up for sale its almost a novelty for them to all gang up on who can pick out the most fualts etc! (By the way not all people on clubs are like this, just always seems to be a few).
I have also done well on 'Car And Classic' before- here you do purely get people who are interested in your car and you don't tend to get the tyre-kicking type! Being free to advertise- I always give it a go, and its touch and go if you get any interest- but I have to say its good for the more expensive class of classics especialy! I have sold a few cars internatianaly on this site.
Facebook- well I have brought a few cars here before and you get some nice people. I wont advertise on here though because it seems mostly full of people with no money who are low-balling you- or are envious of what you have have and so go out of their way to let you know 'their mate has a better one...' Again not all like this, but just not the place for high end cars in my opinion!
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In my opinion and experiance car clubs are mostly full of people who want to know your car inside out, and ask all weird questions- and they are not at all interested in buying- they just have too much time on their hands, and every time a car pops up for sale its almost a novelty for them to all gang up on who can pick out the most fualts etc! (By the way not all people on clubs are like this, just always seems to be a few). My Dad's mate restored a Lotus Mk VI which he bought as a barn find with extensive front end damage from its last race decades earlier. Crucially the front couple of inches of the spaceframe had been cut away & disposed of which meant the frame number was lost. The Historic Lotus Register validated the car and were 95% sure which number it was and so it was registered with them. My Dad had restored a VI from 'bramble find' condition, he had no doubts his mate's VI was the real McCoy, I had spent countless hours helping my Dad with his restoration and I couldn't see that the frame on his mate's car was any different to our VI. When his mate put his VI up for sale, (at a giveaway price for a VI), there were a lot of rumours circulating by local HLR guys that it wasn't a real Mk VI. He was turning down insultingly low offers from people who were presumably these same guys. (Thankfully someone from out of the area was switched on enough to grab a bargain).
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The last couple of cars I’ve sold have been on Facebook Marketplace (low end £300-£2000). Lots of interest, no fees and easy to filter out people who can’t write very well. I always tell people to message me when they are on their way. This cuts down a LOT on waiting around all day for people who don’t show.
I used to list on eBay but fees for selling cars are quite high and then there is the problem of non paying bidders. I still find it a good place to sell car parts, and other things you can post...
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Last Edit: Jul 5, 2020 16:53:00 GMT by sarkie83
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cjj
Part of things
Posts: 275
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I sell a lot of cars, mainly classics to be honest. I find that eBay usaly has the best results; You do have to put up with a lot of questions from people, and almost sift through the time wasters to get to a genuine buyer, but every car I have ever advertised on there- I seem to have sold via their site- even if I have had to re-list the car several times due to people wining bids then not showing up to collect etc. EBay themselves are pretty good to be honest as if its an auction and the car is won by a idiot- then they will reburst you your fees to put it into another auction etc. A classified add is about £20 but it will last a month and pr*cks cant press a 'buy it now' button or win a bid- they are forced to email or phone you to make the contact- thus you should only have genine people getting in touch. In my opinion and experiance car clubs are mostly full of people who want to know your car inside out, and ask all weird questions- and they are not at all interested in buying- they just have too much time on their hands, and every time a car pops up for sale its almost a novelty for them to all gang up on who can pick out the most fualts etc! (By the way not all people on clubs are like this, just always seems to be a few). I have also done well on 'Car And Classic' before- here you do purely get people who are interested in your car and you don't tend to get the tyre-kicking type! Being free to advertise- I always give it a go, and its touch and go if you get any interest- but I have to say its good for the more expensive class of classics especialy! I have sold a few cars internatianaly on this site. Facebook- well I have brought a few cars here before and you get some nice people. I wont advertise on here though because it seems mostly full of people with no money who are low-balling you- or are envious of what you have have and so go out of their way to let you know 'their mate has a better one...' Again not all like this, but just not the place for high end cars in my opinion! The one problem with eBay, generally, is that if someone 'Buys it Now' but intends to 'Buy It Never', you can be forced to wait 14 days before being able to cancel/relist it, if they are uber c-things and decide to completely ignore you. Didn't realise C&C was free these days, so thanks for the heads up - will try that and Gumtree first I think.
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Last Edit: Jul 5, 2020 19:52:21 GMT by cjj
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Ask people for a paypal deposit if they cant come stright away. Agree a deadline for collecting. Bonus is you get free money if they don't show. Half the time is the communication on the seller that causes problems. Got to be clear and too the point and not leave anything open ended.
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Don't overlook we buy any car or a cash sale to a dealership - even if it's just to give yourself a base bottom price to use as a guide for what offers to accept.
I didn't get a sniff trying to sell our RS nismo juke for £12k but in the end got £10k no hassle from WBAC.
I also sold my mom's fiesta to them which was low miles but scratched, dinked on every panel, and i got more than i expected for that.
I know they only go on to sell them at auction for potentially a profit but it's worth comparing the time you have to wait for a private sale to go through with the £££s you lose out on compared to private sale.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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I recently sold a full-on chopped, channelled all steel diesel powered hot rod pickup. A proper ‘dreamers’ car when it comes to sales.
It needed some work and didn’t drive (but ran) and I was explicit about this in the listings. I put in on Facebook shared to the appropriate groups, and eBay, at the same time.
I had a lot of very stupid questions from aforementioned dreamers, lots of questions about does it drive etc. Showing that 80% of people just didn’t read the description, so much so it did make me wonder why I bothered writing it. and some that I suppose where vaguely sensible about physical dimensions, presumably to get it in a garage or on a trailer. I also had loads of swap offers for utter sh1t worth 1/4 of my asking price. This questions came through both channels, there were kinda two tier of Facebook ones, the ones that were simply ignored/brushed off straight away, and those that did turn into serious conversations but were mostly with people who had no actual cash, they had to sell something else first. The eBay ones were obviously from people who I would describe as well-meaning dreamers. Their questions showed they were considering the practicalities of owning such a vehicle, but also showed they’d never take the plunge and actually buy one.
It sold through Facebook. A guy paid me the full £7.5k without even seeing it after a phone call. He collected a week later and didn’t quibble or pick fault with anything, he actually said he thought it was quite cheap for what he got.
When I pulled it off ebay I then got a load of abusive messages off some guy who’d been hassling me to take a grand less without even coming to see it.
Tbh, I thought paying for eBay was a bit of a waste of money. It’s a long time since I sold a high value car on there, and tbh it’s not the market it used to be.
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I've had most luck with eBay classified adverts. Bullet point write up with plenty of info (not an autobiography) Good pictures and generally over priced so you can haggle down to the price you actually wanted. Make offer turned on, auto accept turned off and auto reject turned on an anything that's just plain rude 😂
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cjj
Part of things
Posts: 275
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Don't overlook we buy any car or a cash sale to a dealership - even if it's just to give yourself a base bottom price to use as a guide for what offers to accept. I didn't get a sniff trying to sell our RS nismo juke for £12k but in the end got £10k no hassle from WBAC. I also sold my mom's fiesta to them which was low miles but scratched, dinked on every panel, and i got more than i expected for that. I know they only go on to sell them at auction for potentially a profit but it's worth comparing the time you have to wait for a private sale to go through with the £££s you lose out on compared to private sale. On something newer maybe, but it's just not worth it on a 10+ year old car. Their online prices are renowned for being based on minters, then you get money deducted for every tiny mark/ding and so on. I would do it out of curiosity if it weren't for the fact you have to give them contact details to get a rough idea
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Although I've mainly had experience of buying rather than selling recently some of the features of that are useful for working out where to place things.
I've found both gumtree, Autotrader and eBay have better search functions than Facebook. If I put 'Lancia Beta' into 'cars' I tend to get ads for Lancia Betas, with a few misspelled ones at the bottom and some other bits and pieces. With Facebook, you search for 'Lancia Beta' and it tries to find some within 153km or whatever it is, and then defaults to 'searches outside your parameters' which include anything from a 154km away Lancia Beta to a Mondeo being sold next door.
More specialist stuff where people are searching for a specific car (or part) would probably be best on eBay, but if you're just looking to sell a modern car to a person who wants a modern car then there do seem to be more people looking at FB marketplace.
I have found that the 'buy it now' function is only really worth it if you also tick the 'request immediate payment' bit.
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Me personally... Always been a Car&Classic man for buying and selling. In my opinion you just get people there with a modicum of awareness and a specific objective. So if they make contact about your car for sale it's likely to be because they are genuinely interested. That said, it's a slow way to sell compared to more modern selling platforms. Ebay, as others have said I will do ebay for greater speed and reach when selling, but I will disable all means of anybody hitting a button. I use it as a classified ad only, as well as a way to communicate to interested parties without having to hand over my number and email to random strangers. Made the awful mistake last year of weakening on my rule and deciding to activate a buy-it-now button on my Scimitar ad because I'd already bought another car and I just wanted it gone. Still had no luck, and then I forgot about the buy it now button. Then we went on holiday and on the plane ride over I remembered I hadnt deactivated it. I turned to my wife and said "I know I've promised no car stuff on the holiday but when we land I must quickly tap into the airport wifi and switch off the buy-it-now option so we don't have to deal with an ebay buyer on our holiday. We landed, I hit the wifi, and sure enough... somebody had hit that button, mid-flight. They had had weeks to do it but somehow it only happened as we flew for just two hours, at 5am, for three week's holiday away. That seems to be the ebay way. Maximising inconvenience in the most annoying ways possible. I don't know how they do it. Next time I sell a car, which might be fairly soonish if I feel like it, I'm going to try Facebook. Marketplace, yes, but also the many groups on there around related specialist automotive interests. Stuff just seems to go FAST if you're selling it in a group discussion. I don't mean a marketplace ad that gets posted automatically, I mean a description and photos as a post in the discussion. Just last week I posted a bunch of car parts, some unopened Upol clearcoat and hardener, some bikes and various other bits and bobs... all of it got snapped up within hours. Only thing that didnt sell so far is my spare rear axle, which nobody wants. Might stick that on ebay with a buy it now button
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cjj
Part of things
Posts: 275
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I've already had a messer. Probably my own fault, but at the start of the week I got asked if they could view at the end of the week, so I've put others off. He said he was coming to buy and all that jazz, but messaged this evening to say he's now not looking to buy a car fickle, in contrast to the initial dialogue, but can't say I didn't expect any of it! I'm sure it's not going to be the last! I'll have to stop 'reserving' viewings though.
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Phil H
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,448
Club RR Member Number: 133
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Never “reserve” without a monetary incentive; as I always say to anyone interested “it’s still here as I’ve not had any money yet” - and “first one to give me the cash gets it”. Anyone serious will understand (and find a way of getting a deposit to you) and any chancers will magically disappear.
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Last Edit: Jul 9, 2020 20:04:55 GMT by Phil H
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^ I second that. I will sometimes use a booked viewing as an excuse to pace out the viewings and prevent having a chaotic day of many people asking to view. But unless somebody gives me money then whatever it is is still very much for sale.
If somebody wanted to hold a car worth 10k with say a £250 deposit, that's okay, but they will have to agree to a deadline and stick to it or lose that deposit. If I have a 10k car and I'm left with it plus £250 cash for a month longer, that's no good to me. I could have sold it five times over in that time, and each day that goes by is a day it could get damaged randomly, or stolen.
So a deposit buys an agreed amount of time. Thereafter its merely my payment for the inconvenience of having my ability to sell it compromised.
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cjj
Part of things
Posts: 275
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Deep down I know all that, but I try and be a 'good guy' about it. Unfortunately, it just puts you at the mercy of others.
I like to prepare to see a car - do my research, get quotes, mentally prep - so it's disappointing when someone sells it from under you (I wouldn't give a deposit on something I don't even know exists), so it's a case of "do for others what you'd like yourself".
Never mind though - onwards!
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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My thing with deposits is minimum 10%.
If someone can’t pay a 500quid deposit on a 5k car to secure it, realistically are the going to be able to pay the balance?
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Jul 13, 2020 15:49:50 GMT
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I paid a deposit on a car last week unseen, travelled near enough 200 miles and it was significantly rustier than I was expecting. I explained my issues, and in fairness to the seller he offered me my deposit back straight away. I ended up out of pocket on the train fare and the insurance cancellation fee, but as I was looking at the issues I was wondering if I was going to get my deposit back. I don't think holding it a few days for me cost him a sale to someone else (it's been for sale for a few months), and I was clearly a serious buyer given my travel, but I was still impressed.
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Jul 15, 2020 12:13:23 GMT
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I have sold cars in the past by ebay classifieds, gumtree and facebook market place
I tend to ignore default questions like "still for sale?", or ones that go straight in with "best price pls?"
people can be irritating at times with questions like those
when I buy a car on whatever platform I always go in with a few questions which shows that I know a bit about what I am buying, the seller will then feel a lot less like they are getting messed about, I would never ask what the lowest price was until I have seen the car for real.
I agree with others on this thread, try the "free" options first, and pitch it at a price YOU would be happy to get, plus say, £100. for haggle room.
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cjj
Part of things
Posts: 275
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Jul 19, 2020 10:53:42 GMT
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Had a first viewing today. Guy was enthusiastic and wanted to view and eventually turned up. I had put up a lot of detailed photos but it was a bit odd as he acted like he hadn't seen the inside before. Sat in it, had a look in the boot, his Mrs sat in it and said it was nice, started it briefly and then said "Ok thanks, we'll think about it". No driving, no opening the bonnet, barely anything to be honest. Any attempt to have a friendly conversation felt pretty much ignored/blocked out. Closest I've felt to actually having a dealership on my driveway Guy was Eastern European at a guess, and so it might just be a cultural thing. I can't even say he was a tyre kicker because the whole thing seemed oddly about what the car was, rather than my actual car, if that makes sense
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Jul 19, 2020 12:03:46 GMT
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Tbf every Eastern European person I’ve dealt with have been spot on, I’ve bought and sold a couple of Mercs to them, I’d guess it’s much the same as any person In life Either a total timewaster or a decent honest buyer I’m definitely advertising my astra on car and classic and classic car weekly once my log book arrives
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Fraud owners club member 2003 W211 Mercedes E class 1989 Sierra sapphire 1998 ex bt fiesta van
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