Selling a car on Ebay, anybody done it? Options

[914bub]

biggest problem with ebay is you have a riskless silent partner. car does not sell, still owe significant listing fee. car does sell, you owe significant listing fee and final value fee. paypal also takes their 4pts. in the end with a sale it works out to about 20% give or take. that cost should be part of your equation.

Actually, they are telling me I can list up to six cars a year right now with no listing fees........... Promo! Trust me, I track what I'm paying and your right. For the smaller stuff, I'm losing 15-20% on ebay and Paypal. I know I'll take a hit on the final value.

Sorry but just about everything injunmort said is way wrong. I've sold several cars on eBay.
There is no final value fee for cars. If the car sells for under $2k it's a flat $60 fee. If it sells over $2k it's a flat $125 fee.
Do a $500 deposit with PayPal, and you pay the 3% PayPal fee on that, which comes to $15.
So for a car over $2k, you pay $140. That's all.

And if the car doesn't sell, there is NO FEE whatsoever.

The remainder of the transaction is handled outside of eBay (wire transfer, cash in person, etc).

Also, if you're a high volume seller, there's actually no listing fee at all. Just a $50 insertion fee regardless of what the car sells for. So if you're high volume on eBay, you'd pay even less.

Yea when I get busy on ebay I usually sell 35-50 items at a time. Ebay sent me a message saying I could list up to 6 cars with no insertion fee so I'm guessing I'm high enough volume for them at least. I like to consistently sell on ebay and did it full time for 6 years but I have a day job and am working 15-20 hours a week of overtime. When I sell high volume on ebay I usually work 6-8 hours a night after the day job. I have four kids as well so I'm kinda extra busy.

One thing that complicates this sale is that I have the glass buggy on a VW pan but it comes with a Dave Barrett tube frame that will also have to be transported so the buyer may be looking at transport costs on 2 vehicles since the frame takes up as much space as the buggy.

Not to hi-jack my own thread but has anybody sold on craigslist? I'm leery of that since I've heard so many horror stories. It's a great buggy with a lot going for it, especially for a California buyer. Maybe I'll toss up some pix and ask for your advice.

[mepstein]

I’ve done a couple cars on Craigslist but I’m selling for my shop so there are always a bunch of us there and it’s the shop address, not my home. Good for low price stuff. If I’m not at the shop when money trades hands, I just meet at my bank. Easiest and safest place for me to trade cash, titles and get a notery signature If I need it.

When I do use eBay it’s because it’s giving me more back than I can do for myself. So listing fees, PayPal fees, ect are a cost of doing business that I happily pay. It’s gets me in front of buyers quickly and easily and usually gets me more than the free sites. Sure, I’m gong to sell 2.0 Fuchs on world. But a 1980 Campagnolo aluminum freewheel, that’s an eBay item for me. It’s just using the right (online) tool for the right market.

[era vulgaris]

biggest problem with ebay is you have a riskless silent partner. car does not sell, still owe significant listing fee. car does sell, you owe significant listing fee and final value fee. paypal also takes their 4pts. in the end with a sale it works out to about 20% give or take. that cost should be part of your equation.

Actually, they are telling me I can list up to six cars a year right now with no listing fees........... Promo! Trust me, I track what I'm paying and your right. For the smaller stuff, I'm losing 15-20% on ebay and Paypal. I know I'll take a hit on the final value.

Sorry but just about everything injunmort said is way wrong. I've sold several cars on eBay.
There is no final value fee for cars. If the car sells for under $2k it's a flat $60 fee. If it sells over $2k it's a flat $125 fee.
Do a $500 deposit with PayPal, and you pay the 3% PayPal fee on that, which comes to $15.
So for a car over $2k, you pay $140. That's all.

And if the car doesn't sell, there is NO FEE whatsoever.

The remainder of the transaction is handled outside of eBay (wire transfer, cash in person, etc).

Also, if you're a high volume seller, there's actually no listing fee at all. Just a $50 insertion fee regardless of what the car sells for. So if you're high volume on eBay, you'd pay even less.

Yea when I get busy on ebay I usually sell 35-50 items at a time. Ebay sent me a message saying I could list up to 6 cars with no insertion fee so I'm guessing I'm high enough volume for them at least. I like to consistently sell on ebay and did it full time for 6 years but I have a day job and am working 15-20 hours a week of overtime. When I sell high volume on ebay I usually work 6-8 hours a night after the day job. I have four kids as well so I'm kinda extra busy.

One thing that complicates this sale is that I have the glass buggy on a VW pan but it comes with a Dave Barrett tube frame that will also have to be transported so the buyer may be looking at transport costs on 2 vehicles since the frame takes up as much space as the buggy.

Not to hi-jack my own thread but has anybody sold on craigslist? I'm leery of that since I've heard so many horror stories. It's a great buggy with a lot going for it, especially for a California buyer. Maybe I'll toss up some pix and ask for your advice.

I usually list a car in as many places as possible.
Craigslist, an appropriate forum (914world, TheSamba, etc), and eBay. Get the thing in front of as many eyeballs as possible for the best chance of a sale.
Just please delete your ad after the car sells! There's nothing more annoying than finding THAT car you were looking for, only to contact the seller and find out it's already sold.

I've never had a problem selling on Craigslist, but if you're concerned about weirdos just ask them to meet in front of your local Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc during a busy time of day. Anyone truly interested in the car won't say no.
I was asked to do that as a buyer last year when I was looking for a Ghia. Honestly I'd rather do that than drive out to some house in the middle of nowhere with a wad of cash and the theme song to Deliverance playing in my head!

[Unobtanium-inc]

I've sold a few cars on eBay, bought others, generally pretty smooth. Take deposit via PayPal then cash or certified funds. I have never sent a title prior to full payment.

When buying you can often find a forum member willing to check out the vehicle. My 914 came from Nevada. A member of the Amphicar forum, very Porsche knowledgeable, gave it a better inspection than I would have myself as he knew what to look for.

UShip has worked really well for me. Just be patient and wait for the right transporter at the right price.

Avoid U-Ship or at least be very very careful if using them. it is truly the wild west. A few years ago I sold a C Coupe to a guy, he didn't want to use my trucker, he saved $100 on U-Ship. The "trucker" that showed up was a dude with a converted motorhome which happened to be full of furniture. He unloaded the furniture, loaded the Porsche, and re-loaded the furniture, on top of the car! He had double-booked.