Can someone explain eBay to me?

[SD1992]

I am currently in the process of selling my car, and I am considering putting it on eBay. Unfortunately, I have never used eBay before so I could use the help of the PH brain!

If I put a reserve on the auction and the auction ends at a price less than the reserve, can I choose to not sell the car?

If I don't put a reserve on and the auction ends with a rubbish price, do I have to give the car away?

What is paypal? I want a cash sale...

Is it better to just put it as a classified ad and have a button for "make an offer"?

Since I have never used eBay before, I won't have a rating. Will that count against me?

Any advice in general for using eBay?

Thanks!

[Robb F]

All the jokers that contacted me about my car were from ebay. I'd say the extra for autotrader is worth it, and of course pistonheads.

The reserve is the lowest price you will sell for, if it doesn't reach that price it is not sold, so set it at the lowest you will be happy taking for the car.

Paypal is an ebay owned payment system where you can send money to an email address. If there are issues with the transaction, they will almost always favour the buyer and refund their money

Edited by Robb F on Monday 13th June 09:42

[SC7]

100% seriously, if you have never used it before and want to use it to sell a car, you need to ask a friend who is familiar with it to list it for you.

It genuinely is a minefield now, and selling a car is a bit too much of a baptism of fire in my opinion.

[SD1992]

SC7 said:

100% seriously, if you have never used it before and want to use it to sell a car, you need to ask a friend who is familiar with it to list it for you.

It genuinely is a minefield now, and selling a car is a bit too much of a baptism of fire in my opinion.

Is it really that bad? What makes it such a minefield?

[jagnet]

I've bought and sold cars on ebay without any problems, though in fairness these were priced at the bangernomics end of the scale. I tend to look at ebay as the final option after Autotrader hasn't worked (mainly because Autotrader works out cheaper for advertising after ebay have taken their fees).

From what I've seen, cars with reserve prices often fail to reach that price. Those that start at 99p with no reserve can often go on to achieve far higher prices as bidders get hooked into the auction early on and take possession of the car in their minds. If you do go this route though, lots of high quality images and a good description is really important to attract as many people as possible.

If you've put a decent ad on, it's very unlikely the car will sell for peanuts - if you consider how many people there are looking through car auctions for personal use and part time traders looking to sell on for a small margin, market forces are going to push the price up to something reasonable.

You need to be able to hold your nerve though as many people will bid at the last minute, so a car can stay at a low price for days, then rocket up in the final hour/minutes.

For car sales, Paypal is often only used to pay a deposit within 24 hours of auction end - it at least tells you quickly if the highest bidder has no intention of following through. Take the remainder as cash on collection or the Paypal fees are going to hurt. There's nothing to stop you taking the whole payment as cash.

To help eliminate time wasters I'd restrict your auction to people with 10 feedback or more.

[snotrag]

In my experience - its a good place to just put a classified ad though.

No different to advertising in the trader or on here. Except your just opening yourself up to a very large audience.

Put the effort in with good quality photos and text and its very worthwhile I reckon.

[Wacky Racer]

I have never understood why anyone buys a car on eBay.

How can you bid several hundred/thousand pounds on a car, maybe hundreds of miles away that you have never even seen?

Also from the sellers point of view paypal can do a chargeback if the buyer isn't happy because the ash trays haven't been emptied for instance.

Seems like a minefield to me, but obviously some sales must go through OK or people would not use the service.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

I tend to use Gumtree these days. It's completely free and more and more people seem to be using it.
Just keep your wits about you with regards to scammers. They usually want to use PayPal or send you money up front. Don't!!.

eBay classified adds are good too.
Whatever you do - do not accept PayPal as payment. It's obvious why once you read the PayPal T&C's.

[SD1992]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

I tend to use Gumtree these days. It's completely free and more and more people seem to be using it.
Just keep your wits about you with regards to scammers. They usually want to use PayPal or send you money up front. Don't!!.

eBay classified adds are good too.
Whatever you do - do not accept PayPal as payment. It's obvious why once you read the PayPal T&C's.

Gumtree is refusing to work for me, every time I click post ad I just get a blank screen. Any ideas?

[Dracoro]

Wacky Racer said:

I have never understood why anyone buys a car on eBay.

How can you bid several hundred/thousand pounds on a car, maybe hundreds of miles away that you have never even seen?

Have you not seen Wheeler Dealers

You see a car on eBay you like. You go and view it, check it out etc. If you like it, offer the guy what you are prepared to pay (or go home and bid on the site and hope you pay less).

In other words, just use it as a window to what's on sale as if you saw it on PH or AT.

[davidjpowell]

I bought a Volvo S80 from Ebay. Poor photo's, poor text. Came with a new 12 months MOT, which was a comfort.

It's a cracking car and a bargain. Bit of TLC here and there on the bodywork and it's a beut.

Owned by a Norfolk farmer given how long it took to clean the inside...

[Caruso]

SD1992 said:

I am currently in the process of selling my car, and I am considering putting it on eBay. Unfortunately, I have never used eBay before so I could use the help of the PH brain!

If I put a reserve on the auction and the auction ends at a price less than the reserve, can I choose to not sell the car?

Yes

SD1992 said:

If I don't put a reserve on and the auction ends with a rubbish price, do I have to give the car away?

Yes

SD1992 said:

What is paypal? I want a cash sale...

You can choose not to accept Paypal and require cash on collection.

SD1992 said:

Is it better to just put it as a classified ad and have a button for "make an offer"?

It depends

SD1992 said:

Since I have never used eBay before, I won't have a rating. Will that count against me?

Yes.

[freecar]

Caruso said:

You can choose not to accept Paypal and require cash on collection.

No you cannot, you can exclude all payment methods with the exception of paypal. If somebody reports your auction for excluding paypal it will be removed.

[Caruso]

freecar said:

No you cannot, you can exclude all payment methods with the exception of paypal. If somebody reports your auction for excluding paypal it will be removed.

I sold a vehicle in May with Cash on collection as the only payment method.

[98elise]

Wacky Racer said:

I have never understood why anyone buys a car on eBay.

How can you bid several hundred/thousand pounds on a car, maybe hundreds of miles away that you have never even seen?

Also from the sellers point of view paypal can do a chargeback if the buyer isn't happy because the ash trays haven't been emptied for instance.

Seems like a minefield to me, but obviously some sales must go through OK or people would not use the service.

My brother bought a Delorean through e-bay. The car was in the States so a bit hard to go and see All was fine and the car was as described.

[freecar]

Caruso said:

freecar said:

No you cannot, you can exclude all payment methods with the exception of paypal. If somebody reports your auction for excluding paypal it will be removed.

I sold a vehicle in May with Cash on collection as the only payment method.

You were lucky to not be reported, you can say you prefer it but if you specifically exclude it Ebay will pull the listing.

[Big Rod]

freecar said:

Caruso said:

freecar said:

No you cannot, you can exclude all payment methods with the exception of paypal. If somebody reports your auction for excluding paypal it will be removed.

I sold a vehicle in May with Cash on collection as the only payment method.

You were lucky to not be reported, you can say you prefer it but if you specifically exclude it Ebay will pull the listing.

I've recently sold a car and a caravan as 'cash on collection' only and never had a problem.

[freecar]

Big Rod said:

freecar said:

Caruso said:

freecar said:

No you cannot, you can exclude all payment methods with the exception of paypal. If somebody reports your auction for excluding paypal it will be removed.

I sold a vehicle in May with Cash on collection as the only payment method.

You were lucky to not be reported, you can say you prefer it but if you specifically exclude it Ebay will pull the listing.

I've recently sold a car and a caravan as 'cash on collection' only and never had a problem.

My apologies, after checking the updated terms and conditions they now exclude vehicles from that particular clause. It is new though as I had my old Porsche ad pulled because I asked for cash only.

[JQ]

SC7 said:

100% seriously, if you have never used it before and want to use it to sell a car, you need to ask a friend who is familiar with it to list it for you.

It genuinely is a minefield now, and selling a car is a bit too much of a baptism of fire in my opinion.

Completely agree. I would not make my first Ebay transaction a sale of something of high value. Plus as a buyer, it would put me off a sale if the seller had zero feedback when selling something of value.

Why not just do a classified add?

[SD1992]

So I can do cash only?

What is PayPal anyway? Is it just a form of payment that you can only use for other eBay items?