Autotrader - is this acceptable?
Autotrader - is this acceptable?
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Discussion

Bigbox

Original Poster:

658 posts

240 months

Friday 4th April 2014
quotequote all
Autotrader advertises two weeks of advertising on their site for £36 to the private seller. I took them up on their offer only to find out that the advert wasn't within their search engine until the third day, leaving me with only 12 days of advertising rather than 14 days - i've never used autotrader to sell a car before so wasn't aware that the advertised 2 weeks was in actual fact 12 days.
Bit of a rip off, no?

jayemm89

4,464 posts

159 months

Friday 4th April 2014
quotequote all
To be honest, I have advertised a couple of times on several sites (PH, eBay and Autotrader). Autotrader is the most expensive and least useful of all sites. I think for any performance car, people tend to come to pistonheads. eBay tends to cover everyone else that isn't familiar.

I personally hate autotrader as it makes searching for specs a mare - every single car on there has "electric locks, power steering and abs" under optional extras.

TommoAE86

2,963 posts

156 months

Friday 4th April 2014
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People have found out that it's quite expensive advertising on there. I guess they would get around it by saying that adverts are "usually live within 24hrs"? They saw me coming so I spent £45 for 28days and got 378 hits on my ad, not sure if that's good or bad.

littleredrooster

6,360 posts

225 months

Friday 4th April 2014
quotequote all
I would certainly take it up with them - not heard of that before.

I was talking to my next-door neighbour yesterday as he was photographing his car for A-T. Out of curiosity I looked at A-T last night and his advert was there, so absolutely no delay.

Bigbox

Original Poster:

658 posts

240 months

Friday 4th April 2014
quotequote all
littleredrooster said:
I would certainly take it up with them - not heard of that before.

I was talking to my next-door neighbour yesterday as he was photographing his car for A-T. Out of curiosity I looked at A-T last night and his advert was there, so absolutely no delay.
I emailed them after they sent me the email yesterday morning, and have not heard back from them.

Miner49er

382 posts

234 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
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I had to sell a couple of my cars recently and advertised them both on AT and PH.

Most responses to the ad were from here and both buyers, in the end were pleasant Ph'ers.

I'd definitely try PH before spending money with AT.

Oh, and I didn't experience your issues with AT... I'm sure my ads went live immediately.

Troubleatmill

10,210 posts

188 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
quotequote all
Bigbox said:
Autotrader advertises two weeks of advertising on their site for £36 to the private seller. I took them up on their offer only to find out that the advert wasn't within their search engine until the third day, leaving me with only 12 days of advertising rather than 14 days - i've never used autotrader to sell a car before so wasn't aware that the advertised 2 weeks was in actual fact 12 days.
Bit of a rip off, no?
No - not a rip off.
Something technical just didn't work. st sometimes happens.

Just explain it to them - you might find they are remarkably grown up about it.

Bigbox

Original Poster:

658 posts

240 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
quotequote all
Troubleatmill said:
No - not a rip off.
Something technical just didn't work. st sometimes happens.

Just explain it to them - you might find they are remarkably grown up about it.
Thanks pal - if you were to read the thread I think you'll find that I emailed them already and then came on here wondering if this was common auto trader practice

danjama

5,728 posts

171 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
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TommoAE86 said:
People have found out that it's quite expensive advertising on there. I guess they would get around it by saying that adverts are "usually live within 24hrs"? They saw me coming so I spent £45 for 28days and got 378 hits on my ad, not sure if that's good or bad.
I had 300 hits on my ad on gumtree in 5 days. It's free.

Troubleatmill

10,210 posts

188 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
quotequote all
Bigbox said:
Troubleatmill said:
No - not a rip off.
Something technical just didn't work. st sometimes happens.

Just explain it to them - you might find they are remarkably grown up about it.
Thanks pal - if you were to read the thread I think you'll find that I emailed them already and then came on here wondering if this was common auto trader practice
I read the thread thoroughly. If AT says 2 weeks - then it's 2 weeks. There are laws about that sort of thing smile

MysteryLemon

4,968 posts

220 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
quotequote all
AutoTrader isn't that expensive if you compare it to Ebay. Ebay will often work out more expensive if you actually sell the car.

Last time I looked, it was about £10 to list the car on Ebay (as an auction) but when it sells, you'll be hit with a £30-£40 fee. You can list as a classified ad but then that's about £30 I think.

I agree with most of the above though. If its a rare or performance car, somewhere like Pistonheads is a much better bet.

I've always found gumtree to be st for listing cars.

Momentofmadness

2,371 posts

270 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
quotequote all
MysteryLemon said:
AutoTrader isn't that expensive if you compare it to Ebay. Ebay will often work out more expensive if you actually sell the car.

Last time I looked, it was about £10 to list the car on Ebay (as an auction) but when it sells, you'll be hit with a £30-£40 fee. You can list as a classified ad but then that's about £30 I think.

I agree with most of the above though. If its a rare or performance car, somewhere like Pistonheads is a much better bet.

I've always found gumtree to be st for listing cars.
eBay classified will get the most coverage for £14.99 - no other fees involved.

smile

TRB

2,853 posts

166 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
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I've never sold anything PH-worthy, but AT I got NO enquiries for either of the 2 cars I listed (and not OTT pricing). Couple of weeks ago I listed an old motorhome on ebay - cost me £10 to list (auction) then another £20 (I think it was) when it sold - but it sold for 50% more than I thought, so all good! 10 day listing with 5000+ views.

Currently have a crappy old van on ebay - £10 listing again. It's a 30-day buy it now or best offer jobbie, so if doesn't sell it's only a tenner. I'm 19 days in, 700+ views, only a couple of daft offers, but will reduce a bit over last few days.

stephen300o

15,464 posts

257 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
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Car and classics, sold quick, not a penny.

rb5er

11,657 posts

201 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
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Momentofmadness said:
eBay classified will get the most coverage for £14.99 - no other fees involved.
Yep, this for sure.

PH used to be best until they messed it all up and started charging for advertising as well as calling people and made the search function and layout crap.

Ebay gets the most coverage and is best to search with. Pretty much everyone I know that looks for second hand cars goes to ebay first.

Autotrader is comically bad these days.

JapFreak786

1,813 posts

186 months

Saturday 5th April 2014
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For what it's worth, my previous 3 car's have sold via AT within 3 days, the last one the advert went live just after midnight and the first person to call 9 hours later was the buyer.

It's worth listing car's on there, I always list on PH but only 1 out of the last 5 car's have sold via PH frown