I’m a savvy enough eBay buyer to know the typical red flags in something like this. What I am curious about is the experience of Dopers with this. It looks like it could help save money but I can also see how one might do just as well buying locally (i’m in Lexington, KY) then hundreds of miles away and having to deal with a one-way car rental or flight.
Thoughts, experiences, ideas. Bring 'em on.
I’m not sure it this post belongs here (survey) or GQ. Mods, feel free to place where you think best.
At my dealership we have a listing for EBay Motors and do very good. Out of the 20 something cars that we have listed at all times, very few sell, as we mostly use it for a cheap form of advertising. It is much more cost effective over advertising in the local paper and we get much more attention from the whole US and even international buyers. Most sales we make on EBay are actually done ‘off of EBay’, meaing people who saw it buy the car after calling in or sending an e-mail, and we close the auction out early.
You have to figure out what you are looking for. The great thing about EBay is you can pick the car/color/miles, etc., and can sometimes get a great deal over looking at a local dealer where the car may be more popular. But if you are buying from a place out of state you must keep some stuff in mind:
If you buy off of EBay, you have very little recourse if there is a problem.
You might get a great deal on the car compared to a local dealer, but shipping costs could be expensive.
The personal experience of dealing with a local dealer is a little better. You can (hopefully) go to them if there is a problem (paint jobs, misinterpretation of the car).
If the car is out of warranty, you are basically buying the car ‘as is’, which ties in with #3.
If it is not a dealer, they do not have experience with title work, financing (if necessary), and do not know each states laws for buying a car.
Check out the feedback, and most importantly the feedback for cars. Some places might have a lot of feedback, but maybe they were selling pocket knives for the past 5 years. And some dealers might have 300 positive feedback, but 250 of them are for selling owners manuals online.
The best thing to do is search EBay motors for dealers in your area (with say 200 miles). Most of them would be happy to sell you the car and make a quick deal. And the feedback for a reputable dealer is happy, so try to do it through EBay.
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me anytime and I will be more than happy to give you advice. Or look at my postings and see my thread “Ask a car salesman”.
Did you read that last sentence? I think I know what you think you mean to say, but holy crap, that is a bad sentence.
I see lots of disclaimers on auto sales that the car is also available for sale locally and the auction will be pulled if a sale is made off-line. I’m guessing it is within ebay rules–I’m not going to read them to make sure.
I have bought two cars from ebay, but they were Triumphs–I don’t know if I’d buy a recent model of a still-existent automaker from the internet. And buying a car from out-of-state can have its own issues outside of the ebay experience.
Yeah, itz a baad sentnce. God Bless you for your asistnace, but i have ben reading too many nigerian scamthreads latly.
Yes, we do have a disclaimer stating we are a car dealer and cars made be sold prior to the auction ending. But whether or not you can contact someone off of EBay to sell something on EBay is the question. But our disclaimer is probably the loophole. Thanks!
I did this back in April- bought a salvage title car that had some relatively minor body damage. I popped the damaged parts off, put on news ones, and viola! I absolutely love it, got a FABULOUS deal (more than half off the blue book value), the seller was super-nice (and less than 200 miles, so we just went and picked it up), and the best part is telling people where you got it from. I agree about scouring through the feedback- all the feedback- and asking lots of questions. The guy I bought from let us call him, which enabled us to sort of “feel him out” and made us (me, actually) more comfortable with the whole idea.
The only problem I’ve had is switching it over to a rebuilt title, but that’s because of the screwy laws around here, not because of Ebay.
eBay policies state that you can end an auction early if the item is no longer available for sale. But you can’t do this if there are 12 hours or fewer left in the auction AND the auction has a bid.
As far as making off-eBay deals go, eBay discourages it because such purchases are not covered by their buyer protection (and eBay loses their cut). But I deal with off-eBay buyers all the time. A friend and I are parting out a couple of cars, and we get regular inquiries (from bidders/buyers and others) about whether or not we have a particular part available.
We got one of the parts cars from eBay motors, now that I think about it.
A work colleague of mine bought a Jaguar from eBay motors and is very happy with it.
H FMG (and everyone else). Thanks for the feedback. This is very interesting particularly the bit about taking the car off eBay before the end of the auction. I had seen the disclaimer on a few of the sales but hadn’t known what it meant. A couple of more questions
Do you prefer to sell off eBay so that you don’t have to pay the eBay cut? Sounds like eBay allows that…I would assume that this would be a negotiating point for me, i.e., if I buy this off eBay will you the price by the amount you would have to pay eBay. How much is the eBay cut anyway?
Since I’m looking for a popular car that is in good shape I don’t expect to get any huge deals BUT I was curious whether eBay sales and local sales generally go for the same amount. In other words, am I likely to get a better deal via eBay than locally? I care not for color, accessories, etc. just want a certain model/make with decent mileage.
If I buy out of sate will I have to pay sales taxes there? At home? Do I get a temporary tag to drive it home? Where does the title live?
Also I’d love to check out your thread…I can’t figure out how to search for it. I’d appreciate it if you could place a link for it here.
