Selling a Hudson on E-Bay

Park_W

Am considering selling my '47 on E-Bay. Those who've done that, what are your lessons learned and your words for a first timer?

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Browniepetersen

Park,
I have had a few cars on eBay and I must admit that I am not all that excited about the process. I do admit that there is no way to get better visibility/distribution of your vehicle because a lot of people look at the vehicles that are on sale. Anyway, to answer your question here are a few points: Lot's of photo's (you cannot have too many but make sure that each photo shows something different-not a bunch of photos of the same thing.) I would not talk about how rare or special your automobile is. And, I would not oversell it by defining it as something that it is not (i.e. not every old car is a "Classic", nor has every old car been owned by Elvis.) Be sure to give good information. If it is a "must sale" I would list it as no reserve and take my chances on the buyers paying a fair price. I sold one very nice Hudson for 8K. I thought it worth much more, but it sold for 8K. Be ready to accept the reality of what it sells for. If you set a reserve, there is a good chance you will not make it-few do on eBay. That does not mean, if you set a reserve at 30K and you got a bit for 26K, that the car is going to sell at 26K. It could mean that someone was trying to figure your reserve price. Be prepared for someone to make you a "low ball" offer after the auction ends (I call these folks Magpies.) Give good information about picking up the vehicle, how to contact you to talk about the car, and be sure to have money in hand before you let the car go. And last, after the sale is over, eBay will send you a bill. Never feels good, particularly if you sold it for less than you wanted.

I do not think there is a good way to sell a car. With that said, the best program for selling your car is with the folks at HET club. With the new on-line listings and the WTN, if it is going to sell--it will sell there for the best price. However, if you are selling one of your number 1 cars, take it to an Auction company--some of there prices are unreal??? Good luck with whatever you do...

JasonNC

Park,
I have a friend who has had great success selling his antique cars on EBay to buyers in other countries. Both were cars from the late 40's. There are brokers out there that will sell your car on EBay for you, including taking care of the shipping domestically and/or overseas. Just follow Brownie's advice and make sure that you get the money up front. For some reason, my buddy warned me about selling cars to buyers in South America, but I can't remember what the problem was....

Park_W

Thanks for the comments so far, troops. How about some others out there?

It's not a "must sell," I've just decided I'm ready to trim down to one Hudson, and it's getting to be time to replace the everyday Brand X, so the cash would be useful. It's a bit challenging to estimate what the car is worth . . . not too many really top-end '46-7 Commodores advertised in WTN not elsewhere. Or sold at auction.

Ghost Chaser

hi park, check your private email. also, i'll add that you might want to consider Bring a Trailer. It has a vast audience and the car will get a lot of visibility there. the only downside is that the comment section below the ad can get a bit hairy. http://bringatrailer.com/submissions/

dterry-2011

How much is the bill eBay sends ya?

rambos_ride

I've had much better luck selling cars on AutoTrader

Don't get nearly the losers you get on ebay or craigslist

Craigslist is my second choice..but no one drives the car unless the have cash-in-hand.

lostmind

I would suggest Hemmings. Serious buyers. You set the price.
The last one sold online before the magazine came out. fee is less then Ebay.

dterry-2011

Why doesn't anybody say what the FEE is

sidevalve2

I usually set a low start price on eBay and an insanely high reserve, which ensures that the sale doesn't complete. The listing fee does not rise in conjunction with the reserve set (although I am sure they will close that loophole sooner or later). I put my phone number in the ads, and I am invariably successful in selling the vehicle to phone callers after the auction ends in a no sale (as it invariably does). No feedback and no (final value) FEE - result. I do get a few tire-kickers, but I just tell them where to get off. In the last few months I have sold two Lancias for $35000 and $22500, for a total cost of $55 ($27 per sale flat fee). One of the reasons my eBay fees are low is because I have a subscription to auctiva.com, and this is vital if you want to sell your car - pictures sell vehicles, and the more the better - and as high a resolution as possible.

In my opinion the following company is one of the most effective sellers of cars on eBay - and it is solely because of their pictures (if you look closely some of their cars aren't actually that great - but they all LOOK great). Some of the maroon parts of this one look as if, in the immortal words of our very own Old Fogey UK (hello David...) they have been 'painted with a dead bird' - but on the strength of these pictures I reckon most people would look straight past the horrible finish of (for instance) the sides of the vehicle and the truck bed, and buy it in a flash, just because the pictures are so fantastic:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/RARE-1921-Lincoln-L-Series-Pickup-RESTORED-358cid-V8-3speed-Wood-Spoke-Wheels-/370853233096

As eBay's in-house picture hosting is expensive and frankly rubbish, something like auctiva (there are many others) is vital. In the case of the cars I have just sold, both the buyers have been serious and courteous people who have come and seen the vehicles and satisfied themselves as to my integrity before committing themselves. Here is the second of the two cars (the first was more than 90 days ago so it is not still 'live'):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360683978811

My pictures are not actually great in the case of this car, because it was at the back of my storage and it had rained here non-stop for 15 months(!) when I took the pictures, so I couldn't get the car or the parts outside. But they were good enough - these (incredibly ugly) cars are rare enough and sought-after enough for it not to need help beyond these photos. This car's real market value is around 15000 GBP / $22500, so I listed it for a 1000 GBP start price and a 40000 GBP ($60000) reserve. The bidding reached 9000 GBP, which was about what I expected (I find that cars usually get bid to around 2/3 of their actual value on eBay). I then had a period of a few days calm and then contacts from both the high bidder and a dealer, and am selling to the high bidder (I don't like dealers). Works for me, and the best thing of all is that I feel that I get a bit back from eBay - I sell a lot of accessories on there, and I loathe them, their extortionate fees, their control-freakery and and their other unpleasant practices, so redressing the balance a bit gives me immense satisfaction beyond that to be gained from selling the vehicle.

sidevalve2

Talking of eBay and their unpleasant practices, has this phenomenon yet reached the USA? This is a search for 'Mk 3 Golf', as I have one of those and I am finding it almost impossible to buy parts for it on eBay (I'll explain why underneath):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=mk3+golf&_sop=3

It has become evident recently that a lot of huge sellers are 'packing' eBay UK with their auctions, in order to steamroller it and make sure they are always at the top of the searches. I asked on an eBay forum what could possibly be the motivation for listing (in the case of the top part listed) a clutch kit for $10,000, as there is no earthly prospect of anyone buying it. The answer I got was that these large sellers are doing it to preserve their presence in the listings even when they are out of stock on a certain item. So you run out of something and merely increase its price to $10000 while you are waiting for a delivery. As the store listings cost virtually nothing it is a cheap and foolproof way of staying near the top, and eBay aren't going to stop it because it brings them huge business (the clutch seller is listing 1.6 MILLION items). However, the outcome of this policy is that eBay UK is now packed so utterly full of frivolous listings that it is virtually impossible to find anything that really IS for a Mk 3 Golf and is a sensible price. I have only used Mk 3 Golf as an example - this works for virtually any car. It does not seem to have afflicted eBay.com yet, although that has been afflicted by the similar practice of listing car covers and light bulbs as if they are car-specific, so that if you search for (e.g.) 37 Hudson items you come up with about 3000 things that you don't want or need, and maybe one (if you are lucky) that really is what you want. All of the foregoing explains why denying eBay a few fees when I sell a car makes me SO happy...

sidevalve2

Rick - I wish what you say were true, but with people padding their accounts to the tune of 1.6 million items I feel eBay are going to be doing just fine sticking with them and losing us 'real' sellers! Cheers - Alan (sidevalve)

sidevalve2

Hi Ken - it's not dead, it's just resting... pining for the fjords...

Park_W

Thanks, all for the comments. Very helpful.