Suesanctuary
Samba Member
Joined: August 17, 2007
Posts: 842
Location: Wishing we were still chest deep in Vw Parts at the Wolfe Estate.
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 Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:06 am Post subject: |
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| bweiner32 wrote: |
An interesting experiment. It got exciting in the end there, but it didn't bring what I would need to let it go. I wasn't looking to get my money back out of this one, but I was holding out for top dollar on a Notch. I think that I will spend a little time perfecting it (fix the door gap, hook up the radio, install the window chrome, etc.) and then try the Charlotte Auto Fair in April. I did end up with a number of leads, which I may also work, but in talking with the leads, I got the impression that a sight unseen sale for a car like this may be challenging. Most of the bidders wanted to make some kind of arrangement to lay down a deposit and come see the car, even though the buyers terms clearly state settle up on your bid within 3 days of auction close. I understand the trepedation, having bought and sold many cars sight unseen, there's always something that you don't like, and that's when buyers remorse starts to set in. I appreciate the support from everyone here - I'll update this post if/when it sells with the sale price. I'm happy to share market data with the Samba community.
A couple of thoughts on the BaT auction process. Overall, it was a good experience and I'd use them again. It would be nice to see some kind of credit back if the car doesn't sell, IMO they should put skin in the game when they dictate reserves, but I can also see where $250 would keep the hacks and jokers at bay. I loved the clock reset function as that let's the buyers slug it out in the end. I would like to see an automatic notification when bids reach the reserve - some kind of "Reserve Off" comment, but Sellers can monitor bidding and add that comment if they want to I suppose. I do think that Sellers should have something like triple weight on comment flagging on their post, to help dispatch the trolls quicker. In looking over some of the other cars on auction, they do have an issue with thread hijacking, trolling and other harrasment that detracts from the sales process. |
Yes, when we sold "Wolfie" (on E-bay), we had 1 guy that was supposed to pick him up and pay the balance, but decided once he saw him, that he didn't want to buy (buyers remorse). Turns out that guy was a "flipper" according to Bob, and didn't know what he had bought. He was looking for something he could do a little more detailing to, and flip for more money. At least e-bay didn't charge us for that sale, since the "buyer backed out". Bob re-listed it again, and it ended up selling for less (but met reserve), but, more importantly, Wolfie went to a good home (a VW collector). We found that we needed more pics to help with the sale, as potential buyers couldn't see the car in person. It helped that Bob had made a build thread, and we were able to link that into our auction, as the potential buyers could see what was done during the rebuild of the car.
Bob had signed up for BaT e-mails, and was getting daily listings (including them starting their auction process), but decided to end it after a while (don't know why). He told me that they (BaT) was still "refining" their auction process, so you might want to send them some suggestions of your auction, to maybe help others down the road, and give them some needed feedback about their process.
Bummer that it failed to reach reserve, as that's really a nice looking car, but then not being able to get rid of the trolls, thread jacking, and harassment might have been what hurt your sale (hard to say though). We wondered what it would sell for over there (on BaT), versus selling on e-bay. Sounds like it cost about the same to run the auction there, but not being able to re-list it IF it didn't meet reserve is basically more money out of pocket, and just income for BaT. 
Please do keep us updated though. Maybe BaT will listen to your comments, and adjust their policy. Thanks for the feedback, and letting us know what happened.
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Sue
70 Fastback-AT w/ pop-outs
Did you know:
New York was the first state to require license plates, back in 1901. In those days, you had to make your own. Sears even sold Kits! Massachusetts was the first state to issue them in 1903.
Source: Automobile Magazine, Nov. 2006 |
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