Selling a Classic Car

As you may have guessed from previous posts, I am looking to sell my

1959 Morris Oxford Farina. (In Trowbridge, Wiltshire).

In your experiences, where is a good place to put the adverts(s)?

There are a plethora of options, from here on this newsgroup, to Ebay, through Autotrader and to the "Classifieds" in the motoring magazines.

I know that there are pro's and can's to all of them, but what I am looking for is a reasonably quick sale at a fair price.

What has been the readers of this newsgroup's experience?

A Happy Christmas to all the readers!

Regards

Peter

Reply to
puffernutter
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puffernutter was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

I've put both a few cars and a few bikes on ebay over the years. Several times I found that the bids on ebay were rather on the cheapskate side of things (bike worth 2500+ for 1.3k - I don't think so).

However on several occasions I had been contacted by people who didn't have the time to come and view the car/bike before the auction ended so it provided a "sales lead" so to speak. It also meant that I didn't have to relist the vehicle - IIRC ebay auctions for vehicles work slightly different in the sense that you have to pay the final valutation fee no matter if the vehicle sells or not. I might be wrong about this, though.

However advertising on ebay seems to flush a lot of people out of the woodwork who seem to be suffering from a strange medical condition that makes them unable to read the long detailed description of the item, but perfectly able to ask exactly those questions that you already answered in your listing. In other words you seem to need more patience than dealing with your average buyer IME.

Reply to
Timo Geusch

I sold my TR7 V8 on ebay with a reserve price auction. That way, I didn' *have* to sell it if it didn't reach what I thought was a fair price. My experience with ebay was very good. It's quite exciting to watch all these bids coming in!

Best Regards John McCabe

To reply by email replace 'nospam' with 'assen'

Reply to
John McCabe

I've never sold anything via Ebay, but bought a number of items including a car. Predictably, I've found just the opposite to you and have been outbid on plenty of things that went for far more than I believe they were worth. The car I got for 1750 against a guide price of

2400, which allowing for buying "blind" seemed about right.

The only times I've made a real killing were when the sellers had listed them badly. Compare these two:

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?ViewItem&item=2445813454&category=27383Which one do you think is the genuine Metalastic one (worth 60 quid?) and included a new set of bolts?Clue: big grin on my face when I unwrapped the package! It's crucial to get the category right and make sure the subject heading works for any combination of searches (eg both Landrover and Land Rover).

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

That's about fair, I'd say. OTOH experience selling classic bikes that didn't fit into my garage anymore suggest that buying blind is not necessarily a good idea. The reserves I put on items that I sell on ebay tend to be fairly keen anyway so buyers who are making obviously stupid offers just tend to annoy me a bit.

For some reason, the "outbid on plenty of things" tends to happen to me, too, mainly because I tend to check how much certain items tend to be sold for by traders outside of ebay and then bidding slightly less. I've lost count of the number of times that I've been outbid by someone who clearly thought the item was worth much, much more...

Yep, we've all been there...

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Sorry, sitting at a text console at the mo'...

Aye. Without a doubt.

Reply to
Timo Geusch

I can't see why you get annoyed by them. I've often placed a stupidly low bid on something that I didn't seriously want but would happily buy at such a price if I got lucky. That's all part and parcel of an auction. Admittedly I wouldn't waste the seller's time emailing them questions if I wasn't serious, I can see why that could be annoying.

Something that irritates me, BTW, are sellers who set a reserve far higher than their starting bid, thus wasting the time of anyone who bids or even chooses to look at the item based on the current price.

Coo, respect! Too apparently identical objects. The one with the long write-up and the well written subject line went for 37 pounds (worth 26 + VAT, if it's a pattern part, as I suspect). The one I bought for 3.20 had a vague subject line and nothing but a part number in the write-up, but turned out to be original - rapidly becoming unobtainable.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Ebay is a bizarre marketplace which I still haven't got figured out. I use it for selling one-off parts which aren't worth advertising through the business or carting around to endless shows. Sometimes I get lucky, like a Herald/Vitesse bootlid stay which went for 70 quid! Admittedly it was a NOS Stanpart piece, but I would have been happy getting a tenner. That was a no reserve auction started at 99p. On the opposite end of the scale, I've been selling period accessory padded dashboard tops for Heralds for about 25 pounds each on the show circuit. Now I'm down to the last one, I put it on ebay. Only 2 bidders with a max bid of

5.50. There's still a couple of days to go so I could get a flurry of activity at the end, but nothing like the early action I saw on the boot stay, something which I really considered to be a mundane item.

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Very nice. I've got a few good buys like that, but nothing recently. I find it all too easy to spend several hours each day going through the listings...... Cheers, Bill.

-- Rarebits4classics .......just what you've been looking for

PO Box 1232 Calne Wiltshire SN11 8WA United Kingdom

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Reply to
William Davies

You could try:

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have used it on a few occasions with success. It's free unless you want toinclude a photo (£5) but most people put in a good description to get enquiries. I've just got myself a Holley carb for free!

I'm not sure about a quick sale and a fair price going together unless you're lucky enough to connect with the right buyer. If you can wait, it may be best to advertise it for free as above and on club websites (?) first.

Pete W

Reply to
Pete W.

Seems to me it depends on what you're buying and when you're buying it. At times prices get silly. I've often seen parts go for more than the price of a new one at Minispares (for example). Currently there's a couple of pages of "leather & enamel keyrings" at £4.50-£5.50. They sell for £3 at most autojumbles! Strikes me at times I could go to Newark Autojumble, buy stuff and sell it for a profit on Ebay (Actually, I have, with a job lot of filters I bought for a pound, sold about 20 at £2-3 each).

And then at the opposite end of the spectrum, the Standard 8 I bought for a fiver - it is a runner and restorable - and a couple of weeks ago, a fully reconditioned Herald chassis for £36. The outriggers cost more than that.

Reply to
Chris Bolus

And where it is. Undriveable restoration projects in the Highlands tend not to fetch the same sort of money as those in Essex.

Nice. I really kicked myself when I missed the complete rear mechanics including diff, driveshafts, vertical links, brakes, the lot, for a Vitesse that went unsold at 60 quid a few miles along the coast from me. I'd intended to bid at the last minute, but got the time wrong and missed it by ten minutes. I tried emailing, but someone beat me to it. Lesson learnt!

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Blimey, that is odd indeed. Perhaps they were also used on a Lotus Elan or something upmarket?

Drifting off topic here, but is it the done thing to fit a second stay to the RHS of a Herald/Vitesse bootlid? I'm always conscious that a single one puts a lot of stress onto one side.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

eBay is a global market place and allows the little man access to millions of armchair bargain hunters - if you "add value" to the product by taking a clear photo, adding a part number, description and honest comments on condition then set a sensible first bid, you will make a few quid. Add into that sensible post and packing charges and a willingness to post overseas and maybe even list some example charges and you've got a nice little earner. Reserves annoy me a bid so I tend to avoid them, if I want £5.00 for a part I put the first bid at £5.00 and don't set a reserve. If I really just want to shift it then I set a £1 starter and forget it - those always surprise me - I sold some books like that, each at £1 - I made £130 on that lot which was most welcome and unexpected. It's the same old story of supply and demand, if you can get your wares in front of a public who are eager to buy then you're onto a winner - there are loads of people who think that parts for older cars are all hard to find or no longer made so they pay top money. Some even go over the list price for stuff - I can only assume they haven't found pricelists or online shopping yet. However, they are happy to have found a part they thought hard to get, they are happy to pay the price they have set themselves and of course I am happy to sell it to them! So I think everyone's happy and there's no harm in it. It also never ceases to amaze me how few people email in and ask for a deal - when a seller has a batch of things to sell or it's obvious in the listings he's put up then I email the seller and try and do a fee free deal away from eBay- you usually get a few quid off and a quicker turn around.

Reply to
J

It also amazes me that so few seem to check up on the price they'd pay from a supplier, given that so many have websites.

With electronic components, I've seen stuff fetch more than even Maplin or RS charge - before you've added the postage.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

This is a comment I've heard before. As someone who set a reserve on the sale of a TR7, perhaps my point of view would be of interest.

When I sold my TR7 I knew how much I wanted, but I didn't know how much, in the condition it was in, it was worth. By putting a reserve on it with a starting price lower than that, I could ensure that I wasn't forced to sell it for less than I wanted for it but I could see whether anyone else would be prepared to pay that much.

There was a possibility that, if there was little interest in it, I would just have kept it for the moment and perhaps considered restoring it.

There was also the possibility though that, at the end of the auction, if it hadn't reached its reserve but one of the bids had come close and the bidder had contacted me, I knew what he/she intended to do with the car etc, that I would have let it go for less than the reserve.

Had I set no reserve and instead made the asking price what I set the reserve at, there was the chance that no one would make a bid, even the person who was prepared to pay say £50 less than the initial bid and who, based on the way I set up the auction, would probably have ended up with the car anyway.

Hope this is clear enough!!

Best Regards John McCabe

To reply by email replace 'nospam' with 'assen'

Reply to
John McCabe

In article , J writes

It could be because it's expressly forbidden in the T&C of Ebay?

Reply to
Jamie

The single stay does put odd stresses on the boot - this is why the panel splits around the crew fixings for the cross brace. The problem with twin stays is getting them to lock and release simulatneously. A worn stay can be a pain to latch every time - if you've got two, and they're out of sync........ Cheers, Bill.

-- Rarebits4classics .......just what you've been looking for

PO Box 1232 Calne Wiltshire SN11 8WA United Kingdom

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Reply to
William Davies

But this assumes that nobody is put off bidding by the words "reserve not yet met". I don't know how other people buy from Ebay, but I tend to do a search at the beginning of the week, bookmarking anything of interest and then check again closer to their end time and place a bid if the price is still right. Unless its something that I'm very keen on, I don't even bother to bookmark reserved price items, assuming their asking price to be so out of line with their starting price that they bare little resemblance to whatever it was that caught my eye in the first place.

... well it makes sense to me.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Good point, thanks Bill that's enough for me to put the job off indefinitely!

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

That's fine, but if I disclose the reserve in the auction it's a bit annoying if you get emails saying "would you take a grand less"...

Reply to
Timo Geusch

Heh. And the pattern one probably has a road life of 10thousand miles if you're lucky.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

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