I have been "watching" auctions for a specific model year car on e-bay. Out of 30+ auctions this month, only three were sold, the rest were "no reserve met" cars.
Most of this vehicles have a "buy now" price, which is ridiculously high in most cases.
My question is, for anybody who has had an experience doing it, or knows about it, are sellers just making up reserve prices to simply go with a second chance offer to the highest bidder? or, in your experience, the reserve prices are pretty "on target"?
I am not buying a car (just yet), but want to learn more about e-bay in case that I decide to go that route.

 

here is my trick...

Rule of thumb. You never buy unless it is close enough to pick up and Seller is willing to wait for payment when you check out the car.

First, I will contact Seller through Listing and ask a question. Once the Seller replies, you now have his contact. If he is a good Seller, he will have no issues with you checking out the car before handing the money over.

Verify Carfax before bidding. If it checks out, then bid and if you win, check the car over like any sale of a used car.

A friend wanted a SL500 and we did exactly this. We did not bid though as I knew there were very few people with that sort of cash. After the auction ended, we then contacted the Seller and negotiated. After that, we said we were gonna take the car to have it checked out and she agreed. Car was still under warranty so the car was taken to MB for a check and MB said what they would fix uner warranty.

NEVER send money sight unseen.

 

My dad bought a 1987 Porsche 911 Targa with 60k miles from a guy in Indiana. Worked out well.

I agree with Eggplant here ... Bid regionally and deliver funds after you've seen the car.

 

Eggplant pretty much explained everything you need to know. I have seen scammers try to sell cars for very cheap but will ask for deposit through money orders and what not for like $3,000.00 then just take that money and run. Always use PayPal for deposit =).

 

Can't really add much to Eggplant's post. I have bought and sold several cars on eBay all over the country and never had a problem. I even bought my motorcycle from NH sight unseen. Took a risk there based on conversations and extensive pictures and everything was as described, but normally I would stick with the suggestions above and buy it from an area where you can inspect the car.

As for prices, typically the pricing is market. I mean, most of the people on eBay are dealers and if their prices are too high, they will not sell the car. And trust me, they do not make a dime keeping cars sitting on their lots! Even the private sales are generally in line. As Eggplant said, you can also get the seller's contact info and a lot of times speak with them offline... negotiate a price you want, then have them edit the auction to that price where you can complete the deal on eBay, which adds some protection for both you and the seller.

 

Thanks for the advise guys. I never thought about the "regional purchase".

The price thing still has me confused. But I guess that I will continue to watch them and see what the ones that sell go for. As I said, I am not buying right now, so it doesn't matter much.

 

I'd be a bit hesitant about CarFax, personally. I hear they aren't 100% with their history reports.

 

Funny thing is that ebay gives you a different report. As for the Carfax, the cars that I have been looking at are relatively new, one owner cars. Some of them are lease returns and that's a double edge sword.

 

Depends. My wife's A6 was a lease return. Car has been more or less bullet-proof and since it was a CPO we got a 100k warranty with free maintenance...

 

My S4 was a lease return. Car was perfect for 30k miles til I sold it.

 

I was in your situation and took a chance on a diesel truck I was looking for. The seller only sold diesel trucks and had 100% feedback.

He did not have the truck up for bid, rather he had a "Buy-it-now" price. I called the seller as it said that if you had any questions, contact him. I called, left a message and he returned my call. We agreed on a price, asked about the truck and he asked for $500 through PayPal to hold the truck. The truck as 300 miles away, so I had to go pick it up. Well, 2 days later, he sent me an invoice showing the downpayment, taxes, registration, etc. He agreed that if I didn't like the truck, he would pay for a trip back as well as my $500 deposit.
I went to pick up the truck with a cashiers check in hand. I looked over the truck, found nothing I didn't expect, and signed the documents, he put the plates on, and I drove it the 300 miles back.

Overall, I'd say that if the person specializes in that type of vehicle and has 100% feedback or close to it, good comments and recent sales, you probably good to go. I agree, keep documentation/e-mails of everything.

Overall, it was a good experience although nervous at the time.

 

^ That's a good point. Before I even look at someone's listing I check out his/her feedback. If there is anything questionable in their feedback, no way I'm moving forward.

This goes for anything on eBay... but especially something large like a vehicle...